The exhibition, which includes Warhol’s famous images of Marilyn Monroe, Campbell’s soup tins and Chairman Mao, will be one of the largest staged in England. Dozens of David Hockney prints, from the artist’s private collection, will also go on show.
Lord Archer, the best-selling novelist and a former deputy chairman of the Tory party, has been building his collection for seven years. For the past three years, he has employed five researchers to scour the world and find the finest examples of the artist’s work. He now owns 317 oils and silk-screen prints, including 10 Marilyns, 10 Maos, 10 Campbell’s soups, three Lenins, and four Ronald Reagans, plus images of Mick Jagger, Donald Duck and Mickey Mouse.Although visitors to the Tory peer’s penthouse apartment overlooking the Thames have seen examples of the distinctive paintings, next to work by Monet, Lowry and Picasso, nobody appears to have known about the extent of his interest in Warhol. Lord Archer said he had been fascinated by Warhol, but had decided to sell because he believed the value of the paintings was at a premium. Estimates put the Warhol collection at about pounds 25m, but at least one work could reach pounds 10m at auction.

Last May, one of Warhol’s Marilyn prints, “The Orange Marilyn”, was sold at auction by Sotheby’s in New York for pounds 10.6m – more than five times the expected price.Lord Archer, who began collecting art 20 years ago, has hired a Bruton Street gallery for the exhibition, which begins on 20 October Only 65 pieces will be shown at any one time. An exhibit likely to be viewed as one of the most interesting is the black-on-black silk-screen of Marilyn Monroe, which is valued at pounds 60,000.The group of 83 signed Hockney prints, produced between 1952 and 1996, to go on show simultaneously, are from Hockney’s private collection and will fetch from pounds 500 to pounds 16,000. “This has been a cause of bitterness on Mr Rowland’s part ever since. For these last 13 years, he has conducted an unremitting campaign to vilify Mr Fayed, subject to one short interlude when a temporary peace broke out.”Friends have played down Mrs Rowland’s role in pursuing the feud, but she has been a determined defender of the Rowland name before. In 1993, she threatened to sue his biographer, Tom Bower, although the plan was dropped after legal advice that she had been “insufficiently abused” in the book, Tiny Rowland – A Rebel Tycoon. A spokesman for Mr Fayed said the Harrods owner had admitted the trespass into the safety box, but contested the charges of conspiracy to defraud and theft.The rivalry between Mr Rowland and Mr Fayed has a long history. In earlier court hearings, Christopher Carr, QC, for Mr Fayed, had stressed how Mr Rowland’s deeply-held ambition to own Harrods had been thwarted by Mr Fayed.

When he died, his wife took over the role of plaintiff in the case, due to start on 19 October. But the Crown Prosecution Service advised Scotland Yard that it had looked “very carefully” at the case, consulted senior Treasury counsel, and decided that there was “no realistic prospect of a conviction” relating to the allegations.Mr Rowland was determined to bring his business rival to court and instructed his solicitors, Cameron McKenna. THE late tycoon Tiny Rowland will continue his bitter feud with Mohamed Al Fayed from the grave next month, when his widow takes the owner of Harrods to the High Court. Josie Rowland will use a detailed witness statement claiming her husband swore in July, shortly before his death, to pursue a civil legal action. Mr Rowland had vowed to battle for his case, after Scotland Yard dropped an investigation into an alleged theft from his security deposit box at Harrods.
The tycoon, who began his dispute over the ownership of the House of Fraser, had claimed Mr Fayed was responsible for the theft of 500 documents, cut emeralds, uncut rubies and other treasures. The aim of the legislation is to stop people mas-querading as candidates for official parties by calling themselves something similar, such as Literal rather than Liberal Democrat.The banned words are: Duke, Duchess, Her Majesty, His Majesty, King, Prince, Princess, Queen, Royal, Royalty, Britain, British, Democratic, England, English, Independent, Ireland, Irish, National, Northern Ireland, Northern Irish, Unofficial, Scotland, Scottish, Wales, Welsh.. Parties could even be banned from calling themselves “democratic” under the new rules.The level of detail has amazed some party officials and enraged others.

Under the regulations – which will not apply to existing names – titles such as the Scottish National Party, the National Front and the British National Party would be illegal.The rules are being introduced as part of the Registration of Political Parties Bill, designed to prevent voter confusion. THE QUEEN’S head has been banned from the euro note. Now her name is to be outlawed from politics, writes Rachel Sylvester. The Government is planning to publish a list of nearly 30 words which political parties cannot use in their names. They include all royal words, such as King, Queen, Duke, Prince and Her Majesty, and patriotic words like British, English, Scottish and National.
The word “independent” is to be forbidden because the Government believes it gives the wrong impression of partisan politicians. It has already demanded a 10 per cent rise, but delegates called for a pounds 2,000 across-the-board increase – worth up to 16.5 per cent for the lowest paid staff.Mr McAvoy condemned the Government’s submission last week to the School Teachers’ Pay Review Body, calling for restraint in this year’s pay deal.A Green Paper of teachers’ pay and conditions, due to be published later this autumn, will include “fundamental” reform of teachers’ pay scales – widely expected to include performance-related pay.The NUT yesterday debated a compromise pay structure linking salary increases to tests of teachers’ professional skills.But Mr McAvoy said any attempt to impose a system linking pay and exam results or appraisals by head teachers, would provoke fury.He also branded “obscene” a pounds 30,000 pay rise awarded to Chris Woodhead, the controversial Chief Inspector of Schools, earlier this month, taking his salary to pounds 115,000..

THE LARGEST teaching union yesterday threw down the gauntlet to the Government, threatening bitter strikes to prevent the introduction of payment by results in schools. Doug McAvoy, General Secretary of the 192,000-strong National Union of Teachers, said the issue was explosive.
Delegates meeting in Harrogate issued an ultimatum on performance-related pay to ministers gathering for the Labour Party conference in Blackpool.The union also threatened industrial action over this year’s pay claim. Many in Delhi believe Mr Rushdie’s own words could come back to haunt him.
Focus, page 23PHOTOGRAPH BY DIETER LUDWIG. In Mr Rushdie’s novel, The Moor’s Last Sigh, he described the residents of an Indian mansion at war with one another. “Once divided, always divided, in the household it was a fight to the bloody finish,” he wrote. Ministers want to introduce kiosks, possibly in post offices, where people could pay tax or claim money from the Government with their card.But the Future Unit acknowledges concerns that electronic signatures could infringe civil liberties and says the Government must introduce strict regulations to ensure data is protected..