Editing Agatha Christie (section)

== Life and career ==
=== 1890–1907: childhood and adolescence ===

[[File:Agatha Christie by Douglas John Connah.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Portrait of Christie entitled ''Lost in Reverie'', by Douglas John Connah, 1894]]
Agatha Mary Clarissa Miller<!-- Christie comes from her first marriage. --> was born on 15&nbsp;September 1890, into a wealthy [[upper middle class]] family in [[Torquay]], Devon. She was the youngest of three children born to Frederick Alvah Miller, "a [[gentleman]] of substance",<ref name=":5">{{cite news |date=13 January 1976 |title=Obituary. Dame Agatha Christie |page=16 |work=[[The Times]] |quote='My father,' she [Christie] recalled, 'was a gentleman of substance, and never did a handsturn in his life, and he was a most agreeable man.'}}</ref> and his wife Clarissa "Clara" Margaret ([[née]] Boehmer).<ref name="Morgan1984">{{cite book |last=Morgan |first=Janet P. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=w4paAAAAMAAJ |title=Agatha Christie: A Biography |date=1984 |publisher=[[HarperCollins]] |isbn=978-0-00-216330-9 |location=London |access-date=25 May 2020 |archive-date=12 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210512060208/https://books.google.com/books?id=w4paAAAAMAAJ |url-status=live}}</ref>{{rp|1–4}}<ref name=":1">''Marriage Register''. St Peter's Church, Bayswater [Notting Hill], Middlesex, 1878, No. 399, p. 200.</ref><ref>''Birth Certificate''. [[General Register Office for England and Wales]], 1890 September Quarter, Newton Abbot, volume 5b, p. 151. [Christie's forenames were not registered.]</ref><ref name=":2">''Baptism Register''. Parish of Tormohun, Devon, 1890, No. 267, [n.p.].</ref>

Christie's mother Clara was born in [[Dublin]] in 1854{{Refn|Most biographers give Christie's mother's place of birth as Belfast but do not provide sources. Current primary evidence, including census entries (place of birth Dublin), her baptism record (Dublin), and her father's service record and regimental history (when her father was in Dublin), indicates she was almost certainly born in Dublin in the first quarter of 1854.<ref>''1871 England Census''. Class: RG10; Piece: 3685; Folio: 134; p. 44</ref><ref>[https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C178476 Statement of Services] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191026071323/https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C178476 |date=26 October 2019 }}: Frederick Boehmer, 91st Foot. [[The National Archives (United Kingdom)|The National Archives]], Kew. WO 76/456, p. 57. [Also states his daughter Clarissa Margaret was baptised in Dublin.]</ref><ref name="Goff"/>|group=lower-alpha}} to [[British Army during the Victorian Era|British Army]] officer Frederick Boehmer<ref name="Goff">{{cite book |last=Goff |first=Gerald Lionel Joseph |url=https://archive.org/details/historicalrecord00goffuoft |title=Historical records of the 91st Argyllshire Highlanders, now the 1st Battalion Princess Louise's Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, containing an account of the Regiment in 1794, and of its subsequent services to 1881 |publisher=R. Bentley |year=1891 |pages=xv, [https://archive.org/details/historicalrecord00goffuoft/page/218 218–19, 322]}}</ref> and his wife Mary Ann (née West). Boehmer died in [[Jersey]] in 1863,{{Refn|Boehmer's death registration states he died at age 49 from bronchitis after retiring from the army,<ref name="Jerseyburials"/> but Christie and her biographers have consistently claimed he was killed in a riding accident while still a serving officer.<ref name="Auto1993"/>{{rp|5}}<ref>{{cite book |last=Robyns |first=Gwen |title=The Mystery of Agatha Christie |publisher=[[Doubleday & Company, Inc]] |year=1978 |isbn=0-385-12623-9 |location=Garden City, NY |page=13}}</ref><ref name="Morgan1984"/>{{rp|2}}<ref name="thompson"/>{{Rp|9–10}}|group=lower-alpha}} leaving his widow to raise Clara and her brothers on a meagre income.<ref name="Jerseyburials">{{cite book |title=Burials in the Parish of St Helier, in the Island of Jersey |year=1863 |page=303}}</ref><ref name="thompson"/>{{rp|10}} Two weeks after Boehmer's death, Mary's sister, Margaret West, married widowed dry-goods merchant Nathaniel Frary Miller, a US citizen.<ref>[https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HY-6LM7-W15?i=299 ''Marriage Register'']. Parish of Westbourne, Sussex, 1863, No. 318, p. 159.</ref> To assist Mary financially, Margaret and Nathaniel agreed to foster nine-year-old Clara; the family settled in [[Timperley]], Cheshire.<ref>[https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C7314015 Naturalisation Papers] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191024232807/https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C7314015 |date=24 October 2019 }}: Miller, Nathaniel Frary, from the United States. Certificate 4798 issued 25 August 1865. [[The National Archives (United Kingdom)|The National Archives]], Kew. HO 1/123/4798.</ref> The couple had no children together, but Nathaniel had a 17-year-old son, Frederick "Fred", from his previous marriage. Fred was born in New York City and travelled extensively after leaving his Swiss boarding school.<ref name="thompson"/>{{rp|12}} He and Clara were married in London in 1878.<ref name="Morgan1984"/>{{rp|2–5}}<ref name=":1"/> Their first child, Margaret "Madge" Frary, was born in Torquay in 1879.<ref name="Morgan1984"/>{{rp|6}}<ref>''Birth Certificate''. [[General Register Office for England and Wales]], 1879 March Quarter, Newton Abbot, volume 5b, p. 162.</ref> The second, Louis Montant "Monty", was born in [[Morristown, New Jersey|Morristown]], [[New Jersey]], in 1880,<ref>{{cite news |date=26 June 1880 |title=Births |page=1 |work=[[London Evening Standard]]}}</ref> while the family was on an extended visit to the United States.<ref name="Auto1993">{{cite book |last=Christie |first=Agatha |url=https://archive.org/details/agathachristieau00chri |title=Agatha Christie: An Autobiography |publisher=[[Dodd, Mead & Company]] |year=1977 |isbn=0-396-07516-9 |location=New York City |url-access=registration}}</ref>{{rp|7}}

