Baron Archer of Weston-super-Mare

Some fun facts about Jeffrey Archer from his Wikipedia entry.

• After high school he worked as a Physical Education teacher at Dover College.

• He then gained a place at Brasenose College, Oxford to study for a one-year diploma in education, though he eventually stayed there for three years, gaining anacademic qualification in teaching.

• There have been claims that Archer provided false evidence of his academic qualifications, for instance the apparent citing of an American institution which was actually a body building club, in gaining admission to Oxford University.

• One other organization Archer worked for, the United Nations Association, alleged discrepancies in his claims for expenses, and details appeared in the press in a scrambled form. Archer brought a defamation action.. [which] was eventually settled out of court...

• His wife Mary is often rumoured to have a significant role in the writing of his novels. His books are also rumored to require extensive editing by others to make them readable.

• Another scandal arose leading to his resignation in October 1986, when the press reported the "vice-girl" story. The article claimed that Archer had paid Monica Coghlan, a prostitute, £2,000 through an intermediary at Victoria Station to go abroad.

• In November 1999 Ted Francis, a friend (who claimed Archer owed him money) and Archer's former personal assistant Angela Peppiatt (whom Archer had been semi-maintaining) claimed that he had fabricated an alibi in the 1987 trial.

• In February 2000 Archer was expelled from the Conservative Party for five years, and in September 2000 he was charged with perjury and perverting the course of justice during the 1987 libel trial.

• Archer originally was sent to Belmarsh Prison, but was moved to the category "C" Wayland Prison in Norfolk in August 2001, and to HMP North Sea Camp, an open prison, two months later.

Belmarsh Prison features prominently in Prisoner by Birth, and Wayland is mentioned in passing.

And last but not least - only in an English court (m' lord):

"There was widespread astonishment at the description the judge (Mr Justice Caulfield) gave of Mrs Archer in his jury instructions:

Remember Mary Archer in the witness-box. Your vision of her probably will never disappear. Has she elegance? Has she fragrance? Would she have, without the strain of this trial, radiance? How would she appeal? Has she had a happy married life? Has she been able to enjoy, rather than endure, her husband Jeffrey?" The judge then went on to say of Jeffrey Archer, "Is he in need of cold, unloving, rubber-insulated sex in a seedy hotel round about quarter to one on a Tuesday morning after an evening at the Caprice?"

Only write about what you know.