Agatha Christie Aficionados Thrilled at "Extraordinary" Discovery of Her Audio Tapes
Tapes reveal Christie admitting she based famed Miss Marple character on her grandmother.
Reporter's Note: The homeschooled daughter of an American father and British mother, for nearly fifty years Agatha Christie was the world's most popular mystery writer. One biography of Christie notes: Her total output reached 93 books and 17 plays; she was translated into 103 languages (even more than Shakespeare); and her sales have passed the 400 million mark and are still going strong. Today she remains an icon unparalleled in her field and her books—devoid of the salacious gratuity so common in modern literature—have stood the test of time. -Teresa Neumann, BCN.
(United Kingdom)—Agatha Christie's grandson, Mathew Prichard, has "stumbled" upon 27 tapes in a dusty box that have turned out to be audio tapes of his grandmother explaining how she modeled the famed Miss Marple character on her own grandmother.
According to a Telegraph report, no one even knew the tapes—recorded on Christie's Grundig Memorette machine in the 1960's—existed. (Photo: PA/BBC)
One of the many revelations that came from the tapes includes her explanation that "she thought the fastidious Hercule Poirot and the indomitable Miss Marple should never meet."
Said Prichard of hearing his grandmother's voice again 30 years after her death: "Comforting isn't quite the word, but they are very evocative."
Laura Thompson, author of the biography 'Agatha Christie: An English Mystery', said the "extraordinary" find was of great value because Christie rarely gave interviews. "She did speak on the radio to the BBC a couple of times in the 1950's but she did very, very little. It is a thrill to hear her voice."
