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Last Word

By BBC Radio 4
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NEW Season 1 Oct 9, 2026 · 28 min

Jeffrey Archer: From politics, to page-turners, to prison

Lord Archer of Weston-Super-Mare - Jeffery Archer - was a top sprinter in his 20s, an MP at 29, a multi-million best-selling author and a close confidant of Conservative Prime Ministers, his career came crashing down following unwise investments, a scandal involving a sex worker and a conviction for perjury. A life worthy of a novel, told by journalist Michael Crick when he wrote 'Stranger than Fiction', an unauthorised biography of Jeffrey Archer. Cassandra Wilson was once described by Time magazine as the best singer in America. She was also a Grammy award winner who had a distinctive and versatile voice which allowed her to move seamlessly from experimental jazz to the great American song book and on to covers of well-known pop songs. Alyn Shipton, presenter of Radio 3’s Jazz Record Requests and Research Fellow at the Royal Academy of Music, only ever gave one five star review to a jazz performer, and that was to Cassandra. During the 1990s BBC journalist Mark Doyle became one of the most trusted voices reporting for TV and radio on Africa. His balanced and thoughtful dispatches gained him many admirers across the continent. He was an eyewitness to terrible events during the civil war in Sierra Leone and the genocide in Rwanda:. Milton Nkosi was a former Africa bureau chief for the BBC, he worked closely with Mark for many years. Presenter: Matthew Bannister Producer: Ed Prendeville Assistant Producer: Ribika Moktan Researcher: Jesse Edwards Editor: Andrea Kennedy Archive: Cassandra Wilson in Conversation with Robert Sandall, BBC Radio 3, 02/11/2002; Jazz Library: Cassandra Wilson, BBC Radio 3, 04/07/2008; 24 Hours, BBC One, 04/12/1969; Desert Island Discs: Jeffrey Archer, BBC Radio 4, 31/01/1981; Jeffrey Archer Resigns, BBC News, 26/10/1986; The Ian Wooldridge Interviews: Jeffrey Archer, ITV, 05/03/1982; Newsnight, BBC Two, 24/07/1987

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