Hercule Poirot and Lord Peter Whimsey ( the respective creations of Agatha Christie and Dorothy Sayers ) have retained Holmes' egotism but not his zest for life and eccentric habits.

His reading ranged from Agatha Christie to The Book Of Job and he had an insatiable interest in his fellow-creatures, while his letters were full of gossip about new politicians and old men of letters with whom he had been intimately thrown six decades before.

The world's best-selling mystery writer, and often referred to as the “ Queen of Crime ”, Agatha Christie is considered a master of suspense, plotting, and characterisation.

Many of the settings for Agatha Christie ’ s books were directly inspired by the many archaeological field seasons spent in the Middle East on the sites managed by her second husband Max Mallowan.

From 8 November 2001-24 March 2002, The British Museum had an exhibit named “ Agatha Christie and Archaeology: Mystery in Mesopotamia ”, which presented a fascinating look at the secret life of Agatha Christie and the influences of archaeology in her life and works.

In 1971 Agatha Christie was made a Dame Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire.

Several biographical programs have been made, such as the 2004 BBC television programme entitled Agatha Christie: A Life in Pictures, in which she is portrayed by Olivia Williams, Anna Massey, and Bonnie Wright.

Christie features as a character in Gaylord Larsen's Dorothy and Agatha and The London Blitz Murders ' by Max Allan Collins.

Christie has also been parodied on screen, such as in the film Murder by Indecision, which featured the character " Agatha Crispy ".

Hercule Poirot (; ) is a fictional Belgian detective, created by Agatha Christie.

By 1930, Agatha Christie found Poirot " insufferable ", and by 1960 she felt that he was a " detestable, bombastic, tiresome, ego-centric little creep ".

This is how Agatha Christie describes Poirot in The Murder on the Orient Express in the initial pages:

Like Agatha Christie, she isn't overly fond of the detective she is most famous for creating – in Ariadne's case the Finnish sleuth Sven Hjerson.

On 22 February 1945, " speaking from London, Agatha Christie introduced the initial broadcast of the Poirot series via shortwave.

Agatha Christie attributed the inspiration for the character of Miss Marple to a number of sources: Miss Marple was " the sort of old lady who would have been rather like some of my grandmother's Ealing cronies – old ladies whom I have met in so many villages where I have gone to stay as a girl ".

When she made it, the results, starring Margaret Rutherford, were popular and successful light comedies, but were disappointing to Christie herself ; nevertheless, Agatha Christie dedicated the novel The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side to Rutherford.

In the 1940s, Joan appeared on-stage in an Agatha Christie play, Appointment with Death, which was seen by Christie who wrote in a note to her, " I hope one day you will play my dear Miss Marple ".

The character of Jessica Fletcher is thought to be based on a combination of Miss Marple, Agatha Christie herself, and another Christie character, Ariadne Oliver, who often appears in the Hercule Poirot mysteries.

The first appearance of Ariadne Oliver on television was in an episode of The Agatha Christie Hour ( 1982 ).

Three stories of the stories in the collection, The Girl in the Train, Jane in Search of a Job and The Manhood of Edward Robinson were adapted for by Thames Television in 1982 as part of their ten-part programme The Agatha Christie Hour, a series of one-off plays from short stories by the writer.

Two of the stories in the collection, The Case of the Middle-Aged Wife and The Case of the Discontented Soldier, were adapted by Thames Television in 1982 as part of their ten-part programme The Agatha Christie Hour, a series of one-off plays from short stories by the writer.

Some of these have explored and offered accounts of Christie's disappearance in 1926, including the 1979 film Agatha ( with Vanessa Redgrave, where she sneaks away to plan revenge against her husband ) and the Doctor Who episode " The Unicorn and the Wasp " ( with Fenella Woolgar, her disappearance being the result of her suffering a temporary breakdown due to a brief psychic link being formed between her and an alien ).

* December 3 – Agatha Christie disappears from her home in Surrey ; on December 14 she is found at the Harrogate Hotel.

In the early 1960s she became synonymous with Miss Jane Marple in a series of four films loosely based on the novels of Agatha Christie.

