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00:06Agatha Christie was the queen of crime fiction.
00:10In a career that spanned more than half a century and two world wars,
00:15she wrote 80 novels and short stories,
00:18creating unforgettable characters like Hercule Poirot and Miss Jane Marple.
00:26Her publisher said, you know, we are Christie for Christmas,
00:30which is slightly ghastly, isn't it?
00:33But she just did it, you know, so she gave him a book every year
00:36and they're all damn good.
00:40Revered as the master of suspense,
00:43Agatha Christie perfected the art of the whodunit.
00:48A small cast of characters with interwoven lives
00:52and the perfect crime solved by a master detective.
00:58Her mysteries were a masterpiece in misdirection.
01:03As a result, she sold over two billion books worldwide,
01:07translated into over 45 languages.
01:10Her play, The Mousetrap,
01:12is the longest running in theatrical history.
01:17But rather like a character in one of her books,
01:20in her lifetime, Agatha gave little of her true self away.
01:25She loathed public appearances.
01:28This is awful.
01:31I never have been any good at making speeches.
01:35It turns out Agatha's public persona was also a misdirection
01:40and her life was every bit as mysterious as one of her novels.
01:45There were rumours of a breakdown,
01:47an unexplained disappearance,
01:49and an acrimonious divorce.
01:53Yet Agatha set it all aside
01:55to become the best-selling author of all time.
02:28And I'll see you next time.
02:35One of the luckiest things that can happen to you in life
02:38Is to have a happy childhood
02:40I had a very happy childhood
02:45Agatha Christie was born Agatha Mary Clarissa Miller
02:50On the 15th of September 1890
02:52In the fashionable seaside town of Torquay
02:56Favoured by the upper classes
03:00Agatha spent a blissful and carefree childhood
03:03Under the watchful eye of her doting and attentive mother, Clara
03:09But with her brother and sister very much older
03:12Agatha was the sole focus of her mother's attentions
03:18Despite any formal schooling
03:20Agatha had taught herself to read
03:23And spent her time absorbed in practically every storybook
03:27On her parents' bookshelves
03:31Her mother encouraged Agatha's vivid imagination
03:34And they formed a close bond
03:36They were practically inseparable
03:42By the time she was 18
03:44When other young ladies were preoccupied with sewing and poetry
03:48Agatha had developed a special interest in melodramatic murder mysteries
03:55She had been bitten by the writing bug
03:59And began to draft the outline of her very own mystery
04:05Very quickly, a succession of short stories followed
04:09The Call of Wings
04:10The House of Beauty
04:12And the Little Lonely God
04:14And the Little Lonely God
04:14Were all sent off to magazines to be published
04:18But they were all rejected
04:21Agatha wasn't discouraged
04:23Because she'd never set out to be a professional writer
04:28What she really wanted was a husband
04:38In the early 1900s
04:40Young ladies from a well-to-do background like Agatha's
04:43Didn't consider having a career
04:45Their wealthy families
04:47Expected them to meet equally wealthy young men
04:50Get married and become a wife and mother
04:54Agatha was no different
04:58By the time she was 21
05:00She was enjoying Torquay's lively social life
05:03And meeting plenty of eligible young men in the process
05:07She was young, pretty
05:09And her dance card was always full
05:12We had much more fun
05:14Young girls nowadays
05:16Studying and having nervous breakdowns
05:18You would not be unhappy at that age
05:20I wasn't sitting and writing
05:22I was going about meeting young men
05:27It was at one of these dances
05:29That she met Archie Christie
05:36Archie Christie was an aviator
05:38With the Royal Flying Corps
05:40He was a daring, dashing, good-looking young man
05:43And a bit of a cat
05:46Archie was tall, fair
05:48With crisp, curly hair
05:50A rather interesting nose
05:52And a great air of careless confidence about him
06:01Agatha and Archie met as an evening dance
06:03He asked her for three dances
06:06And then immediately after, for several more
06:08I mean, it's awfully sort of sexy, really
06:11He kind of cut in, or whatever
06:14You're dancing with me
06:15And just sort of monopolised her all night
06:19Which obviously wasn't really the thing to do
06:22Agatha was mesmerised
06:25Archie courted her over formal teas and classical concerts
06:30And it wasn't long before he proposed
06:35I'm sorry, Mother
06:36I've got to tell you
06:38Archie Christie has asked me to marry him
06:40And I want to
06:41I want to dreadfully
