''Not a Penny More, Not a Penny Less'' was
Jeffrey Archer
Jeffrey Howard Archer, Baron Archer of Weston-super-Mare (born 15 April 1940) is an English novelist, life peer, convicted criminal, and former politician. Before becoming an author, Archer was a Member of Parliament (1969–1974), but did not ...
's first novel, first published in 1976. It was said to have been inspired by Archer's real-life experience of near-
bankruptcy
Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor ...
.
Synopsis
Harvey Metcalfe, a Polish immigrant to the United States, rises from messenger boy to corporate magnate, combining business skills with little loyalty and much ruthlessness. Over 40 years, he has mastered the
shady deal, and by the 1960s is a multi-millionaire.
Taking advantage of a British decision to allow companies to claim
North Sea
The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian S ...
oil drilling rights with little money down, Metcalfe creates Prospecta Oil, a paper company designed to look good and bring in investors, to be left hanging out to dry when the bottom drops out. Metcalfe's agents hire David Kesler, a Harvard MBA who talks up the company to the four protagonists: Stephen Bradley, an American
professor
Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who pr ...
at the
University of Oxford
, mottoeng = The Lord is my light
, established =
, endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019)
, budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20)
, chancellor ...
; Dr Robin Oakley, a
Harley Street
Harley Street is a street in Marylebone, Central London, which has, since the 19th century housed a large number of private specialists in medicine and surgery. It was named after Edward Harley, 2nd Earl of Oxford and Earl Mortimer.< ...
doctor; Jean-Pierre Lamanns, a French art dealer with a gallery in London; and James Brigsley, heir to an earldom.
They each buy Prospecta stock and Metcalfe (indirectly) sells out at the top of the market. The stock crashes, and the four are left with major losses.
But Metcalfe has cheated the wrong men. Bradley learns of Metcalfe's responsibility; discovering that there is no
legal recourse
A legal recourse is an action that can be taken by an individual or a corporation to attempt to remedy a legal difficulty.
* A lawsuit if the issue is a matter of civil law
* Contracts that require mediation or arbitration before a dispute can go ...
, he organizes the four to steal the money back, using Harvey's interests and weaknesses. All four are to come up with plans, and three quickly do. James, however, is unable to. He is more successful at courting Anne Summerton, an American model.
Jean-Pierre is successful at getting Harvey to buy a fake
Van Gogh
Vincent Willem van Gogh (; 30 March 185329 July 1890) was a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter who posthumously became one of the most famous and influential figures in Western art history. In a decade, he created about 2,100 artworks, inclu ...
painting — he has always wanted one. When Harvey heads to
Monte Carlo
Monte Carlo (; ; french: Monte-Carlo , or colloquially ''Monte-Carl'' ; lij, Munte Carlu ; ) is officially an administrative area of the Principality of Monaco, specifically the ward of Monte Carlo/Spélugues, where the Monte Carlo Casino is ...
on vacation, a pill in his drink at the
Casino
A casino is a facility for certain types of gambling. Casinos are often built near or combined with hotels, resorts, restaurants, retail shopping, cruise ships, and other tourist attractions. Some casinos are also known for hosting live entertai ...
causes severe abdominal pain which is made to look like a
gallstone
A gallstone is a calculus (medicine), stone formed within the gallbladder from precipitated bile components. The term cholelithiasis may refer to the presence of gallstones or to any disease caused by gallstones, and choledocholithiasis refers to ...
, and Robin operates, though barely breaking the skin, and collects a large bill. Stephen impersonates an Oxford official, as do the others, and gets Harvey to think he is getting an honorary degree in exchange for a contribution. James, though unable to come up with a plan of his own, has been crucial to the success of the others' plans — and when he meets Anne's father, he learns that he is none other than Harvey.
James instructs the others to execute a complex financial fraud, and flies them to Boston for the wedding as ushers, though not giving formal invitations. They learn who the bride's father is. The wedding cheque from Harvey, plus ransacking Harvey's greenhouses for wedding flowers, reduces the million dollar debt to $1.24, though Stephen sulks on the plane home about the missing money.
