Good Morning Britain presenters Susanna Reid and Ed Balls opened Tuesday's (October 6) live show with tragic news, revealing that Lord Jeffrey Archer had died "suddenly and peacefully" at the age of 86.
Lord Archer's final novel and health
During the show, Susanna revealed that Lord Archer had been scheduled to appear on the programme to promote his final novel, Adam and Eve. She said: "We were hoping to talk to Jeffrey Archer on the programme this morning.
"Our producer had had a long conversation with him yesterday afternoon, early in the afternoon, said that he was in great spirits. The two things he was really keen to talk about, his new novel, which he calls his final novel, and he said that beforehand, said that it was drawing down the curtain on his novel writing career."
Tributes from colleagues and fans
Kate Elton, HarperCollins UK's chief executive and Archer's editor, added in a statement: "It has been one of the great privileges of my publishing life to have been Jeffrey Archer's editor. 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."
Lord Archer also prepared to speak about prostate cancer, after his own diagnosis. Susanna said: "He'd been diagnosed and treated for prostate cancer. However, he bounced back from that as well and, in fact, Richard Madeley had talked to him in September last year, when he was 85 years old, about his health."
Ed Balls said: "I was actually in touch with him just a couple of days ago. He was in contact with me, with voice notes and texts going backwards and forwards.
"[This was] at a time the Conservative party conference is starting, [and] his novel was about to come out. What he was doing was asking for help for a hospital charity he's involved in... At 86, he had an energy and a vibrancy until the last hours of his life."
Social media reaction
Tributes have been paid to Lord Archer across social media. "Very sad to hear that Jeffrey Archer has passed on. Big fan of his for many years," one person wrote on X.
GMB regular Martin Lewis added: "Wow, Jeffrey Archer has passed away. Clearly a checkered life, but I still remember reading and being absolutely gripped by Kane & Able as a tween, and read many of his other books in my teens. He certainly could write a page turner!"
Someone else commented: "I must have read everything Jeffrey Archer wrote. What a man. What a life!"
