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