06:46But Archie had no money of his own
06:49And no family inheritance
06:51And Agatha's closest confidant
06:53Her devoted mother, Clara
06:54Thought him an unsuitable match
06:58Her mother was very against it
07:02And not just against it on financial grounds
07:05I think that was the pretext
07:09She was uneasy about him
07:14So
07:16It's interesting that Agatha, who adored her mother so much
07:19Did actually
07:20She was prepared to ignore her advice
07:26But an even greater obstacle
07:28Was about to come between Agatha and Archie
07:35Through one international crisis after the other
07:38The Kaiser rattled his sword
07:40Loudly demanding Germany's place in the sun
07:44They wanted their own way
07:46And their own way meant war
07:52In August 1914
07:54War broke out in Europe
08:00The French countryside became a battlefield
08:05Churned into miles of bloody trenches
08:11Agatha may have been 300 miles from the front
08:14But the First World War changed everything
08:19Men were sent to fight
08:21And the women were left behind
08:30Archie Christie
08:31With the Royal Flying Corps' expeditionary force
08:34Was one of the first to be mobilised
08:39On the 12th of August
08:41He crossed the channel to France
08:47I wrote to him
08:48You will be brave, won't you, Angel
08:50I will always love you more than anything on this earth
08:54I remember going to bed that night
08:56And crying and crying
08:57Until I thought I would never stop
09:04Archie's first mission was aerial reconnaissance
09:07To gain vital intelligence on enemy positions
09:10Yet with primitive aircraft
09:12And a recklessly courageous attitude to fighting in all weathers
09:16One in four pilots
09:18Never returned
09:26The probabilities of Archie being killed were fairly high
09:30Every day it seemed
09:31One read in the paper
09:33That somebody one knew had been killed
09:45Fortunately for Agatha
09:47Archie was not one of them
09:49His war records showed he was a skilful and daring pilot
09:53Who went on to be awarded
09:55The Distinguished Service Order
09:57For exemplary service in combat with the enemy
10:03Just three days before Christmas, 1914
10:07Archie was granted unexpected leave
10:09And he headed straight back to see his sweetheart
10:13Archie Christie had a plan
10:21On Christmas Eve, 1914
10:24Archie and Agatha
10:25Secretly tied the knot in his parish church in Bristol
10:31It was only after her wedding night
10:33That Agatha plucked up the courage to tell her mother
10:38But just two days later
10:40Agatha and Archie's blissful reunion was interrupted
10:46Because Agatha had to wave her husband off
10:49Back to the war
10:54Over the following four years
10:56The Great War would see 65 million men fight
11:00With over 8 million killed
11:02And a further 21 million wounded
11:07The fighting created waves of refugees from the front
11:10With over 200,000 homeless Belgians
11:13Flooding into the south coast of England
11:24With Archie fighting on the front
11:26Agatha was determined to do her bit for her country
11:29So she enrolled as a nurse
11:32With a voluntary aid detachment
11:35Agatha had a strong desire to become part of the war as well
11:43She took the Vera Brittain course in a way
11:45She went and became a VAD, a nurse
11:49They'd set up a hospital in Torquay
11:51And she was good at it
11:54She said, I would have made a very good nurse
12:00The carefree young woman
12:01Who had once spent her time flirting at dances
12:04With the young men of Torquay
12:06Now faced soldiers returning from the battlefields of Europe
12:09With lost limbs and horrifying wounds
12:15But Agatha took it all in her stride
12:20From the beginning I enjoyed nursing
12:22I took to it easily
12:24And found it one of the most rewarding professions
12:26That anyone can follow
12:29In 1916
12:31The Torquay dispensary opened
12:33And it was here that Agatha was first introduced
12:36To the world of medicines
12:39She was taught the precision calculations required
12:43To get the patient's dose exactly right
12:46Too little wouldn't cure
12:48Too much would poison
12:53Agatha still dedicated her spare time
12:57And she began to think her specialist knowledge of poisons
13:00Could be the key to developing an unusual twist
13:03To her murder mystery novels
13:07Poison would become her favourite method
13:10Of dispatching a victim
13:13Since I was surrounded by poisons
13:15Perhaps it was natural that death by poisoning should be the method I selected
13:20Poison has a certain appeal
13:22It has not the crudeness of the revolver bullet
13:24Or the blunt instrument
13:30And so
13:31While working at the dispensary
13:34Agatha began to piece together
13:36What would become her standard methodology
13:38For writing a murder mystery