When Fred's father died in 1869,<ref>''Death Certificate''. [[General Register Office for England and Wales]], 1869 June Quarter, Westbourne, volume 02B, p. 230.</ref> he left Clara £2,000 (approximately {{Inflation|index=UK|value=2000|start_year=1869|r=-4|fmt=eq|cursign=£}}); in 1881 they used this to buy the [[leasehold]] of a villa in Torquay named [[Ashfield, Torquay|Ashfield]].<ref>{{cite news |date=5 October 1880 |title=Auctions. Torquay |page=1 |work=Western Times [Exeter, Devon]}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |date=20 May 1881 |title=Arrivals |page=4 |work=Torquay Times}}</ref> It was here that their third and last child, Agatha, was born in 1890.<ref name="Morgan1984"/>{{rp|6–7}}<ref name=":2"/> She described her childhood as "very happy".<ref name="Auto1993"/>{{rp|3}} The Millers lived mainly in Devon but often visited her step-grandmother/great-aunt Margaret Miller in [[Ealing]] and maternal grandmother Mary Boehmer in [[Bayswater]].<ref name="Auto1993"/>{{rp|26–31}} A year was spent abroad with her family, in the [[Pyrenees|French Pyrenees]], Paris, [[Dinard]], and [[Guernsey]].<ref name="Morgan1984"/>{{rp|15, 24–25}} Because her siblings were so much older, and there were few children in their neighbourhood, Christie spent much of her time playing alone with her pets and imaginary companions.<ref name="Auto1993"/>{{rp|9–10, 86–88}} She eventually made friends with other girls in Torquay, noting that "one of the highlights of my existence" was her appearance with them in a youth production of [[Gilbert and Sullivan]]'s ''[[The Yeomen of the Guard]]'', in which she played the hero, Colonel Fairfax.<ref name="Morgan1984"/>{{rp|23–27}}

[[File:Agatha Christie as a child No 1.jpg|thumb|upright|Christie as a girl, early 1900s|alt=Black-and-white portrait photograph of Christie as a girl]]

According to Christie, Clara believed she should not learn to read until she was eight; thanks to her curiosity, she was reading by the age of four.<ref name="Auto1993"/>{{Rp|13}} Her sister had been sent to a boarding school, but their mother insisted that Christie receive her education at home. As a result, her parents and sister supervised her studies in reading, writing and basic arithmetic, a subject she particularly enjoyed. They also taught her music, and she learned to play the piano and the mandolin.<ref name="Morgan1984"/>{{rp|8, 20–21}}

Christie was a voracious reader from an early age. Some of her earliest memories were of reading children's books by [[Mrs Molesworth]] and [[Edith Nesbit]]. When a little older, she moved on to the surreal verse of [[Edward Lear]] and [[Lewis Carroll]].<ref name="Morgan1984"/>{{rp|18–19}} As an adolescent, she enjoyed works by [[Anthony Hope]], [[Walter Scott]], [[Charles Dickens]], and [[Alexandre Dumas]].<ref name="Auto1993"/>{{rp|111, 136–37}} In April 1901, aged 10, she wrote her first poem, "The Cow Slip".<ref name="film">{{cite AV media |title=The Mystery of Agatha Christie – A Trip With David Suchet (Directed by Claire Lewins) |publisher=Testimony Films (for [[ITV (TV network)|ITV]])}}</ref>

By 1901, her father's health had deteriorated, because of what he believed were heart problems.<ref name="thompson"/>{{Rp|33}} Fred died in November 1901 from [[pneumonia]] and chronic [[kidney disease]].<ref>Death Certificate. [[General Register Office for England and Wales]], 1901 December Quarter, Brentford, volume 3A, p. 71. ("Cause of Death. [[Bright's disease]], chronic. [[Pneumonia]]. Coma and heart failure.")</ref> Christie later said that her father's death when she was 11 marked the end of her childhood.<ref name="Morgan1984"/>{{rp|32–33}}

The family's financial situation had, by this time, worsened. Madge married the year after their father's death and moved to [[Cheadle Hulme|Cheadle]], Cheshire; Monty was overseas, serving in a British regiment.<ref name="thompson"/>{{rp|43, 49}} Christie now lived alone at Ashfield with her mother. In 1902, she began attending Miss Guyer's Girls' School in Torquay but found it difficult to adjust to the disciplined atmosphere.<ref name="Auto1993"/>{{rp|139}} In 1905, her mother sent her to Paris, where she was educated in a series of {{Lang|fr|pensionnats}} (boarding schools), focusing on voice training and piano playing. Deciding she lacked the temperament and talent, she gave up her goal of performing professionally as a concert pianist or an opera singer.<ref name="thompson"/>{{rp|59–61}}

=== 1907–1926: early literary attempts, marriage, literary success ===

After completing her education, Christie returned to England to find her mother ailing. They decided to spend the winter of 1907–1908 in the warm climate of Egypt, which was then a regular tourist destination for wealthy Britons.<ref name="Auto1993"/>{{rp|155–57}} They stayed for three months at the [[Gezirah Palace]] Hotel in [[Cairo]]. Christie attended many dances and other social functions; she particularly enjoyed watching amateur polo matches. While they visited some ancient Egyptian monuments such as the [[Great Pyramid of Giza]], she did not exhibit the great interest in [[archaeology]] and [[Egyptology]] that developed in her later years.<ref name="Morgan1984"/>{{rp|40–41}} Returning to Britain, she continued her social activities, writing and performing in amateur theatrics. She also helped put on a play called ''The Blue Beard of Unhappiness'' with female friends.<ref name="Morgan1984"/>{{rp|45–47}}

At 18, Christie wrote her first short story, "The House of Beauty", while recovering in bed from an illness. It consisted of about 6,000 words about "madness and dreams", subjects of fascination for her. Her biographer [[Janet Morgan, Lady Balfour of Burleigh|Janet Morgan]] has commented that, despite "infelicities of style", the story was "compelling".<ref name="Morgan1984"/>{{rp|48–49}} (The story became an early version of her story "[[While the Light Lasts and Other Stories|The House of Dreams]]".)<ref>{{cite web |title=The House of Dreams |url=http://www.agathachristie.com/christies-work/stories/the-house-of-dreams/377 |access-date=27 June 2020 |website=agathachristie.com |archive-date=25 May 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140525200925/http://www.agathachristie.com/christies-work/stories/the-house-of-dreams/377 |url-status=live}}</ref> Other stories followed, most of them illustrating her interest in [[Spiritualism (beliefs)|spiritualism]] and the [[paranormal]]. These included "[[The Call of Wings]]" and "The Little Lonely God". Magazines rejected all her early submissions, made under pseudonyms (including Mac Miller, Nathaniel Miller, and Sydney West); some submissions were later revised and published under her real name, often with new titles.<ref name="Morgan1984"/>{{rp|49–50}}

