[1] He left school at sixteen, and became a clerk for the Ministry of Health before spending four years working in coal mines under the Bevin Boys scheme.

[4] He served as Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Attorney General Sir Elwyn Jones (1967–1970) and in 1969 was the British representative on the United Nations' "third committee" on human rights.

In the new Labour government, led by Harold Wilson and then James Callaghan, he was appointed Solicitor General, a post he held until 1979.

[4] Archer and his colleague Attorney General Sam Silkin declined knighthoods, which was customary for individuals appointed to these positions.

[2] In the House of Lords, in 1998 he successfully proposed an amendment to the Crime and Disorder Bill which abolished the death penalty for treason.

[2] Paying tribute to him in The Independent, Tam Dalyell said: "Archer was one of those rare politicians who made judgements and whose actions followed what he believed to be right and eschewed what was wrong.