Thank you, thank you very much.

•Wonderful to have you here in a bookshop in Gurgaon, Landmark, in a mall.

Yes, which wouldn't have been. When I first came to India 15 years ago, there wouldn't have been a mall.

•You said you never came to India because you were never invited. You need an invite to come to India?

I thank Landmark very kindly. They said, 'We would like to do a proper tour. We know you have been to India, but we would like to take you around the country because you've got a lot of fans here.' And I said, 'Well, I have seen the figures from the Kane & Abel days, which is 30 years ago. And they said, 'Oh, they are buying more now that you are even more popular. So we would like you to come over.' So I had just done Australia for the fifth time, and I had just done America for the seventh time.

•Which (Australia) sometimes is the enemy country in India because we are playing them in cricket and fighting with them.

No, they are nothing like you. You are totally different. Only in numbers, they buy a lot of books. But they aren't anything like you. I am very conscious of the recent rivalry, dare I say it, because you are the two best teams in the world. And therefore everyone is more interested in a match between India and Australia than anything else. Because frankly you beat them recently. We beat them in the Ashes. And we got to play them next year.

•Well, of Australia's last ten defeats in all forms of the game, seven were against us. So we are doing OK.

You are way ahead. But then you have one of the finest batting line-ups I have ever seen in my lifetime. When you can open with a man who scores 300 . . . in one day, and then you can turn to arguably the greatest batsman of our lifetime, then you can turn to one of the most beautiful, stylish batsmen of our lifetime, who has got a higher test average -- Rahul Dravid has got a higher test average than Tendulkar. And Ganguly ain't bad, and V.V.S. Laxman ain't bad, and that is before you come to Kumble, who decides to score 50 now and then.

•And don't forget Dhoni.

Oh yes! He is a wonderful find. We only saw him for the first time in the World Cup. We saw him then and he looks like a captain to me too. He looks like a leader.

•You also found time to catch up with old cricketing pals.

Well, all the way . . . I am hoping to have lunch with the Nawab of Pataudi, a couple of days ago Kapil Dev dropped in as well. Just before I came, when India were in England I had dinner with Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid. Which was a great privilege. I chatted to them about not just cricket, because they love reading. They both are big readers. And they explained that because they are on the plane a lot, they are in strange countries a lot, they are in hotel rooms a lot, they read a lot. They need books. So they all read this one (his latest work A Prisoner of Birth).

•Pataudi and you were in college together.

Yes, he was captain of India. And captain of Oxford when I was president of athletics at Oxford. And he was a legend because of his great father. I mean, to anybody who watches the game of cricket, his father is God. But here was this man who had an accident and lost his eye, and we all said, 'Well, that is the end of him. He's gone.' And he has the courage and determination to change his stance and play the game again. And what an example to young people.

•And perhaps the first Indian who could field like an athlete.

Yes. Fielding has become mad recently. The best thing the one day game did and the Twenty20 game did was change fielding. I can see Bradman now skidding a ball past Dennis Compton and he wouldn't have even bothered to chase it. He would have just said that is a four. And since those days, you had the South African . . .

•Jonty Rhodes?

Well, I was thinking of before, I was thinking of Bland.

•Colin Bland, yes.

Bland, a beautiful fielder, and then Jonty Rhodes later. And now they all do. Everybody is a Jonty Rhodes. Unbelievable.

•And they catch them.

But they are hitting the ball harder too. It's still a great game.

•And the bats are getting better.

Oh yes! The whole process is getting better. It still balances out because if you catch that wonderful catch it balances out.

•In fact you wrote in your blog before you came here that you want to see a Twenty20 match. And I saw you in the one last weekend. But it wasn't a very good match because of the rains.

One of the weaknesses is that if you play for 11 overs and you get three more, the team that follows afterwards has such an advantage.

•I can see already that you are sympathising with Delhi.

Yeah! Well, I would have sympathised with whoever batted first. You can't know the game is going to be 13 overs. If you knew the game was going to be 13 overs with 10 batsmen you would play a very different game. So despite Duckworth-Lewis being as fair as can be, it is not fair on the first side.

•I can see that even though you say don't like the Twenty20 game so much, you are quite passionate talking about it.

Well, yes. But real cricket is a test match between England and India at Lords.

•Minus the cheerleaders.

Yes, yes.

•Or we can do with them.

Well, I was very aware in the Delhi match that there were 42,000 people cheering and of course it made the players play much harder. I have reported in my blog today that the big thing that came out for me that this was not messing about. They were playing for their lives, these guys. And part of that was. . .

•Your market value next year. You play for your stock price now.

I accept that. But the crowd were also. You could not not be affected by 42,000 people cheering every ball.

