Agatha Christie Trivia

1. In which county and which year did Agatha Christie's disappearance begin?

From Quiz Gone Girl

Answer: Berkshire, 1926

Agatha Christie's disappearance began at her home in Berkshire (in the south of England) on the evening of December 3, 1926. After kissing her sleeping daughter, Rosalind, good night, she drove off in her Morris Cowley automobile. From then until she was rediscovered on December 14, we only have Agatha's account of what happened and a few additional clues. Agatha Christie (1890-1976) was already a successful author with several published novels including "The Murder of Roger Ackroyd", published in June of that year. Hercule Poirot and Tommy and Tuppence had already made their debuts although Miss Marple had not. If this had been the end of Agatha's writing career, her books would take up a far smaller space on the shelf than they do.

From Quiz The Mysterious Case of the Missing Novelist

Answer: 1926

Around 9.45 pm on the 3rd December Agatha Christie climbed into her two-seater Morris car outside her home, a large house called 'Styles', in Berkshire and drove away. The following morning her car was discovered a dozen or so miles away, near Guildford, Surrey, its front end buried in a clump of bushes half way down a bank.

From Quiz Gone Girl

Answer: Arthur Conan Doyle and Dorothy L. Sayers

If you are familiar with your mystery authors, you may be able to dismiss Wilkie Collins (who died in 1889) and Peter Tremayne (who was born in 1943). Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930) was best known as the creator of Sherlock Holmes although he also had a deep interest in Spiritualism in his later life. He brought one of Agatha's gloves to a medium hoping for a psychic clue. The attempt was fruitless. Dorothy L Sayers (1893-1957), who created Lord Peter Wimsey, came to the scene of the disappearance and looked for clues. This was similarly fruitless. Both authors were correct, however, in predicting that Agatha would be found alive.

From Quiz Agatha Christie: The Author Speaks

Answer: "I suppose you take most of your characters from real life?"

"No, I don't. I invent them. They are MINE." She argues that her characters have to be original because they have to do exactly what she wants them to do.

From Quiz The Mysterious Case of the Missing Novelist

Answer: At a weekend party in Surrey with his mistress

Archibald had recently fallen in love with a girl ten years younger than himself, a typist by the name of Nancy Neele, who he had met on the golf course. Nancy was well known to Agatha and had spent many weekends with the Christies, although Agatha had no idea that the girl was having an affair with her husband.

From Quiz Agatha Christie: The Author Speaks

Answer: The Pale Horse

Narrator Mark Easterbrook goes for a cup of coffee (and a "nice banana and bacon sandwich") and witnesses such a quarrel. And that handful of hair will prove to be more significant than he - or the reader - initially thinks.

From Quiz Gone Girl

Answer: Her mother

Agatha's mother had died several months previously, in April. By the time she had disappeared, Agatha was aware of her husband, Archie, being involved in an affair and wanting to divorce her. In fact, he had told Agatha that morning that he would be spending the weekend with his mistress. There was a period where Agatha hoped to save her marriage. Was the letter to him written towards that end? Both Archie and his brother Campbell had each burned his letter shortly after receiving it. The letter to Agatha's secretary discussed scheduling issues.

From Quiz The Mysterious Case of the Missing Novelist

Answer: A waiter in a hotel in Yorkshire

Agatha's story, with accompanying pictures, had been appearing in the newspapers since she went missing. When the 'Daily News' offered a reward for any information, reports of sightings flooded in, but all turned out to be false alarms. It transpired that she had been staying in a room on the third floor of the Hydropathic Hotel in Harrogate, Yorkshire for a week and a half when the head waiter recognised her and contacted the local police.

From Quiz Gone Girl

Answer: Yorkshire

The hotel was located in Harrowgate, Yorkshire. Agatha was register at the hotel under the name Mrs. Tressa Neele. "Neele" was the same surname as Archie's mistress, Nancy Neele. The next day--December 15, 1926, Agatha traveled to her sister's home where she entered a period of isolation from the outside world.

From Quiz The Mysterious Case of the Missing Novelist

Answer: Teresa Neele

Agatha checked into the hotel using the second name of her husband's mistress, saying that she was a visitor from South Africa. When he arrived at the hotel Archibald found her in the dining room, reading an account of the ongoing investigation into her disappearance in the evening newspaper. When confronted, she seemed to be unsure of his identity.

From Quiz The Mysterious Case of the Missing Novelist

Answer: She had lost her memory

No-one of course believed Archie's story, least of all the Surrey police who, on his return to 'Styles', presented him with a bill for the cost of the search, which incidentally he refused to pay. Questions were also asked in the House of Commons, where the whole episode was denounced as a "cruel hoax".

From Quiz Gone Girl

Answer: She very seldom talked about it

Agatha discussed the disappearance once in an interview in 1928. She said that she had hit her head and temporarily lost her memory. She did not willingly discuss it after that. It is not mentioned in her autobiography. A friend or acquaintance who tried to discuss it with her would quickly find her distancing herself. Though Agatha was and would remain an author of highly popular works, public reaction to her disappearance was largely negative. The two most common public theories were that it was a publicity stunt or that she was trying to frame her husband for murder. In any case, she was never placed on trial for fraud or any other crime committed with the disappearance. Interestingly, several of her works--both before and after 1926--include a woman disappearing and using a disguise as a plot point. Coincidence or meaningful?

From Quiz The Mysterious Case of the Missing Novelist

Answer: Her mother died

In April, 1926 Agatha was on the way to visit her mother, who was suffering from bronchitis, when she had a sudden strong feeling that her mother had already died, and was devastated to find on her arrival that her premonition was correct.

From Quiz Gone Girl

Answer: She divorced her first husband and married a second husband

Her first husband, Archibald Christie (1889-1962), had asked Agatha for a divorce in June 1926 so that he could marry his affair partner. It is suggested that Agatha's feelings about this may have led to her disappearance. The Christies divorced in 1928 and in 1930 Agatha married her second husband, the archaeologist Max Mallowan (1904-1977). Agatha accompanied Max on several of his archaeological expeditions, which provided inspiration for several of her mysteries.

From Quiz The Mysterious Case of the Missing Novelist

Answer: To spite her husband and spoil his weekend

Having been told by Archie that he was in love with a younger woman and wanted a divorce, Agatha staged her disappearance with the help of her sister-in-law, Nan, maybe in the hope of persuading him to stay with her. Unfortunately the prank back-fired when the letter she sent to Campbell, in order to ensure that she would be found quickly, was mislaid by him before he had read it properly. She had not anticipated the intense media coverage, and hated the publicity she had unwittingly courted, having no desire to publicly admit that her seemingly idyllic life was not as it seemed, and her husband's infidelity was in fact the cause of her disappearance. The incident did not help her relationship with Archie either, and two years later they were divorced. He married Nancy Neele and Agatha, some years later, met and married archaeologist Max Mallowan, fourteen years her junior.

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