Unlike, seemingly every other journalist, I have never been wined, dined, charmed, sued or threatened by Jeffrey Archer, the energetic athlete, teacher, MP, novelist, peer, fundraiser, fantasist and jailbird who died last week. But Archer, in some ways, played an even more outsized role in my life. In 1991, aged 11, I picked up A Twist in the Tale, an entertaining collection of his short stories. And there, in ‘Check Mate’, I encountered sex – or at least the suggestion of sex – for the first time in any medium.

There was a strange wholesomeness to literary sex education

There was a strange wholesomeness to literary sex education

By today’s standards, the scene was relatively innocent. The captain of a local chess club finds himself captivated by a beautiful young woman at a tournament. He invites her home for more games of chess. If she loses, she strips. If she wins, he writes her a large cheque. I won’t spoil the ending, which is no less believable than the rest of the story. But this was heady stuff for a pre-adolescent at an all-boys’ school. Might it be a good idea, I wondered, to swap after-school rugby for chess club? That way, I’d be better prepared if I ever found myself in a regional,........

© The Spectator