•You know, we will get to less serious business in a moment. But let's stick to cricket. What is the problem with English cricket? Why so many injuries? You know, you produce a star, somebody who swings the entire series, Simon Jones, and then injury forever.

Great player, won the Ashes for us.

•Harmison. Injuries all the time. Michael Vaughan, one great series, one great century, then injury. Flintoff! Just what's going on?

I can't put a finger on the injuries and now you have raised it, I shall have to go away and think, because clearly, mind you Sachin Tendulkar has been injured. A few times in the last year.

•Yes, but he has scored more than 10,000 runs still. So he is durable. I mean he gets injured but he is durable.

I don't know the answer to that question.

•Trescothick? See, anybody who rises like a star then has an injury following it.

Ah, we do not need that at the moment. We need all our best players out and playing well. If we are going to play India seriously, Australia is the Ashes next year for us. We have to have the best 11 men on the pitch.

•You have no ideas on why Englishmen suffer more injuries than the rest?

No. I can't explain it. Beyond me.

•But there is a problem.

A massive problem.

•Let me ask you, because you were a physical education teacher to begin with.

And I ran for my country.

•Right. So it is not as though these people are less athletic than previous generations. There are more stresses on them?

Oh, I can't believe there are more stresses on them. They are more athletic. If you look at Truman and Statham, Cowdrey and Crompton.

•Cowdrey I remember. He was sizeable.

He was way overweight. So no, that is not the answer. Cowdrey got injured. So they are more athletic today.

•Jeffrey, let's get back to your very interesting life. An MP at 29, topped whatever you started to do. You now say you are only going to be a writer. Are you mellowing?

I will never mellow.

•You have always done six things at the same time.

I have never mellowed. I still like doing six things at the same time. But writing is the first thing in my life. A Prisoner of Birth has been such a shock for me in India. They were just selling off the shelf. Literally running off the shelf, which is wonderful, which is why I am here. I am in the middle of a new book now, which will be finished in three years time. So that is the thing I most do.

•No 26?

Well, the 15th novel, No 26. Quite right, quite right. And then I develop charity auctioneering, which I enjoy. Particularly for cricketers. Last week I did one for Ian Botham for his leukemia trust. Raised a lot of money for leukemia. In fact that night we raised half a millions pounds. The auction raised 206 thousand pounds. So I do a lot of that. I still love the theatre, I still love art, so my life is occupied morning, noon and night.

•But, you know, giving up politics must be tough, given the fact you that you started out as a politician before you became a writer.

Yes. But one has to face the facts. I served Margaret Thatcher for 11 years. I served John Major for seven years.

•You proposed his name, or you suggested his name as a likely prime minister?

I thought he would . . . way back when I saw him as a junior minister I thought that this man was special. And I thought that he would become a prime minister.

•Didn't become the most spectacular prime minister, though.

Became a very good prime minister. I think history will judge him. It is not easy to follow Margaret Thatcher. I mean, I have heard a lot of people say, 'I would have liked to become prime minister, but I would prefer not to follow Margaret Thatcher.' She was so remarkable a giant.

•But it would have been easier for somebody who follows Tony Blair and Gordon Brown now?

No. Gordon Brown is already finding it hard to follow a man who has been in office for ten years. And indeed won three elections in a row. It would be foolish to underestimate the achievements of Tony Blair. Gordon Brown is having a hard time in the same way Sir John Major did.

•Well Gordon Brown can't get anything right. It would have been nice if it would have been Tory at this time.

Yes, the timing is good for the Tories at the moment. It is not easy for Gordon Brown, as I say, he came in behind a leader who won three times in a row. He waited 10 years for the job and to begin with everything went wonderfully and if he had held elections to begin with before the party conferences, I think he would have won by 50 or 60. But he held on. Young advisers were pressing him hard to go to the country. He said no. He is a naturally cautious man. And I don't think he wanted to be the most short-lived prime minister in history. The polls showed he would have won clearly by 50 or 60 and now he is clinging on for the whole two years.

•This sounds like a Geoffrey Boycott innings.

We don't have to suffer that.

•But tell me something, do you feel bad the Tories shut the door on you?

No. I can assure you they have not the shut the door on me. I am very much a member in two of my constituencies. The fact that I don't do anything is my choice. I don't want to do anything. I am very happy writing. It is what I love doing and if you came around the store you would know from what's been going on. In fact, your opening sentence when I came in was that, 'Do you have any idea how popular you are?' And it was brought home to me by one of the journalists saying, 'Look, you may be No 1 on the New York Times bestsellers list, you may be Number 1 on the London Times or the Sydney Morning Herald, in Canada or whatever it is . . . but here, they sell you at traffic lights. That's when you know.

•Not always authentic copies (are sold at traffic lights).

