The movie Murder on the Orient Express opened this week, with Kenneth Branagh starring as Hercule Poirot. Christie’s novel was first filmed in 1974, but the UK Daily Mail calls this version “one of the most highly-anticipated films of the year.”
Christie has been dead for 41 years, but she’s still the bestselling novelist of all time. Her books come in third in sales ranking behind the Bible and Shakespeare’s works.
Her portrait suggests a calm, even dull, Englishwoman. But was she?
Here’s seven fascinating facts about her:
1. Christie, along with her sisters, believed their mother Clara was psychic and had the “second sight.”
2. Her mother insisted that Christie be homeschooled and not be taught to read until she was eight. Not willing to wait that long, Christie taught herself to read.
3. Christie’s first dog was named “George Washington.”
4. Her pseudonym for her first novel was “Monosyllaba.”
5. When her first husband, Archie Christie, told her he in love with another woman, Christie mysteriously disappeared for 10 days. Over 1,000 policemen searched for her, as well as over 15,000 volunteers. She was found at a hotel in Yorkshire, registered under the surname of her husband’s lover.
6. In 1928, she took the Orient Express train to Istanbul, and met her second husband, archaeologist Max Mallowan.
7. She was given the feminine form of knighthood for her writing and her husband was knighted for his archaeological work. They are one of the few married couples separately honored for their own contribution.
About that photograph of Agatha Christie? Looks can be deceiving.
Here’s more facts about her.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNvGTIl0qsU