[[File:Agatha Christie as a young woman.jpg|thumb|upright|Christie as a young woman, 1910s]]
Around the same time, Christie began work on her first novel, ''Snow Upon the Desert''. Writing under the pseudonym Monosyllaba, she set the book in Cairo and drew upon her recent experiences there. She was disappointed when the six publishers she contacted declined the work.<ref name="Morgan1984"/>{{rp|50–51}}<ref name="curran">{{cite web |url=http://www.agathachristie.com/about-christie/christie-experts/john-curran-75-facts-about-christie |title=75 facts about Christie |last1=Curran |first1=John |website=The Home of Agatha Christie |publisher=Agatha Christie Limited |access-date=21 July 2017 |archive-date=29 July 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170729055754/http://www.agathachristie.com/about-christie/christie-experts/john-curran-75-facts-about-christie |url-status=live}}</ref> Clara suggested that her daughter ask for advice from the successful novelist [[Eden Phillpotts]], a family friend and neighbour, who responded to her enquiry, encouraged her writing, and sent her an introduction to his own literary agent, Hughes Massie, who also rejected ''Snow Upon the Desert'' but suggested a second novel.<ref name="Morgan1984"/>{{rp|51–52}}

Meanwhile, Christie's social activities expanded, with country house parties, riding, hunting, dances, and roller skating.<ref name="Auto1993"/>{{rp|165–66}} She had short-lived relationships with four men and an engagement to another.<ref name="thompson"/>{{Rp|64–67}} In October 1912, she was introduced to [[Archibald "Archie" Christie]] at a dance given by [[Baron Clifford of Chudleigh|Lord and Lady Clifford]] at [[Ugbrooke]], about {{convert|12|mi|km}} from Torquay. The son of a [[barrister]] in the [[Indian Civil Service]], Archie was a [[Royal Artillery]] officer who was seconded to the [[Royal Flying Corps]] in April 1913.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/28725/page/3914 |page=3914 |title=War Office, Regular Forces |issue=28725 |date=3 June 1913 |publisher=[[The London Gazette]]}}</ref> The couple quickly fell in love. Three months after their first meeting, Archie proposed marriage, and Agatha accepted.<ref name="Morgan1984"/>{{rp|54–63}}

[[File:Nurse at Ashfield.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Christie as a nurse in the [[Voluntary Aid Detachment]] of the British Red Cross. She is pictured in 1915 outside her childhood home of [[Ashfield, Torquay|Ashfield]].]]

With the outbreak of World War I in August 1914, Archie was sent to France to fight. They married on Christmas Eve 1914 at Emmanuel Church, [[Clifton, Bristol|Clifton]], Bristol, close to the home of his mother and stepfather, when Archie was on home leave.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Curtis |first1=Fay |date=24 December 2014 |title=Desert Island Doc: Agatha Christie's wartime wedding |url=http://www.bristolmuseums.org.uk/blog/desert-island-doc-agatha-christies-wartime-wedding |publisher=Bristol Museums, Galleries & Archives |access-date=30 December 2014 |archive-date=31 December 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141231122809/http://www.bristolmuseums.org.uk/blog/desert-island-doc-agatha-christies-wartime-wedding/ |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>''Marriage Register''. Parish of Emmanuel, Clifton, 1914, No. 305, p. 153.</ref> Rising through the ranks, he was posted back to Britain in September 1918 as a colonel in the [[Air Ministry]]. Christie involved herself in the war effort as a member of the [[Voluntary Aid Detachment]] of the [[British Red Cross]]. From October 1914 to May 1915, then from June 1916 to September 1918, she worked 3,400 hours in the [[Torquay Town Hall|Town Hall Red Cross Hospital]], Torquay, first as a [[Voluntary Aid Detachment]] nurse (unpaid) then as a dispenser at £16 (approximately {{Inflation|index=UK|value=16|start_year=1917|r=-1|fmt=eq|cursign=£}}) a year from 1917 after qualifying as an apothecary's assistant.<ref name="Morgan1984"/>{{Rp|69}}<ref name="BRC">{{cite web |title=Agatha Christie – British Red Cross |url=https://vad.redcross.org.uk/Agatha-Christie |access-date=26 October 2019 |publisher=[[British Red Cross]] |archive-date=25 October 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191025223408/https://vad.redcross.org.uk/Agatha-Christie |url-status=live}}</ref> Her war service ended in September 1918 when Archie was reassigned to London, and they rented a flat in [[St. John's Wood]].<ref name="Morgan1984"/>{{rp|73–74}}

Christie had long been a fan of detective novels, having enjoyed [[Wilkie Collins]]'s ''[[The Woman in White (novel)|The Woman in White]]'' and ''[[The Moonstone]]'', and [[Arthur Conan Doyle]]'s early [[Sherlock Holmes]] stories. She wrote her first detective novel, ''[[The Mysterious Affair at Styles]]'', in 1916. It featured [[Hercule Poirot]], a former Belgian police officer with "magnificent moustaches" and a head "exactly the shape of an egg",<ref name=":16">{{cite book |last=Osborne |first=Charles |title=The Life and Crimes of Agatha Christie: A Biographical Companion to the Works of Agatha Christie |publisher=[[St. Martin's Press]] |year=2001 |isbn=0-312-28130-7 |location=New York City}}</ref>{{Rp|13}} who had taken refuge in Britain after Germany invaded Belgium. Christie's inspiration for the character came from Belgian refugees living in Torquay, and the Belgian soldiers she helped to treat as a volunteer nurse during the First World War.<ref name="Morgan1984"/>{{rp|75–79}}<ref name=":17">{{cite book |last1=Fitzgibbon |first1=Russell H. |url=https://archive.org/details/agathachristieco00fitz |title=The Agatha Christie Companion |publisher=The Bowling Green State University Popular Press |year=1980 |location=Bowling Green, Ohio |url-access=registration}}</ref>{{Rp|17–18}} Her original manuscript was rejected by [[Hodder & Stoughton]] and [[Methuen Publishing|Methuen]]. After keeping the submission for several months, [[John Lane (publisher)|John Lane]] at [[The Bodley Head]] offered to accept it, provided that Christie change how the solution was revealed. She did so, and signed a contract committing her next five books to The Bodley Head, which she later felt was exploitative.<ref name="Morgan1984"/>{{rp|79, 81–82}} It was published in 1920.<ref name="film"/>
[[File:British Empire Tour 1922 Belcher.jpg|alt=Black-and-white photograph of three men in suits and one woman seated in a room and looking at an open newspaper|thumb|Archie Christie, Major Belcher (tour leader), Mr. Bates (secretary) and Agatha Christie on the 1922 British Empire Expedition Tour]]