Well, that I am told. Not authentic. It is tough on a place like Landmark, because they have got all these staff they are employing.

•You know, I asked Paulo Coelho this once, and he said, 'Look, I sell so much in India that I don't care if pirated copies are sold -- because that way I get more readers.'

That is a fair point for the author, but it is a bit rough on Landmark and the employees of the publishers because they are desperate to bring out a beautiful book, properly presented at a sensible price and if they are undermined . . . I mean my book was at London airport on a Friday. It first appeared at London airport on a Friday, it was on the streets of Delhi 48 hours later. They had printed it and were selling it.

•Well, that is what they do to most Bollywood movies as well.

Well, do they. Do they really? I am not surprised.

•Well, there has been some disciplining, but not enough. But sticking on to your life, which is as interesting as the plot in most of your books, all the things you have done -- you did some successfully -- the fame, the books, the youngest MP, most promising politician, star and then nearing bankruptcy, conviction for perjury. Are there moments when you say to yourself, 'Jeffrey, you have been stupid?'

Of course. I am sure even you have, at some point of time. I mean, I have never met a person whose life was perfect from beginning to end and did not make a mistake.

•Well, everybody's life is imperfect, but most people's lives are not as interesting as yours.

Oh, there are quite a few. But they are not on the front pages. I have a friend at the moment who is dying of cancer, I have another friend who has gone bankrupt at 65. And would not have any money for the rest of his life. That is serious. Both of those would like to have a couple of years in jail to get back to normal.

•If only they could trade it.

Yes, very much.

•Only Jeffrey Archer could have said this. The unkind comment would have been, you know, an Indian jail, would have been tougher.

That's true, I am told.

•So, when you look back on the mistakes you have made, which ones are the worst?

It is very foolish to look back. You see, that in itself is stupid, because if you spend time looking back, you don't move forward, you sit on the ground and start crying and say 'Oh gosh, I have made a mistake' and 'Oh, what a terrible thing. I regret it.' And nothing happens. You've got to fight back, you've got to write another book or whatever that you do, you have got to do your thing and come back. And I think it is very easy to blame someone else for what's happened to you. It is very easy to start grumbling for what has happened to you. Dust yourself down and get on with it. So now I am not going to answer your question about what are the most stupid things I have done because I prefer you would have said what are the achievements you have had in your life? Here, today, I stand in India today with a book at No 1. I am not complaining.

•Achievements we all know. I am trying to get into your mind. Do you introspect?

No.

•This is the land of introspection.

It is. India is famous for it. And young people tell me how do you do that? How do you fight on? You are quiet as a race, and I find you quite introspective.

•All humans are introspective. But was it a conscious decision for you to leave everything behind? Start a new book and get on with life?

No, no. I think a human being is a human being. Whatever your character is, it's formed at a young age and whatever you do, you do. And I am someone who fights back. Other people feel sorry for themselves and say the world is an unfair place. That is not my style.

•How did your friends treat you?

Couldn't be better. I have a champagne and shepherd's pie party at Christmas and I sent out the usual 400 invitations. And only eight out of the 400 did not reply. And on the other side it is very simple to say to you that my public stayed very loyal.

•And is one of these eight, the guy who deposed against you in court?

Yes. Exactly he was one of the eight. No, to be fair that is not accurate, because he was not invited. I am talking about the 400 who were invited. Only eight did not come. Couple of them I have tried to get back to. So, now I go to my other point: those were my friends and God bless them, they stood by me. The fans, readers were absolutely loyal so the books sold even more. I wouldn't have a complaint with the fans as they have been absolutely with me.

•And the party? Does the party show a sense of embarrassment?

Oh, it was bound to have, wasn't it? But I am member of my local constituency and I remain in the House of Lords but my first interest is writing.

•Right, and that continues?

Very much, I know what my next book is. Funny enough, it is set in India for the first time ever. First time I have written something that is set in India, because I have decided to write a story about a real person and write it as a novel. And he came to India three times and that is the only thing I am going to tell you. But it is fun and I am on the seventh draft and I think that it will be ready in a year's time.

•Well, these days unless you have . . . it is like an investment banker, you know, the first question you are asked is, 'Have you made investments in China or in India?' I think that should be true of novelists as well.

Well, do you mean what is happening in India? And am I aware of it?

•No, no, no. I mean India is such a big market. India is so important that even a fiction writer can't just stay in the west.

I was in America for the recent promotion of A Prisoner of Birth and I was interviewed by the Wall Street Journal. Very serious interviewer. And he asked, 'Are you going to India? 'and I said, 'Yes, it is my first tour of India.' He said, 'Do you realise there are more people in India who will buy your book than there are in the US? There are more people reading English in India than there are in the whole of the United States.' He said you will find out when you get there that it is a massive market and growing.