13:46First
13:47She decided upon the crime itself
13:54Then
13:55She'd work on the motive
13:56A motive so obvious
13:59That it would be immediately dismissed by her readers
14:07Next
14:07She'd select a host of characters
14:09All capable of the murder
14:15Only then
14:16Would she develop the plot
14:21Plots come to me at such odd moments
14:23When I'm walking along the street
14:25Or examining a hat shop
14:27Suddenly a splendid idea comes into my head
14:31But the key to unravelling the mystery
14:33Was Agatha's central character
14:39The detective
14:42Without a credible detective
14:43The story would fall apart
14:49In 1916
14:51Agatha was amending a draft manuscript
14:54Of a book she had begun when she was just 21
14:58For this particular story
15:00She knew she needed a detective
15:03Who was clever, meticulous
15:05And who could gradually unravel the twists and turns of her plot
15:10But Agatha wanted him to be different
15:13To the stereotyped detectives in other authors' novels
15:16So she searched for inspiration
15:19From her own personal experience
15:22I remembered our Belgian refugees
15:25Why not make my detective a Belgian, I thought
15:29I could see him as a tidy little man
15:32Always arranging things
15:34Liking things in pairs
15:35Liking things square instead of round
15:38And he should be brainy
15:40He should have little grey cells of the mind
15:48Hercule Poirot
15:49Would become one of the most famous fictional characters in literature
15:54Featuring in 33 of Agatha's novels
15:57And 54 short stories
16:02But in developing Poirot's character
16:05Agatha gave him her own sense of morality and justice
16:09Revealing a little bit of herself to her readers
16:14He's very like Agatha in his attitudes
16:18He believes in justice
16:19He believes that the innocent must be protected
16:22All those things were what she thought
16:27But he's also broad-minded
16:29And can find it in him to feel pity
16:33For murderers who commit out of passion
16:37So those are Agatha's attitudes
16:40In this little Belgian
16:42You know
16:43And that's probably part of the success
16:45She's writing directly
16:49In 1918
16:50Agatha sent the manuscript
16:52Of her very first detective novel
16:54Featuring Hercule Poirot
16:57And Death by Poison
16:58To a selection of publishers
17:00But while she awaited a reply
17:02Momentous events on the world stage
17:05Would take over
17:14On November 11, 1918
17:16The Great War was over
17:19For Agatha and Archie
17:21Married life could begin at last
17:27Archie began work for the Air Ministry in London
17:30And Agatha, at 28
17:32Soon discovered she was expecting a baby
17:36On the 5th of August 1919
17:39Rosalind Margaret Clarissa Christie
17:41Was born
17:42And Agatha settled in
17:43To her life as a wife and a mother
17:47We were a very ordinary couple
17:49We were happy
17:50Life seemed well set up for us
17:54She had all but forgotten
17:56The manuscript she sent away
17:57During the war
17:58And a career in writing
18:00Couldn't have been further
18:02From her mind
18:04But then
18:05A letter arrived
18:15Dear Mrs Christie
18:16Thank you for your submission
18:18To our publishing house
18:19We have been most impressed
18:21By your intriguing plot
18:22And use of character
18:23We would therefore be delighted
18:25To invite you to a meeting
18:27To discuss your acceptance
18:28Of a place on our publishing list
18:35It marked the beginning
18:37Of Agatha Christie's writing career
18:39A mysterious affair at Stiles
18:42That's how it all began
18:48The book was a huge hit
18:50With readers and critics
18:51It had all the ingredients
18:53Of the Christie books
18:54That would follow
18:57A jealous mistress
19:00With a wealthy adversary
19:04Using a complex combination
19:06Of deadly poisons
19:10To commit murder
19:12With a seemingly unsolvable crime
19:16Solved by master detective
19:19Hercule Poirot
19:24The mysterious affair
19:26At Stiles
19:27Earned Agatha
19:28The princely sum
19:29Of 25 pounds
19:33And her publisher
19:34Signed her up
19:35To write
19:35A further five mysteries
19:36Immediately
19:41It was a moment
19:42Of triumph for Agatha
19:44And a taste
19:45Of the many literary successes
19:46To come
19:48Agatha was now
19:49Not only a wife and mother
19:51She was that rare entity
19:53A woman with a flourishing career
19:58But it wasn't the career
19:59She was struggling with
20:01It was motherhood
20:09In 1922
20:10Agatha and Archie
20:12Decided to take a world tour
20:15Without thinking twice
20:17They left their three-year-old daughter
20:19In the care of Agatha's mother
20:21And sister
20:22But nobody seemed to think
20:24It strange
20:26My mother told me
20:28A wife ought to be
