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Life and Times of Agatha Christie

Agatha Mary Clarissa Miller was born in Barton Road, Torquay on the 15th of September 1890 and was christened in All Saints Church in Torre. She grew up in the area and returned in her later years to enjoy her beloved Devon. Her father was Frederick Miller, a rich American with an income from his late grandfather's business in New York, and her mother, Clarissa (Clara) Bohemer, a British aristocrat.

It was Clara who first took the family to Torquay, having bought a delightful Victorian house, Ashfield, surrounded by a pretty wooded garden on the edges of town. Visitors to the house included the novelist, poet and dramatist Eden Phillpotts who remained a firm friend of Christie until his death in 1960.

Agatha's home life was idyllic, the youngest of three children enjoying the peaceful garden with her beloved dog, Toby. An incredibly shy child, her parents decided that she should be educated at home where she was encouraged to be imaginative and creative. At her mother's suggestion, she tried her hand at writing and her first published work, a poem about electric trams, was printed in a newspaper when she was just 11 years old.

Later in a BBC radio interview she explained "So by the time I was 16 or 17, I'd written quite a number of short stories and one long, dreary novel. By the time I was 21, I had finished the first book of mine ever to be published, the Mysterious Affair at Styles. I'd sent it to one or two publishers who didn't want it and eventually it went to John Lane. About a year later, I heard it had been accepted. Well, that's how it began."

Her mother made certain that Agatha's education was not neglected and, in 1906, she was sent to Paris to attend a finishing school. While there, she earned a reputation as a gifted singer and showed a talent for music. There was, in fact, some discussion about the possibility of Agatha becoming a professional singer, but the notion passed as her tutor described her as far too nervous to endure public performance. However, her love of music and drama was to remain a strong influence throughout her life.

She met her first husband, Lt. Archie Christie in Torquay. After attending a concert at the Pavilion they returned to Ashfield where he proposed marriage. Married on Christmas Eve 1914 they enjoyed their honeymoon night at Torquay's Grand Hotel before Archie left to fight in the First World War.

It was whilst Archie was serving in France during the first World War that Agatha began working as a nurse for the Red Cross Hospital in Torquay's Town Hall. She was later transferred to the dispensary where she qualified as a pharmacist and acquired her detailed knowledge of poisons - central to the plot of 'The Mysterious Affair at Styles' (1920) her first published novel.

The world around her in Torquay and elsewhere was full of people and places that would feature in her works. In 1915 Torquay became home to a number of refugees from German occupied Belgium and one small Belgian, spotted by Agatha on a tram, became the model for Hercule Poirot her most famous detective. The name Hercule is a pun on the small stature of this famous detective.

Agatha and Archie had one daughter, Rosalind born in 1919, but sadly the marriage became an unhappy one, ending in divorce in 1928. Determined to move forward, Agatha developed another of her life's many interests by visiting an archaeological dig in Iraq. It was on her second dig that she met the charming archaeologist Max Mallowan, 14 years her junior, and they married in 1930.

Max Mallowan's contribution to archaeology was honoured in 1960 with a CBE and in 1968 with a Knighthood, giving them the titles Sir Max and Lady Mallowan. In 1971 Agatha was made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire.

Mr and Mrs Mallowan bought the estate at Greenway in 1938 as their summer residence. Already a prominent house with a renowned botanical collection, the house became a perfect second home for Agatha and her family. They were all inveterate collectors and the house was filled with a collection of antiquities gathered during their extensive travels. Agatha never worked at Greenway but she would read her current manuscript to the family before it was published. Agatha's daughter, Rosalind, moved to Greenway in 1968 and lived there until her death in 2004.

In 1962 Christie had tried to save her beloved Ashfield from development and was disappointed to visit the location later to find that only a single monkey puzzle tree remained. Ashfield may have been lost to development but Rosalind and her family were determined that Greenway would be preserved. They gifted the estate to the National Trust in 1999. The gardens are now open to the public and the house will open in 2009.
www.nationaltrust.org.uk

Agatha Christie died on the 12th of January 1976 at the age of 85. She had published 79 crime novels, 19 plays and 6 romantic novels under the pseudonym Mary Westmacott. Described by the Guinness Book of Records as the best selling writer of books of all time she published one billion books in the English language and a further one billion in 43 other languages.

Christie's Grandson, Mathew Prichard is now Chairman of the company that owns the right to her works. Agatha loved her grandson, regularly sending him advance copies of her books while he was away at school and even giving him the copyright to The Mousetrap as a present for his tenth birthday.