Ryan Tubridy has shared a snippet of what ended up being his final interview with Jeffrey Archer.
The accomplished author passed away earlier this month, just before the publication of his final novel, Adam and Eve.
Jeffrey was set to participate in a live sit-down interview with Ryan Tubridy in London, but an hour before they were set to take to the stage, Ryan was informed by Jeffrey’s publicist that he had passed away. The pair had been working on a series of interviews over the previous four months.
Ryan had been interviewing Jeffrey for a new series, titled Life with Ryan Tubridy, which was released on social media on Friday, and shared a clip from what ended up being one of Jeffrey’s final interviews.
‘Shortly before he died, I sat with Jeffrey Archer for a series of interviews,’ Ryan wrote on his Instagram story. ‘Now available to watch: Life with Ryan Tubridy on YouTube.’
The clip discussed how Jeffrey came upon the title Adam and Eve, saying that while of course there is the biblical fable of the first two humans, there was never a novel using the same title.
‘If you write Cain and Abel, if you write Adam and Eve, the reader goes, “this can’t be casual,”‘ Jeffrey explained. ‘The first thing I did was take it to my publisher three years before, and my editor said, “Don’t tell anyone.” I said, “Why?” She said, “[The title is] so easy to steal. Anyone can write a love story and change it to Adam and Eve.”‘
After ensuring that the idea was an original, Jeffrey began writing the book, and completed it — however, less than two weeks after the book’s release, Jeffrey passed away in his sleep.
Ryan said that he was due to present a sit-down interview with Jeffrey in front of an audience of over 100 people, and paid an emotional tribute to him on social media.
‘I was sitting in the canteen at work here in London last night putting the finishing touches to my notes for an event that was due to start within the hour,’ Ryan wrote.
‘I was all set to sit down with Jeffrey Archer on stage in front of 120 of his readers one day ahead of the publication of his last novel, Adam and Eve. It was then that I heard the awful news that Jeffrey had died moments earlier. It was shocking and utterly unexpected.
‘Jeffrey was not an uncomplicated man with a storied past and a stellar writing career. He was mischievous and curious in equal measure. Many of you will have read his books as your first introduction to adult fiction,’ Ryan continued. ‘I loved his short stories as a young reader.’
Ryan revealed that he had been working with Archer over the past four months, conducting a ‘series of interviews in his apartment whereby some of his friends called by and I’d moderate a chat about their respective pasts.’
‘It was fascinating to eavesdrop on these intriguing lives. Prue Leith, Patricia Hodge, Tim Rice, Joanna Lumley, Anthony Horowitz and Gyles Brandreth were among the cavalcade of storytellers,’ he continued.
‘You can watch them on YouTube if you like (just search Life with Ryan Tubridy) and listen in on some beautifully bonkers conversations.
‘For Jeffrey to die like this: Suddenly and on the eve of publication of his last ever novel? He couldn’t have written it better himself.’