20:29With her husband
20:30And if she isn't
20:31Then he feels
20:32He has a right
20:33To forget her
20:36So, not unusually for the time
20:38Agatha put her husband's needs
20:40Before her daughter's
20:42Travelled the world
20:43With a man she loved
20:44And had the time of her life
20:46Going round the world
20:48Was one of the most exciting things
20:50That ever happened to me
20:57In the years that followed
20:59Agatha never managed
21:01To develop a closeness
21:02With her daughter
21:04But while she struggled
21:05To deal with motherhood
21:06The writing seemed to come easily
21:11Between 1922
21:13And 1925
21:14Agatha published
21:16Another six murder mysteries
21:19Her readers loved the novel's
21:21Simple shape
21:22The small cast of characters
21:24And an emphasis on facts
21:26Situation
21:27And psychology
21:28Everyone wanted to work out
21:31Who'd done it for themselves
21:33But when in 1926
21:35Agatha pushed the boundaries
21:37Of detective fiction
21:38And published
21:39The Murder of Roger Ackroyd
21:41There was widespread uproar
21:47The story is narrated
21:49By a character
21:50Named Dr. Shepard
21:51Who is Detective Poirot's assistant
21:54In the case of a young man
21:55Murdered with a dagger
21:56What made this story
21:58So controversial
21:59Was its truly unexpected twist
22:03Poirot rigorously exonerates
22:06All the suspects one by one
22:07And then lays out
22:09A brilliant explanation
22:10As to why his assistant
22:12The narrator
22:13Was in fact
22:14The murderer
22:17Dr. Shepard
22:19Admits his guilt
22:20And the last chapter
22:22Is both Shepard's confession
22:23And suicide note
22:26It's a stunner
22:28It's a stunner
22:28And it
22:29It caused a bit of an uproar
22:31In something called
22:33The Detection Club
22:37They had these rules
22:39It was like the masons
22:40You can't
22:41You know
22:41You must be fair
22:42With your readers
22:43You can't introduce
22:44New characters
22:44You can't make it
22:45You know
22:47The milkman
22:47And all this kind of thing
22:48And they
22:49There was this serious thing
22:50Of has Agatha Christie
22:52Broken the rhyme
22:53You know
22:53Good for her
22:55If she had
22:57One unspoken rule
22:58Of detective fiction
22:59Was never to withhold
23:00Crucial information
23:03And the narrator
23:03Being the murderer
23:04Was deemed
23:05To have pushed this rule
23:06To its limits
23:07But her fans
23:10Didn't mind
23:11They thought the book
23:12A masterpiece
23:13In misdirection
23:15And all the fuss
23:17Helped to crown
23:18Agatha Christie
23:19The indisputable
23:20Queen of detective fiction
23:23She was successful
23:25Independent
23:26Financially stable
23:28And married
23:29To the man she loved
23:30But it would all
23:32Fall apart
23:36In 1924
23:38Agatha and Archie
23:39Had moved to Sunningdale
23:41To indulge
23:42Archie's newfound passion
23:45Golf
23:48Despite her mother's advice
23:50To nurture her husband
23:52Agatha had been focusing
23:54All her attention
23:55On writing
23:58Archie felt abandoned
23:59So he began
24:01To amuse himself
24:02Hour upon hour
24:04On the golf course
24:07Tensions were mounting
24:08In the Christie household
24:11I was becoming
24:12That well-known figure
24:13A golf widow
24:16But then the tensions
24:17Turned into a crisis
24:27On the 5th of April
24:301926
24:30Tragedy struck
24:32Agatha's mother
24:34And closest confidant
24:36Clara
24:36Died
24:37And Agatha
24:38Was plunged
24:39Into grief
24:39Archie was working abroad
24:42So Agatha
24:43And daughter Rosalind
24:45Travelled to her childhood home
24:47In Torquay
24:48To organise
24:49Her mother's affairs
24:51For weeks
24:52Agatha slept badly
24:54And ate poorly
24:55But Archie refused
24:58To visit
24:58Instead
25:00He spent his weeks
25:01Working in London
25:02And his weekends
25:04Playing golf
25:06Agatha sensed
25:07Something was wrong
25:10What she was hanging on to
25:12Was
25:13Archie was away
25:14At the time
25:14What she was hanging on to
25:15Was him coming back
25:16And they were going to go
25:18On holiday together
25:19And then
25:20You know
25:21At least
25:21He would
25:22Sure up
25:23Some of the damage
25:26Instead of which
25:26He turned up
25:27And said
25:29I've fallen in love
25:30With another woman
25:34On the golf course
25:36Archie had been seducing
25:37A beautiful 26-year-old
25:39Miss Nancy Neal
25:41They had fallen in love
25:43So in the autumn
25:44So in the autumn of 1926
25:45Archie Christie
25:47Asked Agatha
25:48For a divorce
25:55Agatha
25:55Was inconsolable
25:59She always said
26:01If she hadn't left him alone
26:04To go down
26:04And turn out
26:05Her mother's belongings
26:07Which was when he got
26:08This friendship developed
26:11With Nancy
