Author and former politician Jeffrey Archer dies aged 86


Image © Getty Images

Bestselling author and former politician Jeffrey Archer has died at the age of 86.

Archer sold more than 300 million books in his five-decade writing career, including the Clifton Chronicles and Kane and Abel, and has often set the novels in his home town of Wellington, Somerset.

In a statement, Archer's publisher HarperCollins said the author died "suddenly and peacefully at home" on Monday.

The former Conservative MP was jailed for perjury in 2001 after being found guilty of lying and cheating in his 1987 libel case against the Daily Star.

Archer was made a life peer in 1992 but his political career was paused in 2001 when he was jailed for four years for perjury and perverting the course of justice.

He was found to have lied in libel action he had brought against The Star newspaper, in which he was awarded £500,000 in damages. He was released in 2003 and returned to the House of Lords until he retired in 2024.

His last book, Adam and Eve, is set to be released this month, HarperCollins added, describing him as a "master storyteller" whose readers "meant everything to him".

"Jeffrey's career is the stuff of publishing legend," the statement continued.  "He spent a total of 14 years and five months on the Sunday Times bestseller lists and 5 ½ years on the New York Times bestseller lists, selling 300 million books in 119 countries in 49 languages.

"He was the master storyteller and an editor's dream - phenomenally hard-working, utterly committed to completing draft after draft to get every word as perfect as possible, and a true champion of the 'team' nature of great publishing."

Stocking the bunker.
WATER, keep a good stock in 1000L IBCs or similar. Suggest one IBC per person. That is about 30L per person per day.

Select a reasonably  flat site, at least 100M by 100 M.

Melksham and Nailsea

This is what Melksham will look like when it's restored

Melksham and Nailsea

Plans for above ground shelter;
Select a reasonably  flat site, at least 100M by 100 M.
Remove lose topsoil and reserve for later use.
Lay a reinforced concrete floor about 30M by 30M. Ensure a SLIGHT slope down towards the door way.
Build internal and external walls out of blockwork. No internal walls to be unsupported for more than 3M. supports may consist of internal walls or small walls to support shelves, batteries and water tanks.
Roof with precast concrete slabs.
Waterproof the roof and walls with thick bitumen, Cover roof and walls with plywood. coated with bitumen.
Wait for concrete to cure.
Bury the entire structure with imported soil, and apply the previously saved top soil atop this. Seed with "pasture mixture"

Surely it's St Mawes in Cornwall?

.....The project would include a new passing loop between Castle Cary and Yeovil Pen Mill.....

Trowbridge - just for example. 

US removes all bombers from RAF Fairford base


A Rockwell B1 Lancer heavy bomber takes off to depart for home at RAF Fairford on Sunday - Image © Getty Images

The US has withdrawn all of its bombers from RAF Fairford, the British military base at the centre of an incident being investigated by counter terror police.

A statement from a US department official confirmed on Sunday it had removed all of its bombers from the base back to their home stations in America.

The US did not give a reason for the withdrawal, but it follows a major incident on 27 September when police were alerted to three "suspicious vehicles" near the airbase in Gloucestershire.

Five men were initially arrested on suspicion of terror offences near the base and subsequently released on police bail. A sixth man, a UK-Iranian national, was also later arrested and released on bail.

Whitehall sources have not disputed the decision from Washington was in response to the incident at RAF Fairford.

The BBC has also been told it was a military rather than a political decision - taken at an operational level - and communicated from the US military to its British counterparts.

The UK's Ministry of Defence has not commented.

Days after the incident, Prime Minister Andy Burnham said there were "strong indications" that Iran had played a part in the incident but did not provide further details. Tehran has strongly denied any involvement.

Initially, five men aged between 23 and 25 were arrested in the early hours of the morning after vehicles were reported to be travelling towards the base operated by the US Air Force (USAF). All five were UK nationals from London.

They were arrested on suspicion of explosives offences and later on suspicion of preparing a terrorist act, before being released on bail in what police called an "investigative decision" that was "grounded in experience and strategy".

The sixth man, aged 25, was arrested in London on Thursday on suspicion of preparation of terrorist acts. Counter terror police confirmed on Saturday he had also been released on bail.

RAF Fairford has been used as a forward operating location by the US Air Force (USAF) for decades.  In recent months, US bombers have taken off from the base for the Middle East, after the UK approved a US request to use it for defensive strikes on Iran.

In July, Iran said "any base used for aggression against Iranian territory constitutes a legitimate target for our forces".

Days after the incident, and before the arrest of the sixth man, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Fox News that it "clearly involve[d] the hands of a foreign actor".  Rubio did not provide further details - saying at the time he was limited on what he could say on air.

US President Donald Trump separately said he was "surprised" the five men had been released on bail.  "We know everything about them, we would not have released them," he said, adding that the UK had worked with the US "very closely" on this.

Argh! Grahame clickbaited me into visiting F***book - again! I must be more careful.

When I find out the right way to condense the long-winded Streetview URLs into something neat for a message on this forum, I will post a few examples of what (for me, anyway) makes or breaks a potential destination.

All the suggested place you could walk round on GoogleEarth.