The world of Agatha Christie - 6 Minute English

Hello.

This is 6 Minute English

from BBC Learning English.

I'm Sam.

And I'm Neil.

Have you ever played the game,

Cluedo, Neil?

The idea is that

the person playing detective

discovers who the murderer

is, where the crime took

place, and which

weapon was used.

The last time I played Cluedo

it was Professor Plum, in

the library, with the dagger!

Cluedo is based on a very

popular type of book - the

murder mystery, sometimes

called a whodunnit - a

story about a murder which

does reveal who the murderer

is until the end.

The queen of murder mysteries

is a British writer who was

born in 1890.

Her books

are read all over the world

and have been translated

into a 103 different

languages.

Her name is

Agatha Christie.

To date over 2 billion copies

of her crime novels have

been sold worldwide, making

her the best-selling

novelist of all time...

and the subject

of this programme.

Perhaps her best-known story

is 'Murder on the Orient

Express', a whodunnit

featuring her most famous

detective, Hercule Poirot,

who starred in 33 of

Agatha Christie's books.

More about that later but

as usual I have a quiz

question for you, Neil.

Poirot may be Agatha

Christie's most famous

detective, but he isn't

her only one - so who is

Agatha Christie's other

fictional detective?

Is it:

a) Hetty Wainthropp?

b) Jessica Fletcher?

or,

c) Miss Marple?

I'll guess it's

a) Hetty Wainthropp.

OK, Neil.

I'll reveal the

answer at the end

of the programme.

As mentioned, one of Agatha

Christie's most famous books

is 'Murder on the Orient

Express'.

The story takes

place on a train travelling

from Istanbul in Turkey to

Calais in northern France.

Listen as writer and Agatha

Christie superfan, Harriet

Gilbert, summarises the

story for BBC World Service

programme, World Book Club.

Poirot is on the train,

heading back home to England

from Syria, when two

unconnected events take

place.

In a snowstorm in

Croatia, the train comes

grinding to a halt and in

one of the sleeping berths,

a passenger is murdered.

Since it's impossible for

anyone to have reached the

isolated snow-trapped train

or to have escaped from it

without leaving telltale

footsteps in the snow, the

killer can only be one of

the dozen people sharing

Poirot's coach.

Yet as

he starts to investigate

it seems that each of

them has an alibi for

the time of the murder.

Impossible?

Well, Poirot's

certainly perplexed...

During a snowstorm, the

express train comes to a

grinding halt - it slows

down until it stops

altogether.

Then,

someone is murdered!

The murderer can't have

escaped without leaving

telltale footprints in the

snow.

When something is

described as telltale,

it reveals information

which allows a secret to

be uncovered.

For example,

lipstick on your husband's

shirt could be a telltale

sign he's having an affair.

The murder victim is found

in bed stabbed with a knife.

Poirot begins to investigate,

but as he questions the

train passengers one by one,

it seems that everyone has

an alibi - proof that they

were somewhere else when

a crime was committed.

Naturally, this leaves the

Belgian detective perplexed,

or confused because

something is difficult to

understand or solve.

I won't spoil the story

by telling you what happens

next, Neil.

But let's just

say that, as usual, Poirot

uncovers the murderer using

his incredible powers

of observation.

In her stories, Agatha

Christie describes Hercule

Poirot as a very strange

or eccentric man.

The author, Sophie Hannah,

has written several new

Poirot stories based on

the characters invented by

Agatha Christie before her

death in 1976.

Here she is

describing more of Hercule

Poirot's strange

characteristics to BBC

World Service Programme,

World Book Club.

There's the sort of the

outward things, his

appearance which is very

striking and very unusual,

and his sort of, I suppose

foibles is the best thing

to call them, he likes

neatness, he likes order,

he approaches thing very

methodically, he's very

proud of his luxuriant

moustaches, you know,

all of that.

Sophie calls Poirot's

unusual behaviour his

foibles - habits or

characteristics which are

considered strange or

foolish but which

harm no-one.

Yes, unlike the fictional

murderers he uncovers,

Poirot's foibles do no

harm, but it makes me

wonder if Agatha Christie's

other famous detective

also had unusual habits.

Well, first you'll have

to reveal the answer to

your quiz question, Sam.

You asked me for the name

of Agatha Christie's other

famous detective, and I

guessed it was

a) Hetty Wainthropp.

Well, I'm afraid that was

the wrong answer!

In fact,

Miss Marple was the name

of Agatha Christie's

second most famous

character - although Hetty

Wainthropp is a

fictional detective on TV.

Now that we've solved the

murder and revealed the

correct answer, let's

recap the vocabulary

starting with whodunnit -

a murder story which does

not tell you who the

murderer is until the end.

In the whodunnit, 'Murder

on the Orient Express',

the train comes to a

grinding halt - it slows

down until it

stops altogether.

A telltale sign reveals

hidden information so

that a secret can

be revealed.

An alibi is proof that

you were somewhere else

when a crime was committed.

To be perplexed means

to be confused because

something is difficult

to understand.

And finally, someone's

foibles are their strange

but harmless habits

or behaviour.

That's all for our

six-minute investigation

into the mysterious world

of Agatha Christie.

Goodbye for now.

Goodbye.