26:12Whom he subsequently married
26:13She always
26:14Tormented herself with that
26:15I mean
26:16Who knows
26:19She begged Archie
26:20Not to leave her
26:21But by December 1926
26:24It was clear
26:26Their marriage was over
26:29Agatha was exhausted
26:30Grief stricken
26:32And heartbroken
26:34And then
26:35She did something
26:37Quite extraordinary
26:42On Friday the 3rd of December
26:44Agatha waited to see
26:45If Archie would return home
26:47At all that day
26:47Her daughter was asleep
26:49Upstairs
26:50The housekeeper
26:51Was in the kitchen
26:54There was no sign of Archie
26:56It was the last straw
26:59She headed out of the house
27:01And simply
27:03Disappeared
27:26Three days passed
27:28And Agatha
27:29Still hadn't returned home
27:32Five days after
27:33Her disappearance
27:34Her brother-in-law
27:35Received a letter
27:36In her handwriting
27:37But it was dismissed
27:39As a fake
27:39It seemed
27:41Agatha
27:42Had vanished
27:47On day six
27:48The press began
27:49To speculate
27:50Wildly
27:50About Agatha's fate
27:52Had Archie
27:53Murdered her
27:54Had she committed suicide
27:56Or was she simply
27:57In hiding
28:00By day ten
28:02Thousands of people
28:04Were combing the countryside
28:05For evidence
28:06The whole affair
28:08Had the air of a plot
28:10From one of her books
28:11It was as if Agatha
28:13Had become
28:14One of her own
28:15Mysterious characters
28:18But gradually
28:19Clues began
28:20To emerge
28:23The police
28:24Found her car
28:25Abandoned
28:26Only fifteen miles
28:27From her home
28:28Her ring
28:29Had been left
28:30For mending
28:30At a London store
28:32But still
28:33No trace
28:34Of Agatha
28:35Or of her body
28:37Then
28:38On day twelve
28:39Archie received
28:40A tip-off
28:47He rushed
28:48The two hundred
28:49Miles
28:49To a hotel
28:50In Harrogate
28:51Where he found
28:52Agatha
28:53Dressed for dinner
28:54Calm
28:55Collected
28:56And acting
28:57As if this
28:58Was nothing
28:59Unusual
29:06She had booked
29:07Into the hotel
29:08In the name
29:09Of Mrs. Neal
29:10The same name
29:11As her husband's lover
29:14Archie had to
29:15Explain it all
29:16To the press
29:18There is no question
29:20About her identity
29:21She is
29:23My wife
29:24She is suffering
29:25From complete loss
29:27Of memory
29:27And identity
29:28She does not know
29:29Who she is
29:30She does not know
29:31Me
29:31And she does not know
29:33Why she is
29:34In Harrogate
29:37What Archie
29:38Was saying
29:38Was that Agatha
29:40Had temporarily
29:41Lost all reason
29:47But the truth
29:48Was more complicated
29:50Than that
29:50Agatha never gave
29:52A full account
29:53Of herself
29:53But a story
29:55Gradually emerged
29:56That she drove away
29:58With the intention
29:59Of either tracking down
30:01Archie and his lover
30:02Or killing herself
30:05Achieving neither
30:06She fled
30:08She did not entirely
30:10Lose her memory
30:11Nor did she plan
30:12To frame Archie
30:13For her disappearance
30:17The truth
30:18Lay somewhere
30:19In between
30:21Her mother's death
30:22And the loss
30:23Of her husband
30:24Had pushed her
30:25Over the edge
30:28It's only that
30:30When she had
30:30A breakdown
30:31She had a breakdown
30:32In the style
30:33Of Agatha Christie
30:35And it became
30:36A mystery
30:36You know
30:39And she did
30:40She did it in a way
30:41That a different
30:42Kind of woman
30:42Wouldn't have done it
30:46In the course
30:47Of just a couple
30:48Of months
30:50Agatha's life
30:50Had fallen apart
30:51She had suffered
30:53A very public
30:54Breakdown
30:55And divorce
30:57Now without a husband
30:59Her writing
31:00Was her sole income
31:02With the strain
31:03Came writer's block
31:07She was facing
31:08Personal and financial ruin
31:12I had to produce
31:14That rotten book
31:15The Big Four
31:16And had to force myself
31:17In The Mystery
31:18Of The Blue Train
31:19It was easily
31:20The worst book
31:21I ever wrote
31:26But Agatha
31:27Found a way
31:28Through her troubles
31:29She had a loyal
31:30Readership
31:31And her books
31:32Still sold
31:36Leaving Archie
31:37Behind
31:38She began her life
31:39All over again
31:47In the winter
31:48Of 1928
31:49Age 38
31:50And in search
31:51Of a new beginning
31:52Agatha made
31:53A bold move
31:54She booked herself
31:56Tickets to Mesopotamia
31:57Modern day Iraq
32:02Once again
32:03Leaving her
32:04Ten year old daughter
32:05In the care of family
32:06Agatha boarded
32:08The Orient Express
32:09And headed to the
32:10Ancient city
32:11Of Orwell
32:14Even before she arrived
32:15Her writer's mind
32:17Was inspired
32:18By what she saw
32:19And the journey
32:20Aboard the Orient Express
32:22Would later be inspiration
32:23For one of her
