JAGRAN LAKECITY UNIVERSITYHistory of Mass Media

Assignment OnAgatha Christie(Queen of Crime)

SUBMITTED TO SUBMITTED BYPRABUDDH BANERJEE HONEY GUPTA MAJMC 1ST SEMESTER

AGATHA LIFE HISTORY

• Agatha Mary Clarissa Miller was born on 15 September 1890 in Torquay, Devon, South West England into a well off middle class family.

• In 1914 she was married with Colonel Archibald Christie. He was an aviator in the Royal Flying Corps.

• The couple had one daughter, Rosalind, before their divorce in 1928.• She wrote her own first detective novel The Mysterious Affair at Styles

featuring Hercule Poirot .•  She trained and worked as a nurse helping to treat wounded soldiers, during first

world war.•  In 1930, she again married with Max Mallowan .• She is the author of 80 crime novels and collection of short stories, 19 plays, and

six novel written under the name of Mary Westmascott. 

• Her novels listed as the best-selling novelist of all time by the Guinness Book of World Records .

• Her novels have sold roughly 2 billion copies, her works come third in the rankings of the world's most-widely published books after the bible and William Shakespeare books.

• Remains the most-translated individual author – having been translated into at least 103 languages.

• Christie's best-selling novel was “Then There Were None ” with 100 million sales to date, making it the world's best-selling mystery ever, and one of the best-selling books of all time.

• Agatha Christie’s first novel , The Mysterious Affair at Styles, was written towards the end of world war 1.

• She created a character in his novel named as Hercule poirot, the little Belgian detective who was detective was the most popular detective in crime fiction since Sherlock Holmes.

• In 1926, she wrote a masterpiece, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd was published by Collins.

• The Murder of Roger Ackroyd is a work of detective fiction by Agatha Christie, first published in June 1926 in the United Kingdom by William Collins, Sons.

THE MOUSETRAP (1952)

Mousetrap, her famous play of all, opened in 1952.Mousetrap is the murder mystery play. It is the longest and continuous running play of this era. Over 25,000th performance taking place on 18 November,2012.Such plays are The Yellow Iris, Three Blind Mice, Butter in a Lordly Dish, Personal Call

MISS MARPLE• Jane Marple usually referred as Miss Marple, it is a fictional

character used many times in the novel.• The Murder of Vicrage was the first introducing play of Miss

Marple.• Several novels are their featuring Miss Marple like The Murder

at the Vicarage (1930),The Body in the Library(1942),The Moving Finger(1943),A Murder is Announced(1950), They Do It with Mirrors or Murder with Mirrors (1952), A Pocket Full of Rye(1953),4.50 from Paddington or What Mrs. Mac Gillicuddy Saw ! (1957),The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side or The Mirror Crack'd (1962),A Caribbean Mystery (1964),At Bertram's Hotel (1965),Nemesis (1971),Sleeping Murder (written around 1940, published 1976).

• Some short stories collection are also their, The Thirteen Problem,  The Tuesday Club Murders, The Regatta Mystery .

HERCULE POIROT

• This is well known character introduced in the novel by Agatha Christie.

• He is a fictional Belgian detective character. Most famous and long lived character, appearing in 33 novel and one play(black coffee).

• His name also includes in more than 50 short stories.

• Hercule Poirot first appeared in The Mysterious Affair at Styles(published in 1920) and exited in CURTAIN (published in 1975). 

FILM & THEATRE ADAPTATION AGATHA’S WORK

Christie wrote 16 plays based on her novels. The first theatrical version of her mystery opened in London in May 1928. An adaptation of her 1926 detective novel The Murder of Roger Ackroyd .Three stage adaptations she herself made of novels featuring poirot followed: Appointment with Death(1945), Death on the Nile(1946) and The Hollow(1951).

MOVIES BASED ON AGATHA’S WORKS

• Murder , She Said was released in 1961. This movie directed by George Pollock. This movie was loosely adapted from Christie’s novel “4.50 from Paddington’’.

• Murder At The Gallop was released in 1963. Metro Goldwyn Mayer was the director of this movie. The film stars Margaret Rutherford as Miss Jane Marple in movie.

• Ten Little Indian was released in 1965. George Pollock was the director of this movie. The original title was Ten Little Niggers, then it was switched to Ten Little Indians.

• Evil Under The Sun was released in 1982. Guy Hamilton was the director of this movie. Detective Poirot who tries to solve the murder case of an actress at a Balkan resort.

THREE BLIND MICE ( PLAY )

• It’s a half-hour radio play was written by Agatha Christie and broadcast on BBC light at 8 o’clock in evening time on 30th may, 1947.

• This short story based on a real-life crime tragedy, Dennis O’Neill Case.

• Dennis O'Neill  was a 12-year-old Welsh boy whose death at the hands of his foster parents led to an enquiry into and overhaul of fostering provisions in the United Kingdom.

• This program is presented in the honour of eightieth birthday of Queen Mary.

COLLECTION OF SOME SHORT STORIES, PLAY, RADIO PLAYS

SHORT STORIES• The Under Dog and Other Stories

• The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding

• Double Sin and Other Stories

• The Golden Ball and Other Stories

• Poirot's Early Cases

• Miss Marple's Final Cases and Two Other Stories

• Problem at Pollensa Bay and Other Stories

• The Harlequin Tea Set

• While the Light Lasts and Other Stories

PLAYSAnd Then There Were NoneAppointment with DeathMurder on the Nile/Hidden HorizonThe HollowThe MousetrapWitness for the ProsecutionSpider's WebA Daughter's a Daughter

RADIO PLAY• Wasp's Nest

• The Yellow Iris

• Three Blind Mice• Butter in a Lordly

Dish

• Personal Call

AGATHA CHRISTIE DIED(12TH JANUARY,1976)

• 1976: Crime writer Agatha Christie dies• The most popular novelist in the world, Dame Agatha Christie, has died

leaving rumours of a multi-million pound fortune and a final book waiting to be published.

• She died at her home in Wallingford in Oxfordshire, aged 85.•  She is buried in the nearby churchyard of St Mary's, Cholsey. • She was survived by her only child, Rosalind Margaret Hicks.