Gerrie and I try not to watch television during the week. We’ve too much writing, drawing and reading to attend to. But I was home sick not long ago. When this happens there isn’t a lot you can do except try to take care of yourself and get better as soon as possible. Well, that and maybe have the television on as you fall in and out of sleep.
So I’d move from the bedroom to the living and turn the television on in search of films. Usually I’ll search for old movies that I’d like to revisit; films that really don’t require my staying awake since there is a good chance I won’t. This time I queued up some of the old Star Trek titles, Star Trek: Generations, Star Trek: First Contact and Star Trek: Insurrection. After a while I began better and I set out in search of something else engaging.
That is when I came upon Agatha Christie’s Poirot. This is a British television drama that airs on ITV. We would receive it here on the PBS series, Mystery, and now on some of the video streaming services. Poirot features Dame Agatha’s detective Hercule Poirot and stars David Suchet. I was immediately taken by the program, watching quite a few installments during those few days. Now, being back to a Monday through Thursday sans television routine, Poirot has become a staple for Friday evening viewing.
The thing that draws me to Poirot is an old, deep-seated, love for Agatha Christie novels. I’ve read a good many of them and sought many years ago to collect her entire works. Over her career she wrote 66 detective novels and more than 15 short story collections. Though my fervor to collect subsided, I still came up with 43 of the novels and eight of the short story collections.
Christie stories for me are pure escapism. I read them without trying to piece together the clues and figure out who-done-it. I read them for the pure enjoyment of escaping into another time and another place. Being an avowed Anglophile I am especially drawn to those stories set in England. Whether it is manor home in “The Murder of Roger Ackroyd” or “The Mysterious Affair at Styles”, or an old familiar home in “Sleeping Murder”, I relish the settings. I read the story and have no difficulty placing myself there.
I am not sure when my attraction to Christie stories began. I want to say it was in the early 1970s, though it could have been later. I remember there being a used bookseller in my hometown and I would visit there on trips home. I had a small notebook and I’d pencil in the titles that I already had, then scour the stacks for absent titles. What I do know is that this attraction was sealed during my first visit to England.
I first travelled to France and England in the Spring of 1975. Part of our group itinerary included three shows on London’s West End. Along with seeing Jesus Christ Superstar at the Palace Theatre and Macbeth at The Old Vic, we saw The Mousetrap* at the St. Martin’s Theatre. This certainly must have had an impact on me; my young mind seeing one her stories brought to life. A second event occurred during a coach trip to Oxford. We passed through the small village of Winterbrook. Though I have no way to document it, I have a memory of the driver pointing to his left and saying that was the home of Dame Agatha Christie. She was still alive then and most likely there. It is a vague memory, and possibly inaccurate, but I claim it all the same.
Being somewhat artistically inclined, I tend to look for connections to writers and artists that I admire or who have had some impact on my life. I am happy that I have visited Shakespeare’s birthplace and strolled through the streets of Stratford-upon-Avon. Our visit to Headington Quarry to see The Kilns was memorable as was taking lunch at The Eagle and Child (affectionally known as The Bird and Baby) and sitting the room that C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien and the other Inklings would meet and talk. Passing the Christie home was one of these moments.
As I read certain books and view certain pictures, I am curious about and inspired by the lives of the individuals who penned the words or who created the portraits, landscapes or abstracts. What must their lives have been like? When I think about Dame Agatha, I think about a lady whose life knew adventure and who was experienced at travel. She lived the quiet pedestrian life of the countryside, yet knew the bustle of the city. These are all things that I inspire me.
This all came back to me when I found Agatha Christie’s Poirot. I re-discovered an old friend; not only the little Belgium detective and his associates, but Miss Marple too. But more importantly I became reacquainted with a favorite writer.
Maybe it’s time I sought out those other 23 novels.
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Note: Most all of our viewing these days, when it is not a film, focuses on British produced television.
Greg, David Suchet is now making up what I believe are the last of the series of the Hercule Peroit books. He is the consummate Peroit--and he is very well known here. I love living in England.
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