32:25Best loved stories
32:33Agatha enjoyed her trip
32:35So much
32:35So much
32:36That in 1930
32:37She made a second
32:38Where she met a man
32:40Who was to change
32:41The course of her life
32:44Max Malouin
32:45Was a young
32:46And ambitious
32:47Archaeologist
32:48A gentleman
32:49And fourteen years
32:51Agatha's junior
32:52Right from the start
32:54They hit it off
32:59Agatha was in love
33:00Agatha was in love again
33:00And when she returned home
33:03Longingly
33:03She wrote to Max
33:05Oh Max
33:07Everything's been beastly
33:08Like coming back
33:10Into the worst
33:10Kind of unquiet dream
33:13Can't you come down here
33:14Some weekend
33:14Max
33:20Within a matter of months
33:22Agatha and Max
33:24Were married
33:26But not everybody
33:28Approved of Max
33:29Agatha's teenage daughter
33:31Felt she would now see
33:33Even less of her mother
33:35But Max made Agatha happy
33:37And gave her the companionship
33:39She craved
33:49From that moment
33:50She vowed not to make
33:52The same mistake
33:53She had with her first husband
33:55She wasn't going to leave
33:57This one on his own
33:58For a moment
34:01Agatha travelled with Max
34:02To his archaeological digs
34:04Around the world
34:05Together they ventured
34:06To Iraq
34:07Pakistan
34:08And Egypt
34:10She loved the open skies
34:12The fresh air
34:14And the sense of adventure
34:16But most of all
34:17The privacy
34:18And solitude
34:19You don't know
34:20What a relief it is
34:21To get away
34:22For two or three months
34:23To a place
34:23Where there is no telephone
34:25No doorbell
34:26No wireless
34:27Or television
34:27No publisher
34:29Demanding that next book
34:34After the pain
34:35Of her very public divorce
34:36And breakdown
34:37Agatha could avoid
34:39Publicity when abroad
34:40And Max's archaeology
34:42Was providing fresh inspiration
34:44For her writing
34:48In 1934
34:49Murder on the Orient Express
34:51Was published
34:52Within two years
34:54Murder in Mesopotamia
34:55Hit the shelves
34:56And in 1937
34:58She wrote
34:59Death on the Nile
35:03As the detective
35:05All featured
35:06The hugely popular
35:07Hercule Poirot
35:08And all
35:10Were a huge success
35:14In 1938
35:16Agatha sold her childhood home
35:19With all its memories
35:20And she and Max
35:22Brought Greenway
35:23A large
35:24Comfortable house
35:25With ground
35:26On the banks
35:26Of the river Dart
35:27Ten miles from Torquay
35:29It was idyllic
35:34But their calm
35:35Would be shattered
35:36By war
35:37Once again
35:48On the 1st of September
35:501939
35:50German forces
35:52Invaded Poland
35:53Just two days later
35:55Britain and France
35:57Declared war
36:10Hitler set out
36:12To spread his Nazi empire
36:13Across Europe
36:14In a conflict
36:16That would be
36:16The most deadly
36:17And destructive
36:18In history
36:27At first
36:28Max signed up
36:30With a home guard
36:31And Agatha
36:32Once again
36:33Volunteered
36:33At the dispensary
36:35In Torquay
36:35Where she was encouraged
36:37To read up
36:38On all the latest medicines
36:39And poisons
36:45But when their home
36:47Greenway
36:47Was requisitioned
36:49For the war effort
36:50Agatha and Max
36:51Moved to London
36:55Max's knowledge
36:55Of Arabic
36:56Soon landed him
36:57A job
36:57With the Air Ministry
36:58And he was later
37:00Posted to the Middle East
37:01And North Africa
37:04It was our first parting
37:06In ten years
37:09Agatha found their separation
37:10Difficult to bear
37:11But accepted the hardships
37:13Of war
37:14As a normal feature
37:15Of life
37:19It had become
37:20In fact
37:20Natural
37:21To expect
37:22That you yourself
37:23Might be killed soon
37:24That the people
37:25You loved best
37:26Might be killed
37:31Agatha kept herself
37:33Busy in London
37:34Volunteering
37:35At the University
37:36College Hospital
37:38I worked
37:39Two whole days
37:40Three half days
37:41And alternate
37:41Saturday mornings
37:42At the hospital
37:43The rest of the time
37:44I wrote
37:48The hospital
37:49Was a rich source
37:50Of ideas
37:51And Agatha
37:52Embarked
37:52Upon a hugely
37:53Prolific
37:54And successful
37:55Period
37:55Between 1939
37:57And 1945
37:59She wrote
38:00Seventeen books
38:01Often incorporating
38:03Her updated knowledge
38:04Of new poisons
38:05Into her writings
38:07But by now
38:08She was beginning
38:09To grow tired
38:10Of one of her own
38:11Key characters
38:15Agatha had been
38:16Writing about
38:16Her Belgian detective
38:17Hercule Poirot
38:19For nearly twenty years
38:22Now she disliked him
38:23Intensely
38:26Poirot is rather
38:27Insufferable
38:28Most public men
38:30Are who've lived
38:30Too long
38:31But none of them
38:32Like retiring
38:32So I'm afraid
38:34Poirot won't either
