Listening In

Max and Agatha

In my research on Agatha Christie and her archaeological interests, I came across this five minute interview on the BBC with her husband Sir Max Mallowan. In it he tells how they met, talks a bit about experiences with her at work in the field, and lets the listener in on some of the ways she worked.

The interview took place in 1977 after Christie's death. It is always fascinating to hear the actual voice of someone that I have come to know through writings.

Sir Max Mallowan

Among others, there is also a three minute recording from 1955 with Dame Agatha herself in which she claims that she owes her writing career to the fact that she was 'gloriously idle' as a child and had to entertain herself with making up stories. 

Dame Agatha Christie

Here is your chance to listen in....

Come, Tell Me How You Live by Agatha Christie Mallowan

I am so glad I discovered Come, Tell Me How You Live (1946) by Agatha Christie. It gave me a look at quite a different side the famed mystery writer. It is billed as an archaeological memoir but it is not in the least bit as dusty as the places she writes about.

I thought it would be a somewhat dry retelling of days spent digging in the dirt and cleaning bits and bobs of found broken pottery.

Not so.

Instead, it is her delightful perspective of the people, customs and culture of Syria in the 1930s, the time she and husband Max Mallowan, archaeologist, were there. 

Her stories of the eccentricities of the servants, the tribal conflicts among the workers, the personalities of the house dogs and cats, her hopes for a good meal, the hospitality (and a bit of greed) of the sheikhs, the fussy rules and regulations of the French government officials, changing weather, flooded wadis, temperamental automobiles, fashion faux pas, language barrier mishaps, the handling of medical emergencies, and encounters with giggling veiled women and dirty children with runny noses, are all quite amusing.

It is more of a travel journal than a treatise on the exploration of archaeological sites. And it is quite funny which for some reason I didn't expect. Ms. Christie has quite a sharp eye for the amusing detail.

In the epilogue, written in the spring of 1944, she states that the book is a result of the rough notes and diaries that she kept during their seasons in Syria. It wasn't until after the war that she gathered her notes together as a way of looking again at experiences she "not only had but still has."

For it seems to me that it is good to remember that there were such days and such places, and that at this very minute my little hill of marigolds is in bloom, and old men with white beards trudging behind their donkeys may not even know there is a war. 

Inshallah, I shall go there again, and the things that I love shall not have perished from this earth...

In Which We Celebrate the Queen of Crime's Birthday

Dame Agatha Christie at her typewriter
(15 September 1890 - 12 January 1976)

This is Dame Agatha Christie's birthday. Today, her cake would have to be large enough to hold 123 candles.

If you are a fan of this mystery writer, as I am, you will never run out of things to read as she penned almost 70 books, over 100 short stories, as well as plays - those with original plots as well as those adapted from her novels.

I saw her play The Mousetrap at St Martin's Theatre in London twice - once in 1982 and again in 2002. I was just as surprised upon the revelation of the murderer the first time as I was twenty years later! It is the longest running play ever. It had its 25,000th performance last November and is still going. I do remember that the audience is asked to keep the ending a secret - my lips are sealed. 

There is much to be learned about this beloved author online and I will let you do your own research if you are so inclined. To get you started though, here is a link to a short video about her courtesy of Biography.com.

Agatha Christie, An Autobiography was published in 1977, the year after her death. I have added it to my TBR list even though it is some 600 pages long! I am currently reading her memoir, Come, Tell Me How You Live, which is a very amusing tale of her experiences with her husband, archaeologist Max Mallowan, in the Middle East. 

Ms. Christie's former home in Devon is open to the public and contains many of her family pieces. It would be a wonderful place to visit. For a glimpse, here is a link to the National Trust's page featuring Greenway Estate.

For tonight, to celebrate her birthday, I rented the DVD The Murder on the Links with David Suchet as the dapper M. Hercule Poirot (my favorite of her detectives). I recently read the book and wrote about it here. It will be fun to watch the story unfold on screen. As I remember, the plot has many twists and turns. Just what this mystery writer is famous for.

How will you celebrate Dame Agatha Christie's birthday?