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AGATHA
CHRISTIE
AND ARCHAEOLOGY
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| Maureen
Caryle visits the British Musuem’s exhibition devoted to the
Queen of Crime |
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It
was a moment of suspense. Firstly, the opening of the preview
had been delayed for two hours as the exhibition was not ready;
then. just as I was speeding to Room 5 in the British Museum, the
fire alarm went off. Eager ticket holders massed at the entrance,
muttering darkly. Finally - phew! - it was declared safe to go in.
Agatha Christie and Archaeology - Mystery in Mesopotamia tells the
story of the celebrated crime writer’s twin passions - for the
ancient history of the Middle East, and for Max Mallowan, her second
husband, with whom she had an intensely happy and productive
relationship.
In 1928, still traumatized by her divorce from her first husband,
Archibald Christie, she embarked on the Orient Express en route for
Baghdad, where she was to stay with friends. In those days Baghdad
was an exotic holiday destination for the wealthy. The first room of
the exhibition recreates very successfully the excitement of setting
out on such a trip, with film, sound and exhibits from the fabled
train. Outside the museum’s main entrance is a whole Wagon-Lits
carriage, which you can walk round and gaze enviously at the
fabulous fittings. During that first visit to Baghdad Agatha was
taken to Ur, then being excavated by Leonard Woolley. At this
ancient city, dating from the third millennium BC, he had uncovered
huge royal burials containing many exquisite artefacts, and the
unmistakable evidence of sacrificed royal retainers had sent a
frisson of excitement through London society. Agatha made an
excellent impression on Leonard Woolley and his wife Katherine, who
loved her books. They invited her to return to the site in 1930.
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"Hercule Poirot" outside his compartment on
the Orient Express |
It was during this
second visit that Agatha met Max Mallowan, who was working with
Woolley on the site. He was fifteen years her junior, but she was
instantly attracted to the “thin, dark young man” who was “very
quiet – he seldom spoke, but was perceptive to everything that
was required of him.” When Katherine Woolley suggested he
should accompany Agatha on a trip round the surrounding countryside,
the romance quickly took off. They were married later the same year.
The exhibition
demonstrates how remarkably the couple inspired one another, and how
the careers of both burgeoned as a result. Agatha was completely
gripped by archaeology, and when max was appointed to dig at
Nineveh, capital of the Assyrian empire, in 1931 under Reginald
Campbell Thompson, Agatha accompanied him.
The parsimonious
Campbell Thompson was scandalized when Agatha insisted on buying
herself a writing table so that she could continue her work. She
mollified him by sending him a cheeky Valentine on the subject, the
original being one of the more off-beat exhibits.
As the years passed, and
Max directed his own digs in Iraq and Syria, she became an integral
part of the team, discovering a talent for piecing together broken
pots. Alongside this she wrote some of her best books, all inspired
by the Middle East and archaeology -
Murder
on the Orient Express,
Murder
in Mesopotamia,Death
on the Nile,
Appointment
with Death, They Came to Baghdad, and
Death
Comes as the End, a real Ancient Egyptian murder mystery,
based on the Heqanakht papyri. Agatha’s lifelong love of Egypt
began before she met Max, and they visited it many times together.
In the 1970’s she
wrote a play about the “heretic” pharaoh, Akhenaten, which
was scrupulously researched. One of the delights of this exhibition
is to see Agatha’s own photographs and films. She was a keen
photographer, and you can trace the development from picturesque
snapshots of workers on the sites, through photographs of finds, to
really accomplished films, which evoke the past in a unique way.
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Wagon-Lits carraige from the Orient Express outside the
British Museum, Great Rusell Street |
Taped extracts from
Agatha’s autobiography and the story of her husband’s
excavations,
Come,
Tell Me How You Live, written in London during World War II
while Max was posted to North Africa, add to the nostalgia. Agatha
died in 1976, and Max wrote a moving tribute to her in his own
autobiography, published a year later. It was a true marriage of
minds. There is something for everyone here – film buffs will
love the original designs and costumes from Death on the Nile.
I shall have to return
to see the rest of the archaeological objects – one case was
still empty when I left. The book edited by Charlotte Trumper to
accompany the exhibition is well worth the £19.99 price tag. It
contains a wealth of highly readable articles and many sumptuous
illustrations, including excellent examples of Agatha’s
photographs.
The exhibition runs
until 24th March 2002 – don’t miss it. .
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