Tapes of Agatha Christie Unearthed
As both the Telegraph and the New York Times report, a trove of recordings featuring Agatha Christie has been unearthed - recordings no one knew existed before:
Her grandson Mathew Prichard stumbled upon 27 of the half-hour long tapes in a dusty cardboard box as he cleaned out a storeroom in Greenway, the Georgian property overlooking the Dart estuary in Devon that Christie called "the loveliest place in the world".
The tapes, which nobody knew existed, are the raw material on which part of her autobiography was based.
Working alone at her own unhurried pace, the ageing Christie dictated the tapes on a Grundig Memorette machine in the mid 1960s.
Her rich, authoritative voice offers a wealth of insights into her life and how she developed her most beloved characters.
Among them is her description of Jane Marple - and how she partially based the genteel sleuth on her grandmother.
Laura Thompson, author of the biography 'Agatha Christie: An English Mystery', said the "extraordinary" find was of great value because Christie rarely gave interviews, the Telegraph further reports. "She did speak on the radio to the BBC a couple of times in the 1950s but she did very, very little. It is a thrill to hear her voice." That I must echo.... (warning: popup audio link, but worth it)
How cool is that! Thanks for posting, Sarah. This is awesome.
Posted by: Stacey Cochran | September 15, 2008 at 11:52 PM
As a crime writer who doesn't like cosy mysteries, I've always felt ambivalent about Agatha Christie. On the one hand I share Raymond Chandler's views on the influence her work has had on crime fiction, especially in the UK. On the other, no professional can afford to ignore the commercial success and lasting appeal of the world's bestselling author to date. These tapes are an exciting disocovery, and I look forward to hearing more...
Posted by: Rafe McGregor | September 16, 2008 at 07:56 AM