38:36Certainly not
38:37While he is my
38:37Main source
38:38Of income
38:44But Agatha
38:45Didn't ignore
38:47The problem
38:47All together
38:48She began
38:49To further
38:50Develop a character
38:50She had first
38:52Created in 1926
38:54Miss Jane Marple
39:06Miss Marple
39:06Was the sort of
39:07Old lady
39:08Who would have been
39:08Rather like
39:09Some of my
39:09Grandmother's
39:10Ealing cronies
39:11Old ladies
39:12Whom I have met
39:13In so many villages
39:14Where I have gone
39:15To stay
39:15As a girl
39:19Miss Marple
39:20Who was a much
39:22More personal
39:23Creation really
39:24Than Poirot
39:24I think was a
39:27Consolation to her
39:28To create Miss Marple
39:30Because she was
39:31Awfully like
39:32Her grandmothers
39:33You know
39:34They're wise women
39:36They have an instinct
39:37For human nature
39:38Now oddly enough
39:40I don't think
39:41Agatha herself
39:41Had that instinct
39:42But she knew
39:44How to write it
39:46Miss Marple
39:48Wasn't like
39:49Any other detective
39:50For a start
39:51She was a woman
39:53Yet Agatha
39:54Made her the match
39:55Of every murderer
39:56She encountered
40:00The beauty
40:02Of the simplicity
40:03Of that
40:04Little old lady
40:06With a mind
40:07Like a rapier
40:08I mean it's fantastic
40:09It's gorgeous
40:10You know
40:14Because she'd grown up
40:15With
40:18I hate
40:19Strong women
40:20As a phrase
40:21But they were
40:22Mother
40:23Sister
40:23Two grandmothers
40:24They were much
40:25More powerful
40:26Than the men
40:26So she grew up
40:27With this idea
40:28Of you know
40:29Womanly wisdom
40:30And I think
40:31She deployed that
40:32To an extent
40:33Through Miss Marple
40:39Perhaps because
40:40Of this
40:40Agatha never
40:42Expected Miss Marple
40:43To rival Poirot
40:45In the public's
40:45Affections
40:46But she was
40:47Still a favourite
40:48Of many of her
40:49Readers
40:49They believed
40:50Miss Marple's
40:51Character
40:52Gave them
40:53A special insight
40:54Into the mind
40:54Of their favourite
40:55Author
40:58Miss Marple
41:00Went on to appear
41:01In 12 Agatha Christie
41:02Novels
41:03And 20 short stories
41:04And Agatha
41:06Had another
41:07Prime detective
41:08To turn to
41:09When she needed
41:10A break
41:10From Poirot
41:20Throughout the world
41:21Throngs of people
41:22Hail the end
41:23Of the war
41:23In Europe
41:24It is five years
41:25And more
41:26Since Hitler
41:26Marched into Poland
41:33In May 1945
41:35The war in Europe
41:37Came to an end
41:38And Agatha
41:39Moved back
41:39To her beloved
41:40Greenway
41:41Where she and Max
41:42Were reunited
41:45My life began again
41:47Greenway was beautiful
41:48When we went down
41:49There again
41:49But it was wild
41:50Wild as a beautiful
41:52Jungle
41:55It seemed that
41:56Living at Greenway
41:57Agatha had an
41:58Endless supply
41:59Of ideas
41:59But she insisted
42:01There was no
42:02Special method
42:02Behind the genius
42:03Except perhaps
42:05Solitude
42:10All you need
42:11Is a chair
42:12And a table
42:12A typewriter
42:13And a bit of peace
42:16By 1950
42:18Agatha was a
42:19Global writing
42:20Phenomenon
42:20She had sold
42:22Around 50 million
42:23Books across
42:24The world
42:27Everybody knew her
42:28As the master
42:29Of suspense
42:30Despite her fame
42:32She remained
42:33An intensely
42:34Private person
42:35The more she hid
42:36Away at Greenway
42:37The more her readers
42:39Tried to get to know her
42:40Through her books
42:41And book
42:43After book
42:44Kept coming
42:54Now in her 60s
42:56Agatha went even further
42:58She was at the very height
43:00Of her career
43:01And branched out
43:02Into theatre
43:04The Mousetrap
43:06The Mousetrap
43:06A play specially written
43:08For the amusement
43:08Of Queen Mary
43:09Had its first performance
43:11On the 6th of October
43:131952
43:16In 1956
43:18Agatha was awarded
43:19A CBE
43:20And a year later
43:22She became president
43:23Of the Detection Club
43:24The same club
43:26Whose unwritten rules
43:28She had once
43:29Famously broken
43:29By writing
43:31One of her trademark
43:32Whodunit twists
43:38By the 1960s
43:40Hollywood wanted a part
43:42Of the Christie phenomenon
43:45Six films
43:46Based on her books
43:47Would be made
43:47Featuring both
43:49Hercule Poirot
43:50And Miss Marple
43:53Television series
43:54Were also commissioned
43:55Although Agatha
43:57Was seldom impressed
43:58With the results
44:03Agatha
44:04Already one of the
44:05Most famous authors
44:06In the world
44:07Was plunged deeper
44:08Into the limelight
44:09By the runaway success
44:11Of her best known play
44:13Now I congratulate you
44:15On the record performance
44:16Put out by the Mousetrap
44:17Do you think it's
44:18The best play you've written?