Christie settled into married life, giving birth to her only child, [[Rosalind Hicks|Rosalind Margaret Clarissa]] (later Hicks), in August 1919 at Ashfield.<ref name="Morgan1984"/>{{rp|79}}<ref name="thompson"/>{{Rp|340, 349, 422}} Archie left the Air Force at the end of the war and began working in [[The City of London|the City]] financial sector on a relatively low salary. They still employed a maid.<ref name="Morgan1984"/>{{rp|80–81}} Her second novel, ''[[The Secret Adversary]]'' (1922), featuring new detective couple [[Tommy and Tuppence]], was also published by The Bodley Head. It earned her £50 (approximately {{Inflation|index=UK|value=50|start_year=1922|r=-2|fmt=eq|cursign=£}}). A third novel, ''[[Murder on the Links]]'', again featured Poirot, as did the short stories commissioned by [[Bruce Ingram]], editor of ''[[The Sketch]]'' magazine, from 1923.<ref name="Morgan1984"/>{{rp|83}} She now had no difficulty selling her work.<ref name=":16"/>{{rp|33}}

In 1922, the Christies joined an around-the-world promotional tour for the [[British Empire Exhibition]], led by Major [[Ernest Belcher]]. Leaving their daughter with Agatha's mother and sister, in 10 months they travelled to South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Hawaii, and Canada.<ref name="Morgan1984"/>{{rp|86–103}}<ref>{{cite book |last=Prichard |first=Mathew |title=The Grand Tour: Around The World With The Queen Of Mystery |publisher=[[HarperCollins]] Publishers |year=2012 |isbn=978-0-06-219122-9 |location=New York City}}</ref> They learned to [[surfing|surf]] prone in South Africa; then, in [[Waikiki]], they were among the first Britons to surf standing up, and extended their time there by three months to practise.<ref>{{cite news |last=Jones |first=Sam |date=29 July 2011 |title=Agatha Christie's Surfing Secret Revealed |newspaper=[[The Guardian]] |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2011/jul/29/agatha-christie-hercule-poirot-surfing-secret |access-date=30 July 2011 |archive-date=15 December 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131215093338/http://www.theguardian.com/books/2011/jul/29/agatha-christie-hercule-poirot-surfing-secret |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |date=29 July 2011 |title=Agatha Christie 'one of Britain's first stand-up surfers' |work=[[The Daily Telegraph]] |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/8670354/Agatha-Christie-one-of-Britains-first-stand-up-surfers.html |access-date=30 July 2011 |archive-date=29 July 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110729225835/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/8670354/Agatha-Christie-one-of-Britains-first-stand-up-surfers.html |url-status=live}}</ref> She is remembered at the [[Museum of British Surfing]] as having said about surfing, "Oh it was heaven! Nothing like rushing through the water at what seems to you a speed of about two hundred miles an hour. It is one of the most perfect physical pleasures I have known."<ref>{{Cite web |date=24 March 2019 |title=Agatha Christie began riding surfboards standing up at Waikiki - Museum of British Surfing |url=https://www.museumofbritishsurfing.org.uk/timeline/agatha-christie-began-riding-surfboards-standing-up-at-waikiki/ |access-date=1 September 2022 |language=en-GB}}</ref>

When they returned to England, Archie resumed work in the city, and Christie continued to work hard at her writing. After living in a series of apartments in London, they bought a house in [[Sunningdale]], Berkshire, which they renamed Styles after the mansion in Christie's first detective novel.<ref name="Morgan1984"/>{{Rp|124–25}}<ref name="thompson"/>{{Rp|154–55}}

Christie's mother, Clarissa Miller, died in April 1926. They had been close, and the loss sent Christie into a deep depression.<ref name="thompson"/>{{Rp|168–72}} In August 1926, reports appeared in the press that Christie had gone to a village near [[Biarritz]] to recuperate from a "breakdown" caused by "overwork".<ref name=":6">{{cite news |date=20 August 1926 |title=A Penalty of Realism |page=6 |work=[[The News (Portsmouth)|The Evening News]] |location=Portsmouth, Hampshire}}</ref>

=== 1926: disappearance ===

[[File:Christie at Hydro.jpg|thumb|upright|''[[Daily Herald (UK newspaper)|Daily Herald]]'', 15 December 1926, announcing that Christie had been found. Missing for 11 days, she was found at the [[Old Swan Hotel|Swan Hydropathic Hotel]] in [[Harrogate]], Yorkshire.|alt=Newspaper article with portraits of Agatha and Archie Christie]]

In August 1926, Archie asked Christie for a divorce. He had fallen in love with Nancy Neele, a friend of Major Belcher.<ref name="thompson"/>{{Rp|173–74}} On 3{{nbsp}}December 1926, the pair quarrelled after Archie announced his plan to spend the weekend with friends, unaccompanied by his wife. Late that evening, Christie disappeared from their home in Sunningdale. The following morning, her car, a [[Morris Cowley]], was discovered at [[Newlands Corner]] in [[Surrey]], parked above a chalk quarry with an expired driving licence and clothes inside.<ref>{{cite news |date=6 December 1926 |title=100 Police Scour Downs for Missing Woman Novelist |page=1 |work=[[Yorkshire Evening Post]]}}</ref><ref name="ChristieLife">{{cite web |title=Christie's Life: 1925–1928 A Difficult Start |url=http://www.agathachristie.com/about-christie#christies-life |website=The Home of Agatha Christie |access-date=12 February 2017 |archive-date=7 December 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151207094654/http://www.agathachristie.com/about-christie/#christies-life |url-status=live}}</ref> It was feared that she might have drowned herself in the [[Silent Pool]], a nearby beauty spot.<ref>{{cite news |title=Agatha Christie's real-life mystery at the Silent Pool |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/surrey/hi/people_and_places/history/newsid_9005000/9005502.stm|access-date=10 November 2022 |publisher=BBC News |date=17 September 2010}}</ref>