They land in London to learn that a new BP oil field has been discovered next to Prospecta Oil's tract, sending Prospecta shares to record highs. They now have the stolen million back, and the shares are worth well over a million. Stephen proposes they figure out how to give the stolen million back.
Adaptation
Don Sharp
Donald Herman Sharp (19 April 192114 December 2011) was an Australian film director.
His best known films were made for Hammer Film Productions, Hammer in the 1960s, and included ''The Kiss of the Vampire'' (1963) and ''Rasputin, the Mad Monk' ...
said he worked on a version of the book in the 1970s but at that stage there was confusion about who had the rights.
In 1990 the book was adapted as a four-hour, two-part mini-series, directed by
Clive Donner
Clive Stanley Donner (21 January 1926 – 6 September 2010)Ronald Bergan]Obituary: Clive Donner ''The Guardian'', 7 September 2010 was a British film Film director, director who was part of the British New Wave, directing films such as ''Th ...
with
Ed Asner
Eddie Asner (; November 15, 1929 – August 29, 2021) was an American actor and former president of the Screen Actors Guild. He is best remembered for portraying Lou Grant during the 1970s and early 1980s, on both ''The Mary Tyler Moore Show'' an ...
as Harvey Metcalfe,
Ed Begley Jr. as Stephen Bradley,
François-Éric Gendron
François-Éric Gendron (15 March 1954 in Fontainebleau, Seine-et-Marne) is a French actor.François Thomas ''L'atelier d'Alain Resnais'' 1989 Page 291 "De son côté, Adolph Green viendra à Paris passer une semaine de travail intensif avec Resn ...
as Jean-Pierre Lamanns,
Brian Protheroe
Brian Protheroe (born 16 June 1944) is an English musician, actor and narrator. He is best known for his first single, "Pinball", which was released in August 1974, and entered the UK Singles Chart at number 40 and reached a peak of number 22. ...
as James Brigsley and
Nicholas Jones as Dr. Robin Oakley, and also starring
Jenny Agutter
Jennifer Ann Agutter (born 20 December 1952) is a British actress. She began her career as a child actress in 1964, appearing in ''East of Sudan'', '' Star!'', and two adaptations of ''The Railway Children''—the BBC's 1968 television serial ...
and
Maryam d'Abo
Maryam d'Abo is a British actress, best known as Bond girl Kara Milovy in the 1987 James Bond film ''The Living Daylights''.
Early life and education
Born in London to Georgian mother Nino Kvinitadze, daughter of General Giorgi Kvinitadze, and ...
.
A text adventure game adaption based on the book was developed and published by
Domark
Square Enix Limited (formerly Domark Limited and Eidos Interactive Limited) is a British subsidiary of the Japanese video game company Square Enix, acting as their European publishing arm. The company formerly owned ''Tomb Raider'', which was in ...
, and released in 1987 for the
Amstrad CPC
The Amstrad CPC (short for ''Colour Personal Computer'') is a series of 8-bit home computers produced by Amstrad between 1984 and 1990. It was designed to compete in the mid-1980s home computer market dominated by the Commodore 64 and the Sin ...
,
Atari XL,
BBC Micro
The British Broadcasting Corporation Microcomputer System, or BBC Micro, is a series of microcomputers and associated peripherals designed and built by Acorn Computers in the 1980s for the BBC Computer Literacy Project. Designed with an emphas ...
,
Commodore 64
The Commodore 64, also known as the C64, is an 8-bit home computer introduced in January 1982 by Commodore International (first shown at the Consumer Electronics Show, January 7–10, 1982, in Las Vegas). It has been listed in the Guinness ...
and
ZX Spectrum
The ZX Spectrum () is an 8-bit computing, 8-bit home computer that was developed by Sinclair Research. It was released in the United Kingdom on 23 April 1982, and became Britain's best-selling microcomputer.
Referred to during development as t ...
computers.
References
External links
*
Not a Penny More, Not a Penny Lessat the
Internet Movie Database
IMDb (an abbreviation of Internet Movie Database) is an online database of information related to films, television series, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and personal biographies, ...
{{Jeffrey Archer
1976 British novels
Novels by Jeffrey Archer
Jonathan Cape books
Fraud in fiction
British novels adapted into television shows
1976 debut novels