W
L
A MASTER STORY TELLER
ENTERTAINS THE AUDIENCE
AT BIRKENHEAD SCHOOL
Birkenhead School and Linghams Booksellers in Heswall,
recently welcomed novelist and former politician, Lord
Jeffrey Archer, to the Wirral to talk about his new book
‘Heads You Win’.
Over his career, Lord Archer has been published in 97
countries and more than 33 languages, with international
sales passing 330 million copies. He is also the only author
to have been a number one bestseller in fiction (19 times),
short stories (four times) and non-fiction (The Prison
Diaries). During the evening, Lord Archer entertained his
thoroughly-engaged audience with examples of stories from
his career, including his attempts to break in to the American
market, where he finds inspiration for his novels and his
literary and political career. The audience, which included
some of Lord Archer’s stalwart fans, had travelled from far
and wide to listen to one of the UK’s leading novelists and
took the opportunity to pose their questions to the former
politician.
During the talk, Lord Archer spoke about how he became
one of the youngest Members of Parliament at the age of 29
and how, after a poor investment in a Canadian Company,
20 wirrallife.com
he was left on the brink of bankruptcy. This led to the start of
his literary career, when determined to pay his creditors in
full, he sat down to write his first novel ‘Not a Penny More,
Not a Penny Less’. The debut novel sold to 17 countries
within a year and was later televised by the BBC. ‘Kane and
Abel’ is one of Jeffrey’s biggest selling novels and became
a number one bestseller in hardcover and paperback all
over the world, selling a similar number of copies to ‘Kill a
Mockingbird’ and ‘Gone with the Wind’.
The latest novel ‘Heads you Win’ has a final twist that it
claims will shock even the most ardent readers and is said
to be the author’s most ambitious and creative work since
‘Kane and Abel’.
Jeffrey is the latest in a number of high-profile speakers who
have recently visited the School which have included TV
presenter and broadcaster, Clare Balding, TV presenter and
actor, Sir Tony Robinson, World Snooker Champion, John
Parrott and leading illustrator, Chris Riddell.