The disappearance quickly became a news story. The press sought to satisfy their readers' "hunger for sensation, disaster, and scandal".<ref name="thompson"/>{{Rp|224}} [[Home Secretary]] [[William Joynson-Hicks]] pressured police, and a newspaper offered a £100 reward ({{Inflation|index=UK|value=100|start_year=1927|r=-2|fmt=eq|cursign=£}}). More than 1,000 police officers, 15,000 volunteers, and several aeroplanes searched the rural landscape. [[Sir Arthur Conan Doyle]] gave a spirit medium one of Christie's gloves to find her.{{Refn|[[Dorothy L. Sayers]], who visited the "scene of the disappearance", later incorporated details in her book ''[[Unnatural Death (novel)|Unnatural Death]]''.<ref name="thorpe"/>|group=lower-alpha}} Christie's disappearance made international headlines, including featuring on the front page of ''[[The New York Times]]''.<ref>{{cite news |title=When the World's Most Famous Mystery Writer Vanished |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/11/books/agatha-christie-vanished-11-days-1926.html |access-date=12 November 2020 |newspaper=The New York Times |date=11 June 2019 |archive-date=31 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201031092245/https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/11/books/agatha-christie-vanished-11-days-1926.html |url-status=live |last1=Jordan |first1=Tina}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=The original Gone Girl: Agatha Christie's mysterious disappearance |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/the-original-gone-girl-agatha-christie-s-mysterious-disappearance-9839497.html |access-date=17 September 2022 |newspaper=The Independent}}</ref> Despite the extensive manhunt, she was not found for another 10 days.<ref name="thorpe">{{cite news |last=Thorpe |first=Vanessa |date=15 October 2006 |title=Christie's most famous mystery solved at last |newspaper=[[The Guardian]] |location=London |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2006/oct/15/books.booksnews |access-date=21 May 2013 |archive-date=5 October 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131005125638/http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2006/oct/15/books.booksnews |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |date=15 December 1926 |title=Mrs Christie Found in a Yorkshire Spa |page=1 |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1926/12/15/archives/mrs-christie-found-in-a-yorkshire-spa-missing-novelist-under-an.html |url-access=subscription |access-date=16 September 2009 |archive-date=13 November 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131113125813/http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F60C17FE3C591B7A93C7A81789D95F428285F9 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Harrogate">{{cite news |date=3 December 2009 |title=Agatha Christie's Harrogate mystery |work=[[BBC News]] |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/york/hi/people_and_places/history/newsid_8393000/8393552.stm |access-date=17 March 2013 |archive-date=16 July 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130716003934/http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/york/hi/people_and_places/history/newsid_8393000/8393552.stm |url-status=live}}</ref> On 4 December, the day after she went missing, it is now known she had tea in London and visited [[Harrods]] department store where she marvelled at the spectacle of the store's [[Christmas decoration|Christmas display]].<ref>{{cite news |title=What really happened when Agatha Christie went missing |url=https://www.thetimes.com/culture/books/article/what-really-happened-when-agatha-christie-went-missing-7qgw5strl |access-date=4 December 2023 |work=[[The Times]]}}</ref> On 14&nbsp;December 1926, she was located at the [[Old Swan Hotel|Swan Hydropathic Hotel]] in [[Harrogate]], Yorkshire, {{convert|184|mi|km}} north of her home in Sunningdale, registered as "Mrs Tressa{{Refn|The notice placed by Christie in ''[[The Times]]'' (11 December 1926, p.1) gives the first name as Teresa, but her hotel register signature more naturally reads Tressa; newspapers reported that Christie used Tressa on other occasions during her disappearance (including joining a library).<ref name="Leedsp1"/>|group=lower-alpha}} Neele" (the surname of her husband's lover) from "{{Sic|Capetown}} S.A." (South Africa).<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.classic-lodge.co.uk/the-old-swan/agatha-christie/ |title=The Details of this Strange Case ... |year=2019 |website=Classic Lodges |access-date=27 October 2019 |archive-date=27 October 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191027031930/https://www.classiclodges.co.uk/the-old-swan/agatha-christie/ |url-status=live}}</ref> The next day, Christie left for her sister's residence at [[Abney Hall]], Cheadle, where she was sequestered "in guarded hall, gates locked, telephone cut off, and callers turned away".<ref name="Leedsp1">{{cite news |date=16 December 1926 |title=What We Want to Know about Mrs. Christie |page=1 |work=[[The Leeds Mercury]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |date=16 December 1926 |title=My Point is This. What I want to Know About Mrs. Christie |page=4 |work=[[The Leeds Mercury]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |date=16 December 1926 |title=Medium Looks for Mrs. Christie |page=9 |work=[[The Leeds Mercury]]}}</ref><ref name=":3">{{cite news |date=17 December 1926 |title=Two Doctors Examine Mrs. Christie |page=1 |work=[[The Leeds Mercury]]}}</ref>