44:20I don't know
44:21Other people seem to
44:22It anyway
44:26Still shy
44:27And shunning fame
44:29She made a reluctant
44:31Appearance
44:31At the play's
44:3210th anniversary
44:33Performance
44:36Response now
44:38From Mrs. Agatha Christie
44:44This is awful
44:48I never have been
44:50Any good
44:50At making speeches
44:52And usually
44:54Someone has come
44:54To the rescue
44:58But Agatha
44:59Had to make
45:00Appearances
45:00At many more
45:01Anniversary suppers
45:02Because
45:03Still running
45:04And with over
45:0523,000 performances
45:06To date
45:07The Mousetrap
45:08Became the longest
45:09Running play
45:10In history
45:16But Agatha's health
45:17Was in decline
45:20In 1967
45:22Age 77
45:23She made her final
45:25Visit to the Middle East
45:26To join Max
45:27In Iran
45:29She was still writing
45:30Albeit less frequently
45:32And resisted the temptation
45:34To publish the autobiography
45:36Her fans were begging for
45:38People should be interested
45:40In books
45:41Not their authors
45:45In the 1970s
45:47Agatha grew increasingly frail
45:52Her daughter Rosalind
45:53Authorised the publication
45:55Of a book
45:56Agatha had deliberately
45:57Set aside
45:58Curtain
46:00A book in which
46:02Hercule Poirot
46:03Dies
46:07Rosalind wanted to honour
46:08A pledge to her mother
46:09That she should outlive
46:12The insufferable
46:13Poirot
46:15Then on the 12th of January
46:171976
46:18Aged 86
46:20Agatha Christie
46:21The Queen of Murder
46:23Mystery
46:23Died
46:27That night
46:28London's West End theatres
46:30Dimmed their light
46:31In her honour
46:37But even after her death
46:39The Christie phenomenon
46:40Continued
46:42Four more books
46:43Were published
46:44Including the autobiography
46:46Agatha had secretly written
46:48But couldn't bear to bring out
46:50While she was alive
46:52It was what Christie fans
46:53Had been waiting for
46:54A chance to get a true sense
46:57Of the woman behind the mysteries
47:02But it would prove
47:03To be a disappointment
47:07All the events were there
47:09But there was no emotion
47:10No insight
47:12Into her feelings
47:13Or inner thoughts
47:16Yet Agatha
47:17Had left something else
47:19Something
47:20That was to reveal
47:21Clues to a woman
47:22Who was very different
47:24To her accepted
47:25Public persona
47:33In the 1930s
47:35A writer named
47:36Mary Westmacott
47:37Began to publish
47:38A series of haunting
47:39Romantic tragedies
47:43Westmacott
47:44Wrote about a heartbroken woman
47:46Who
47:46In the midst of divorce
47:48Considers taking her own life
47:51Mary Westmacott's heroines
47:53Despite their shyness
47:55Were swept off their feet
47:57By handsome young officers
47:59And survived the horrors
48:00Of the First World War
48:05Westmacott's stories
48:06Tell of a deep
48:07Irreplaceable bond
48:08Between a child
48:10And her mother
48:10And of the battle
48:12Between a disapproving daughter
48:13And a widowed mother
48:15Looking to remarry
48:18The Westmacott books
48:20Rarely had happy endings
48:21And touched on the painful subjects
48:24Of lost love
48:25And the desire for affection
48:27And anonymity
48:29But nobody
48:31Ever got the chance
48:32To meet Mary Westmacott
48:33To discuss her heartfelt novels
48:36Because she was in fact
48:38Merely a pen name
48:39For Agatha Christie
48:44She had a secret life
48:46Really
48:46She wasn't just Agatha Christie
48:49She was Mary Westmacott
48:51Who wrote six novels
48:55And they're very good
48:57And they are really
49:00The greatest clues
49:03To use her terminology
49:05The greatest clues
49:06To Agatha Christie
49:07That you will find
49:12I mean you could put
49:13The Christie's
49:15And the Westmacott's
49:16Side by side
49:16And say
49:17Does that give you
49:18The complete woman?
49:19And in a way
49:21I suppose it does
49:23As close as you're going to come
49:38I mean you could put
50:08How would you
50:08Do it