With her health stable, she traveled to England to film the Agatha Christie mystery Murder with Mirrors ( 1985 ).

In a half-hour radio drama, Butter in a Lordly Dish ( 1948 ), Agatha Christie has her protagonist drug a lawyer's coffee ; after revealing her true identity, she hammers a nail into his head.

Agatha had at first been affianced to Percy Craye, though upon reading in the papers of his behavior at a Covent Garden ball, she had ended the engagement.

Aunt Agatha is of the opinion that Bertie, whom she regards as a burden to society in his present state, must marry and carry on the Wooster name ; furthermore, he must marry a girl capable of moulding his personality and compensating for his many defects.

While she stayed in Tver, Konchak, who converted to Christianity and adopted the name Agatha, died.

She then had another substantial part when she appeared again with her husband in the screen version of Agatha Christie's play Witness for the Prosecution ( 1957 ) for which both received Academy Award nominations-she for the second time as Best Supporting Actress, and Laughton, also for the second time, for Best Actor.

She was Jessica Marbles, a sleuth based on Agatha Christie's Jane Marple, in the 1976 murder mystery spoof, Murder by Death, and she made her last film in 1980 as Sophie in Die Laughing.

By a curious coincidence she also played Agatha Christie herself in " The Unicorn and the Wasp ", an episode of Doctor Who.

Agatha Christie's grandson Mathew has commented: " Personally, I regret very much that she Christie never saw David Suchet.

Agatha Christie's room at the Hotel Pera Palas in Istanbul, where she wrote Murder on the Orient Express

Agatha lives with her friend Gertrude Pembroke in Owatannauk, Maine, where she uses The Owatannauk's alleviators ( time machines ) to travel through time collecting various items for her and Gertrude's curio shop.

Soon, she impresses Agatha and her loyal majordomo Joseph Clancey ( Charles Bickford ) with her refreshing, down-to-earth common sense and Glenn with her other charms.

* In chapter 2, Anne Meredith tells Poirot that she knows Ariadne Oliver from her book The Body in the Library, which was the title of a book later written by Agatha Christie and published in 1942.

In Agatha Christie's Poirot, Japp was portrayed by Philip Jackson.

Greenway was subsequently the home of Dame Agatha Christie.

Phillpotts was a friend of Agatha Christie, who was an admirer of his work and a regular visitor to his home.

In May 2010, another piping feature, which was larger than a street intersection, developed after Tropical Storm Agatha.

One of these visitors was the already famous Agatha Christie who as a result of this visit became the wife of Max Mallowan.

Agatha Christie's book Ten Little Niggers was first published in London in 1939 and continued to appear under that title until the early 1980s, when it became And Then There Were None.

In addition, Ten Little Niggers ( 1939 ) was the original British title of Agatha Christie's novel And Then There Were None, which has also been known by the alternate title Ten Little Indians.

Bix Beiderbecke was born on March 10, 1903, in Davenport, Iowa, the son of Bismark Herman and Agatha Jane ( Hilton ) Beiderbecke.

His next film, Michael Apted's Agatha, was with Vanessa Redgrave as Agatha Christie.

During this period, one of his high-profile film roles was as Agatha Christie's Belgian master detective Hercule Poirot in the 1974 film Murder On The Orient Express.

His mother was Agatha, who was described as a relative of the German Emperor, but whose exact identity is unknown.

It was fate, however, that the treasure of the basilica still pass from hand to hand as a pledge as security for loans received: in 1273 is held at the Humble of St. Agatha ( the present church Carrobiolo ) in Monza in 1311 and is engaged in some bankers that safety will transfer to Avignon.

Burgh Island is closely linked to Agatha Christie, as it served as the inspirational setting for both And Then There Were None as well as the Hercule Poirot mystery Evil Under the Sun. The hotel and its eloquent Art Deco styling was also a bolt hole in the 1930s for the likes of London's rich and famous, including Noël Coward.

* Hatfield House was featured as " Chimneys " in the 2010 Agatha Christie's Marple adaptation of Agatha Christie's The Secret of Chimneys.