Christie's autobiography makes no reference to the disappearance.<ref name="Auto1993"/> Two doctors diagnosed her with "an unquestionable genuine loss of memory",<ref name=":3"/><ref>{{cite news |date=17 December 1926 |title=Mrs Christie. Doctors Certify Loss of Memory |page=12 |work=[[Western Daily Press]]}}</ref> yet opinion remains divided over the reason for her disappearance. Some, including her biographer Morgan, believe she disappeared during a [[fugue state]].<ref name="Morgan1984"/>{{Rp|154–59}}<ref name="thorpe"/><ref name="disfugue">{{cite magazine |date=17 March 2012 |title=Dissociative Fugue |url=http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/hide-and-seek/201203/dissociative-fugue-the-mystery-agatha-christie |magazine=[[Psychology Today]] |access-date=17 March 2013}}</ref> The author Jared Cade concluded that Christie planned the event to embarrass her husband but did not anticipate the resulting public melodrama.<ref>{{Citation |last=Cade |first=Jared |title=Agatha Christie and the Missing Eleven Days |year=1997 |publisher=[[Peter Owen Publishers|Peter Owen]] |isbn=0-7206-1112-1}}</ref>{{Rp|121}} Christie's biographer Laura Thompson provides an alternative view that Christie disappeared during a nervous breakdown, conscious of her actions but not in emotional control of herself.<ref name="thompson"/>{{Rp|220–21}} Public reaction at the time was largely negative, supposing a publicity stunt or an attempt to frame her husband for murder.<ref>{{Citation |last=Adams |first=Cecil |title=Why did mystery writer Agatha Christie mysteriously disappear? |date=2 April 1982 |url=http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/361/why-did-mystery-writer-agatha-christie-mysteriously-disappear |newspaper=[[The Chicago Reader]] |access-date=19 May 2008 |archive-date=18 September 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080918082312/http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/361/why-did-mystery-writer-agatha-christie-mysteriously-disappear |url-status=live}}</ref>{{Refn|group=lower-alpha|Christie hinted at a nervous breakdown, saying to a woman with similar symptoms, "I think you had better be very careful; it is probably the beginning of a nervous breakdown."<ref name="Auto1993"/>{{rp|337}}}}

=== 1927–1976: second marriage and later life ===

[[File:Hotel Pera Palace - Istanbul.jpg|thumb|Christie's room at the [[Pera Palace Hotel]] in [[Istanbul]], where the hotel claims she wrote her 1934 novel ''[[Murder on the Orient Express]]''|alt=Colour photograph of a hotel room with Christie memorabilia on the walls]]

In January 1927, Christie, looking "very pale", sailed with her daughter and secretary to [[Las Palmas]], Canary Islands, to "complete her convalescence",<ref>{{cite news |date=24 January 1927 |title=Mrs. Christie Leaves |page=1 |work=[[Daily Herald (UK newspaper)|Daily Herald]]}}</ref> returning three months later.<ref>[https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C9438379 Inwards Passenger Lists] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191030035258/https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C9438379 |date=30 October 2019 }}. [[The National Archives (United Kingdom)|The National Archives]], Kew. Board of Trade: Commercial and Statistical Department and successors, BT26/837/112.</ref>{{Refn|Christie's authorised biographer includes an account of specialist psychiatric treatment following Christie's disappearance, but the information was obtained second or third hand after her death.<ref name="Morgan1984"/>{{rp|148–49, 159}}|group=lower-alpha}} Christie petitioned for divorce and was granted a [[decree nisi]] against her husband in April 1928, which was made absolute in October 1928. Archie married Nancy Neele a week later.<ref>{{cite news |date=6 November 1928 |title=Col. Christie Married |page=5 [Includes divorce details] |work=[[Gloucestershire Echo]]}}</ref> Christie retained custody of their daughter, Rosalind, and kept the Christie surname for her writing.<ref name=":17"/>{{Rp|21}}<ref>{{cite news |date=21 April 1928 |title=Mrs. Christie. Novelist Granted Decree Nisi |page=17 |work=[[The Yorkshire Post]]}}</ref> Reflecting on the period in her autobiography, Christie wrote, "So, after illness, came sorrow, despair and heartbreak. There is no need to dwell on it."<ref name="Auto1993"/>{{Rp|340}}

In 1928, Christie left England and took the [[Orient Express|(Simplon) Orient Express]] to [[Istanbul]] and then to [[Baghdad]].<ref name="Morgan1984"/>{{Rp|169–70}} In Iraq, she became friends with archaeologist [[Leonard Woolley]] and his wife, who invited her to return to their dig in February 1930.<ref name="Auto1993"/>{{Rp|376–77}} On that second trip, she met archaeologist [[Max Mallowan]], 13 years her junior.<ref name="thompson"/>{{Rp|284}} In a 1977 interview, Mallowan recounted his first meeting with Christie, when he took her and a group of tourists on a tour of his expedition site in Iraq.<ref name="max">{{cite web |title=Interview with Max Mallowan |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/archive/agatha_christie/12508.shtml |access-date=21 July 2017 |work=[[BBC]] |archive-date=27 July 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170727080059/http://www.bbc.co.uk/archive/agatha_christie/12508.shtml |url-status=live}}</ref> Christie and Mallowan married in [[Edinburgh]] in September 1930.<ref name="thompson"/>{{Rp|295–96}}<ref>''Marriage Certificate''. Scotland{{snd}}Statutory Register of Marriages, 685/04 0938, 11 September 1930, District of St Giles, Edinburgh.</ref> Their marriage lasted until Christie's death in 1976.<ref name="thompson">{{Citation |last=Thompson |first=Laura |title=Agatha Christie: An English Mystery |year=2008 |place=London |publisher=[[Headline Review]] |isbn=978-0-7553-1488-1}}</ref>{{Rp|413–14}} She accompanied Mallowan on his archaeological expeditions, and her travels with him contributed background to several of her novels set in the Middle East.<ref name="max"/> Other novels (such as ''[[Peril at End House]]'') were set in and around Torquay, where she was raised.<ref name=":16"/>{{Rp|95}} Christie drew on her experience of international train travel when writing her 1934 novel ''[[Murder on the Orient Express]]''.<ref name="Morgan1984"/>{{Rp|201}} The [[Pera Palace Hotel]] in Istanbul, the eastern terminus of the railway, claims the book was written there and maintains Christie's room as a memorial to the author.<ref>{{cite web |date=19 September 2018 |title=World-famous Author Agatha Christie and The Mysterious Story of Her Lost 11 Days |url=https://blog.perapalace.com/en/story-of-pera/agatha-christie-and-the-story-of-her-lost-11-days/ |access-date=2 May 2020 |website=[[Pera Palace Hotel]] |language=en-US |archive-date=6 August 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200806092428/https://blog.perapalace.com/en/story-of-pera/agatha-christie-and-the-story-of-her-lost-11-days/ |url-status=live}}</ref>{{Refn|Other authors claim Christie wrote ''Murder on the Orient Express'' whilst at a dig at [[Arpachiyah]].<ref name="Morgan1984"/>{{Rp|206}}<ref name=":16"/>{{Rp|111}}|group=lower-alpha}}
[[File:Cresswell Place.jpg|thumb|upright|left|Cresswell Place, [[Chelsea, London|Chelsea]]|alt=Colour photograph of the front of a three-storey house]]

