Jeffrey Archer lay on hotel suite floor during 2013 Chennai interview after cricket remark
In 2013 at the Taj Coromandel in Chennai, British author Jeffrey Archer lay on the suite floor and mimed brushing the carpet during an interview arranged to discuss his book Best Kept Secret, the third volume in the Clifton Chronicles. The exchange escalated into a brief argument before Archer rose and invited the interviewer to continue.
The interviewer said they had grown up reading Archer alongside Sidney Sheldon, Michael Chrichton and John Grisham and arrived early for the meeting while working at a previous media organisation. A television in Archer’s room was showing highlights from the India-Australia match at Mohali, and the interviewer, aware that Archer was an ardent cricket fan, intended to use that context as an ice-breaker. The interviewer recalled reading about Archer’s passion for English county cricket and his admiration for players such as Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid, and decided to open with a compliment about India’s recent form.
When the interviewer introduced themself and remarked on how good India had been, Archer looked the visitor straight in the eye, rose from his chair and lay on the floor, beginning to brush the carpet. “This,” he thundered at a hapless me, “This is how you wipe your cricket grounds.”
Archer continued the pantomime, wielding an imaginary towel and mop until the motion reached the interviewer’s legs, prompting the visitor to wonder how the interview would pan out. “Rubbish,” he said, in a thick English accent, “Mops and buckets...rubbish.” Archer was referring to the practice of Indian groundsmen sweeping and sponging off rainwater from the playing arena, taking off from that first day of the rain-hit Test match at Mohali.
The interviewer, describing themselves as an Indian cricket fan, said they felt annoyed and reminded Archer that India had already won a couple of matches in that series; Archer replied, in a booming voice, “But you lost against England at home – so don’t get me started on that!” The room fell quiet, the PR professional in the corner froze and the accompanying photographer kept his finger off the shutter to avoid any sound, while Archer remained on the floor looking up.
Archer perceived the tension, rose quickly and patted the interviewer’s shoulder in reassurance, which prompted a sigh of relief from the visitor. The interviewer wrote that the moment passed and Archer then asked, “Shall we begin the interview?”
Archer’s question ended the awkward exchange and, according to the interviewer, the scheduled conversation proceeded thereafter without further incident.