Person    | Female  Born 15/9/1890  Died 12/1/1976

Agatha Christie

Detective novelist and playwright. Born in Torquay, into a well-off family, where a bust has been erected, as Agatha Miller. Married Archie Christie in 1914. In WW1 she trained and worked in a pharmacy in Torquay - gaining knowledge of chemistry and poisons in particular that she would draw on later. Her first novel was published in 1920.  Visiting Hawaii in the 1920s with Archie she was a pioneer surfer.  A successful writer, her personal life suffered when, shortly after her mother's death, Archie declared his love for another woman.

On 3 December 1926 Agatha ran away from their Berkshire home to Harrogate where she registered in a hotel under her rival's surname.  She disappeared and a countrywide search ensued, with Archie suspected of murder and her of publicity-seeking.  After 10 days some hotel staff identified her but she could not remember how or why she went to Harrogate, and the mystery was never solved.  The Christies divorced in 1928.  That year she met Max Mallowan, 14 years her junior, and married him in 1930.  This marriage was a success.  She accompanied Max on digs in the Near East and participated in the work of the expedition, as well as continuing to write. In WW2 she refreshed her training and again worked in a dispensary, this time in London at University College Hospital.

Christie is the world's best-selling writer having sold 4 billion books. Appointed CBE in 1956 and DBE in 1971, she became Lady Mallowan in 1968 when Max was knighted.

Londonist have a good post on her London.

Comments are provided by Facebook, please ensure you are signed in here to see them

This section lists the memorials where the subject on this page is commemorated:
Agatha Christie

Commemorated ati

Agatha Christie book

Unveiled on the 60th anniversary of The Mousetrap, this bronze, 2.5 m high 'b...

Read More

Agatha Christie - SW10

Dame Agatha Christie 1890-1976 Author lived here.

Read More

Agatha Christie - W8

Dame Agatha Christie, 1850 - 1976, detective novelist and playwright, lived h...

Read More

Cross Keys pub

But not Dickens?

Read More

The Mousetrap

The Mousetrap The world's longest running play had its 50th anniversary perf...

Read More

Other Subjects

John Barry

John Barry

Created the captions on the Hitchcock murals.  We think this means that he wrote them, rather than physically made them, and that he was chosen for his film knowledge.  But the existence of 'John B...

Person, Cinema

1 memorial
David Bowie

David Bowie

Musician and actor. Born David Robert Jones 40 Stansfield Road, Brixton. The family left here when David was 6 and moved to Plaistow Grove, Bromley. David changed his surname to avoid confusion wi...

Person, Cinema, Music / songs, Seriously Famous, Theatre, USA

7 memorials
Comic Heritage

Comic Heritage

Merged with the Heritage Foundation.

Group, Cinema, History, Humour, Theatre, TV & Radio

29 memorials
Humphrey Jennings

Humphrey Jennings

Documentary film maker. Born Suffolk.  Co-founder of the Mass Observation organisation (something like current day personal blogs but with pencil and paper).  In 1936 he helped organise the Surreal...

Person, Cinema, Greece

1 memorial
Alastair Sim

Alastair Sim

Character actor. Born Edinburgh. Only became a professional actor aged about 30. Worked in Shakespeare at the Old Vic and then spent the 1950s making many British films, such as the 1954 The Belles...

Person, Cinema, Theatre, Scotland

1 memorial

Previously viewed

Queen Elizabeth I

Queen Elizabeth I

Daughter of King Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn. Born Greenwich Palace.  Succeeded her half-sister Queen Mary I. Reigned: 1553 - 1603.   Never married, no children, so followed by James I. Elizabeth I...

Person, Race Issues, Royalty, Seriously Famous

26 memorials
Mary Tealby

Mary Tealby

Founded what is now the Battersea Dogs & Cats Home. Born Huntingdon as Mary Bates. Married Robert Chapman Tealby and moved to Hull by 1841. She separated from her husband and moved to London t...

Person, Animals

1 memorial
Bermondsey Settlement

Bermondsey Settlement

The Settlement Movement began in England and the U.S.A in the 1880s and peaked around the 1920s. Its aim was to get the rich and poor in society to live more closely together in an interdependent c...

Building, Community / Clubs, Social Welfare

1 memorial
Jenny Bianco

Jenny Bianco

Representative Deputy Lieutenant for Southwark from at least 2009. Former secondary school teacher who served 16 years on Westminster City Council. She was Lord Mayor of the City of Westminster in ...

Person, Politics & Administration, Royalty

1 memorial
William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare

Born and died in Stratford-upon-Avon. His birth date is usually given as the 23rd, the same date as his death, but all that is actually known is that he was baptised 3 days later, on the 26th. Even...

Person, Poetry, Seriously Famous, Theatre

47 memorials