Christie and Mallowan first lived in Cresswell Place in [[Chelsea, London|Chelsea]], and later in Sheffield Terrace, [[Holland Park]], [[Kensington]]. Both properties are now marked by [[blue plaque]]s. In 1934, they bought [[Winterbrook House]] in [[Winterbrook]], a hamlet near [[Wallingford, Oxfordshire|Wallingford]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Dame Agatha Christie & Sir Max Mallowan |url=http://www.oxonblueplaques.org.uk/plaques/christie.html |access-date=20 May 2020 |website=[[Oxfordshire Blue Plaques Scheme]] |archive-date=29 May 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200529092532/http://www.oxonblueplaques.org.uk/plaques/christie.html |url-status=live}}</ref> This was their main residence for the rest of their lives and the place where Christie did much of her writing.<ref name="thompson"/>{{Rp|365}} This house also bears a blue plaque. Christie led a quiet life despite being known in Wallingford; from 1951 to 1976 she served as president of the local [[amateur dramatic society]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.sinodunplayers.org.uk/w2011/heritage |title=Sinodun Players |website=Sinodun Players |access-date=9 February 2018 |archive-date=10 February 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180210002936/http://www.sinodunplayers.org.uk/w2011/heritage |url-status=live}}</ref>

The couple acquired the [[Greenway Estate]] in Devon as a summer residence in 1938;<ref name="thompson"/>{{Rp|310}} it was given to the [[National Trust]] in 2000.<ref>{{cite web |title=Agatha's Greenway |url=https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/greenway/features/agathas-greenway |access-date=30 April 2020 |website=[[National Trust]] |language=en |archive-date=16 April 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200416121515/https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/greenway/features/agathas-greenway |url-status=live}}</ref> Christie frequently stayed at [[Abney Hall]], [[Cheshire]], which was owned by her brother-in-law, James Watts, and based at least two stories there: a short story, "[[The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding]]", in the story collection of the same name and the novel ''[[After the Funeral]]''.<ref name="Auto1993"/>{{Rp|126}}<ref name="thompson"/>{{Rp|43}} One Christie [[compendium]] notes that "Abney became Agatha's greatest inspiration for country-house life, with all its servants and grandeur being woven into her plots. The descriptions of the fictional Chimneys, Stonygates, and other houses in her stories are mostly Abney Hall in various forms."<ref>{{Citation |last1=Wagstaff |first1=Vanessa |title=Agatha Christie: A Reader's Companion |url=https://archive.org/details/agathachristiere00wags/page/14 |page=[https://archive.org/details/agathachristiere00wags/page/14 14] |year=2004 |publisher=[[Aurum Press]] |isbn=1-84513-015-4 |last2=Poole |first2=Stephen}}</ref>

[[File:DAME AGATHA CHRISTIE 1890-1976 Detective novelist and playwright lived here 1934-1941.jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|[[Blue plaque]] at 58 Sheffield Terrace, [[Holland Park]], London|alt=Colour photograph of a wall plaque stating Christie "lived here 1934–1941"]]
[[File:Winterbrook House-geograph-1848557-by-Bill-Nicholls.jpg|thumb|Winterbrook House, [[Winterbrook]], Oxfordshire. Her final home, Christie lived here with her husband from 1934 until her death in 1976.]]

During World War II, Christie moved to London and lived in a flat at the [[Isokon Flats|Isokon]] in [[Hampstead]], while working in the pharmacy at [[University College Hospital]] (UCH), London, where she updated her knowledge of poisons.<ref>Worsley, Lucy (2022) ''Agatha Christie'', Hodder & Stoughton</ref> Her later novel ''[[The Pale Horse]]'' was based on a suggestion from Harold Davis, the chief pharmacist at UCH. In 1977, a [[thallium poisoning]] case was solved by British medical personnel who had read Christie's book and recognised the symptoms she described.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Thallium poisoning in fact and in fiction |journal=[[The Pharmaceutical Journal]] |date=25 November 2006 |volume=277 |page=648 |url=https://www.pharmaceutical-journal.com/opinion/column/thallium-poisoning-in-fact-and-in-fiction-/-vexed-question-of-the-geographical-origins-of-the-meat-filled-pasty-/-how-illegal-ch/10002699.article |access-date=6 September 2019 |archive-date=6 September 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190906164450/https://www.pharmaceutical-journal.com/opinion/column/thallium-poisoning-in-fact-and-in-fiction-/-vexed-question-of-the-geographical-origins-of-the-meat-filled-pasty-/-how-illegal-ch/10002699.article |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>John Emsley, [https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/the-poison-prescribed-by-agatha-christie-thanks-to-the-mystery-writer-the-deadly-properties-of-thallium-sulphate-have-become-common-knowledge-corrected-1534450.html "The poison prescribed by Agatha Christie"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150925153802/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/the-poison-prescribed-by-agatha-christie-thanks-to-the-mystery-writer-the-deadly-properties-of-thallium-sulphate-have-become-common-knowledge-corrected-1534450.html |date=25 September 2015 }}, ''[[The Independent]]'', 20 July 1992.</ref>

The British intelligence agency [[MI5]] investigated Christie after a character called Major Bletchley appeared in her 1941 thriller ''[[N or M?]]'', which was about a hunt for a pair of deadly [[fifth column]]ists in wartime England.<ref name="Richard Norton-Taylor">{{cite news |author=Richard Norton-Taylor |date=4 February 2013 |title=Agatha Christie was investigated by MI5 over Bletchley Park mystery |newspaper=[[The Guardian]] |location=London |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/feb/04/agatha-christie-mi5-bletchley |access-date=29 March 2013 |archive-date=23 September 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170923050939/https://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/feb/04/agatha-christie-mi5-bletchley |url-status=live}}</ref> MI5 was concerned that Christie had a spy in Britain's top-secret codebreaking centre, [[Bletchley Park]]. The agency's fears were allayed when Christie told her friend, the codebreaker [[Dilly Knox]], "I was stuck there on my way by train from Oxford to London and took revenge by giving the name to one of my least lovable characters."<ref name="Richard Norton-Taylor"/>

