Archer's fall: The disgraced peer's life story

Internal links

Archer jailed: main story

The case in detail

From peer to prisoner

The man and the myths

The enigmatic Mary Archer

Leading article: Strip Archer of his peerage

David Aaronovitch: Put him in therapy

Anne McElvoy: An evening with the penthouse lord

The women in his life

A spell of charm

Archer's family

His battle with the media

The court

The judge

The barrister

15 April 1940: Jeffrey Howard Archer born in Weston-super-Mare. His father, William Archer, is a 64-year-old former mortgage broker with a conviction for dishonesty. His young mother, Lola, chronicles Jeffrey's adventures in a weekly column for the local newspaper. Archer attends Wellington School in Somerset

1963-66: Attends Brasenose College, Oxford University. Competes for the university and for Britain as a sprinter

1964: Makes an early mark as a fund-raiser, organising a dinner for Oxfam that is attended by the Beatles and the Prime Minister, Harold Macmillan

1966: Marries Mary Weeden, an academic who becomes a professor of chemistry at Cambridge University

1966:Elected Greater London Council member for Havering

1969:Elected Conservative Member of Parliament for Louth at 29, one of the youngest members of the House of Commons

1974:Faces bankruptcy due to collapse of Aquablast, a fraudulent Canadian cleaning company in which he had invested. Resigns from Parliament

1975: Publishes his first bestselling novel, Not a Penny More, Not a Penny Less, based on his financial disaster. Further novels – including Kane and Abel, The Prodigal Daughter and First Among Equals – make him a multimillionaire

1985:Made deputy chairman of the Conservative Party by Margaret Thatcher

26 October 1986:Resigns from party after allegations of an affair with the prostitute Monica Coghlan are made public

20 July 1987:Wins libel trial against the Daily Star, which alleged he slept with Coghlan, and wins £500,000 in damages

May 1991: Organises "Simple Truth" charity concert, raising millions for relief of Kurdish refugees

1992:Appointed to House of Lords as Lord Archer of Weston-super-Mare

1994:Accused of insider trading in shares of Anglia Television – a company of which Mary Archer was a director. Archer says he acted for a friend; no action against him

March 1999:His son James is fired, with two superiors, by Credit Suisse First Boston in connection with an alleged attempt to manipulate the Swedish stock market

20 November 1999:Resigns as a candidate for Mayor of London after his former friend Ted Francis tells News of the World he supplied a false alibi for Archer at the time of the 1987 libel case

4 February 2000:Conservatives expel Archer

7 April 2000:Archer arrested

27 April 2001: Coghlan killed by hit-and-run driver

May 2001: Archer's trial begins

11 July 2001: Archer's mother dies aged 87

19 July 2001: Archer convicted of perjury and perverting the course of justice and sentenced to four years in prison