•You know, I know you have your interest in so many things, also in cricket, but also on the fourth estate, the media, for example. What is your view on Murdoch now?

Well, Murdoch. He is one of the most successful media moguls in history, you cannot take that away from him. He now conquers whole countries. And he is a remarkable and I don't envy those who follow him because he is an old man. I don't envy those who follow him and keep his empire going because his father was a remarkable man.

•In his family.

Yes, in the family.

•So that is the question I am coming to: what happens to Murdoch's empire after Murdoch?

It will be fascinating to see because a giant like that doesn't come that often.

•Because his family is squabbling.

Yes, I read in the press they are, but I don't know for a fact. You read lot in the press and you wonder if it's true. I'm loathe to say that I have read it in the press and therefore it is true. That is not the case.

•Well, you can presume that if you read something about the Murdochs in the press, that it is at least in that section of the press that is not owned by Murdoch.

Yes.

•Which sometimes tends to be more credible than the press owned by Murdoch?

Yes, I see where you are going with this.

•So, do you see Murdoch's empire growing, surviving, declining post-Murdoch?

I think it is so solid now that it would be strange if it declined. It is a giant. I mean I can think of industries in India where you can say the same thing. I mean the Tata empire, is that going to decline, it is a remarkable achievement.

•The Tata empire is much more professionally run. There is a personality and that personality does not have a child. So he does not have an inheritor in that sense.

That is true. That is the big difference.

•But don't compare Ratan Tata with Rupert Murdoch.

I wasn't. I was merely comparing the empires.

•And one's empire is purely media. The Tata's are so diversified.

All over the place, and it is clear to me as I go around what a national hero he is.

•Is Rupert Murdoch a national hero in Australia?

I think he is admired.

•And Britain? Do you see any change there?

Massive. It is going to be taken over by the Indians. And I don't joke. This may be an old joke and you might have heard it in which case. Lord Paul's son told a wonderful story about England. He said, he had seen a van going through the East End of London, and it said, 'Patel & Patel Plumbers'. (And it had the slogan) 'You've given the cowboys a chance, why don't you let in the Indians.' That was brilliant. I though it was summing of the affection the British people have for the Indians.

•You know, as the history of the world tells us, when immigrants become successful . . . when immigrants are new, they are with the liberals, and when they become successful, they become conservatives.

And then they become prime minister. Now what you are doing is what the Jews did 30-40 years ago when they came to England after the War. They took over the local councils and they became mayors. Now they are in Parliament. The Indians are now taking over the local councils. There are mayors all over England who are Indian. You are young enough, I suspect, to live to see an Indian prime minister in England.

•Well, that will be interesting. But next year will we see a Tory prime minister?

I don't think next year. I think he will go all the way to 2010. So I think that the British elections would be May 2010. The heavy betting at the moment is a hung parliament.

•Because Labour is in a mess right now. I don't know what you make of Cherie Blair's book, for instance. All these lurid details coming out.

You have to accept the fact that when Margaret Thatcher stood against Jim Callahan she was 18 points ahead in the opinion polls with two years to go. On election day, she only won by three points, she only just won that election. So it would be very foolish for an English politician to say. We are here now, but where we will be exactly in two years time I can't tell you.

•And how do you look at Cherie Blair's book?

I haven't seen it because I have been abroad. I have seen bits of it in the Indian papers. Well, I will have to get back to England and see what she has written. But it isn't taking up massive space in the Indian papers. I had heard about it from people in London but I would be loathe to comment on it.

•What do you think of the Blairs? How do you compare them with the Clintons?

Very alike, actually. Now, that you mention those two particular ones. Very charismatic, very hardworking, very intelligent, very good at winning elections. Both of them. I mean Blair won three elections in a row, Clinton won both his presidencies. They are both winners in that way. And I suspect their policies are not unalike as well.

•But as people, personally?

The Indian race always like to know things personally. They cannot bear being told that he is just a good prime minister or a bad prime minister. They want to know what he does on a Saturday night. The answer is, I don't know. I don't know Tony Blair well. I haven't worked with him. I have only ever seen Tony Blair at a distance. I have spoken to him a few times, seen him on TV and read about him. So you would have to ask a Labour politician that question.

•I ask you because you are from the other side. So I thought you may be able to take a look at it.

I see him as a winner. I see him as someone who beat us three times in a row. I think the Labour party made a terrible mistake in ditching him. He was the one who I think if they had a chance to win the election, he was the man who could have done it for them.

•That is not going to happen and chances are that soon enough we will have a Tory prime minister. And I do hope before that happens you are back in India with you new book.

I will be.

•And Jeffrey Archer you never need an invite to come back to India.

That is very kind. Thank you very much indeed.

•So nice chatting with you.

Thank you.