Christie was elected a [[fellow]] of the [[Royal Society of Literature]] in 1950.<ref name=":17"/>{{Rp|23}} In honour of her many literary works, Christie was appointed Commander of the [[Order of the British Empire]] (CBE) in the [[1956 New Year Honours]].<ref>{{cite news |date=30 December 1955 |title=Central Chancery of the Orders of Knighthood |page=11 |publisher=The London Gazette |issue=Supplement: 40669 |url=https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/40669/supplement/11 |access-date=18 April 2020 |archive-date=30 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200730132159/https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/40669/supplement/11 |url-status=live}}</ref> She was co-president of the [[Detection Club]] from 1958 to her death in 1976.<ref name=":16"/>{{Rp|93}} In 1961, she was awarded an honorary [[Doctor of Literature]] [[Honorary degree|degree]] by the [[University of Exeter]].<ref name=":17"/>{{Rp|23}} In the [[1971 New Year Honours]], she was promoted to Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE),<ref>{{cite news |date=31 December 1970 |title=D.B.E. |page=7 |publisher=The London Gazette |issue=Supplement: 45262 |url=https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/45262/supplement/7 |access-date=18 April 2020 |archive-date=19 September 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200919115510/https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/45262/supplement/7 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Kastan |first=David Scott |title=The Oxford Encyclopedia of British Literature |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |year=2006 |isbn=978-0-19-516921-8 |volume=1 |page=467}}</ref><ref>{{Citation |last=Reitz |first=Caroline |title=Christie, Agatha |date=2006 |url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780195169218.001.0001/acref-9780195169218-e-0098 |encyclopedia=The Oxford Encyclopedia of British Literature |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |language=en |doi=10.1093/acref/9780195169218.001.0001 |isbn=978-0-19-516921-8 |access-date=24 October 2019 |archive-date=16 November 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191116150129/https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780195169218.001.0001/acref-9780195169218-e-0098 |url-status=live}}</ref> three years after her husband had been [[Knight Bachelor|knighted]] for his archaeological work.<ref>{{cite news |date=31 May 1968 |title=Knights Bachelor |page=6300 |work=[[The London Gazette]] |issue=Supplement: 44600 |url=https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/44600/supplement/6300 |access-date=18 April 2020 |archive-date=1 February 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200201043648/https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/44600/supplement/6300 |url-status=live}}</ref> After her husband's knighthood, Christie could also be [[Style (manner of address)|styled]] Lady Mallowan.<ref name=":16"/>{{Rp|343}}

From 1971 to 1974, Christie's health began to fail, but she continued to write. Her last novel was ''[[Postern of Fate]]'' in 1973.<ref name="Morgan1984"/>{{Rp|368–72}}<ref name="thompson"/>{{Rp|477}} [[Textual analysis]] suggested that Christie may have begun to develop [[Alzheimer's disease]] or other [[dementia]] at about this time.<ref>{{cite news |last=Devlin |first=Kate |date=4 April 2009 |title=Agatha Christie 'had Alzheimer's disease when she wrote final novels' |work=[[The Daily Telegraph]] |location=London |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/5101619/Agatha-Christie-had-Alzheimers-disease-when-she-wrote-final-novels.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090408043419/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/5101619/Agatha-Christie-had-Alzheimers-disease-when-she-wrote-final-novels.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=8 April 2009 |access-date=28 August 2009}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Flood |first=Alison |date=3 April 2009 |title=Study claims Agatha Christie had Alzheimer's |work=[[The Guardian]] |location=London |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2009/apr/03/agatha-christie-alzheimers-research |url-status=live |access-date=28 August 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090801003533/http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009/apr/03/agatha-christie-alzheimers-research |archive-date=1 August 2009}}</ref>

=== Personal qualities ===

[[File:Agatha Christie in Nederland (detectiveschrijfster), bij aankomst op Schiphol me, Bestanddeelnr 916-8898 (cropped).jpg|thumb|upright|Christie in 1964|alt=Black-and-white portrait photograph of Christie in later life]]

In 1946, Christie said of herself: "My chief dislikes are crowds, loud noises, [[gramophone]]s and cinemas. I dislike the taste of alcohol and do not like smoking. I ''do'' like sun, sea, flowers, travelling, strange foods, sports, concerts, theatres, pianos, and doing embroidery."<ref>{{cite news |date=30 April 1946 |title=The Real Agatha Christie |page=6 |work=[[The Sydney Morning Herald]] |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/17978243 |access-date=9 November 2019 |archive-date=8 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210308032612/https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/17978243 |url-status=live}}</ref>

Christie was a lifelong, "quietly devout"<ref name="Morgan1984"/>{{rp|183}} member of the [[Church of England]], attended church regularly, and kept her mother's copy of ''[[The Imitation of Christ]]'' by her bedside.<ref name="thompson"/>{{rp|30, 290}} After her divorce, she stopped taking the [[sacrament]] of [[Eucharist|communion]].<ref name="thompson"/>{{rp|263}}

The Agatha Christie Trust For Children was established in 1969,<ref>{{cite web |title=Data for financial year ending 05 April 2018 – The Agatha Christie Trust For Children |url=https://beta.charitycommission.gov.uk/charity-details/?subid=0&regid=260295 |access-date=7 November 2019 |website=[[Charity Commission for England and Wales|Registered Charities in England and Wales]] |archive-date=15 August 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200815140412/https://beta.charitycommission.gov.uk/charity-details/?subid=0&regid=260295 |url-status=live}}</ref> and shortly after Christie's death a charitable memorial fund was set up to "help two causes that she favoured: old people and young children".<ref>{{cite news |date=27 April 1976 |title=Agatha Christie memorial fund |page=16 |work=[[The Times]]}}</ref>

Christie's obituary in ''[[The Times]]'' notes that "she never cared much for the cinema, or for wireless and television." Further,
{{blockquote|Dame Agatha's private pleasures were gardening{{snd}}she won local prizes for horticulture{{snd}}and buying furniture for her various houses. She was a shy person: she disliked public appearances, but she was friendly and sharp-witted to meet. By inclination as well as breeding, she belonged to the English upper middle class. She wrote about, and for, people like herself. That was an essential part of her charm.<ref name=":5"/>}}