The statue was placed in 2012 to mark the 60th anniversary of the play "The Mousetrap" which began in 1952 and continues to this day. As of the writing of this entry (2023) this is the longest running play among all the plays performed all over the world.
Dame Agatha Christie (1890-1976) is considered the greatest suspense novelist in Britain, if not the world.
She wrote dozens of books, some of which were dramatized and even filmed. Among the prominent characters in her library, you can find Mrs. Marple, and the Belgian detective Hercule Poirot.
The statue by Ben Twiston-Davies is in the heart of London’s theater district to mark her contribution to theatre.
The monument was photographed that day and on it you can see the image of Agatha Christie and below her signature and the years of her life, as well as the images of Mrs. Marple and Hercule Poirot, and elements from her book (above is a mousetrap)
Click for a larger image And on the other side the current sign appears
Click for a larger image On the base of the statue, below the relief of books and film, the following text appears:
Agatha Christie’s books have sold over two billion copies in 100 lanquages, more than any other modern writer. Her work has been widely adapted for the cinema, radio and television.
The Mousetrap, the world’s longest-running show, opened in 1952 at the Ambassadors Theatre and has played at the St Martin’s Theatre since 1973. In 1954 she became the first woman to have three plays running in London at the same time.
Hercule Poirot, the all-knowing Belgian detective, made his bow in 1920 in Agatha Christie’s first book, THE MYSTERIOUS AFFAIR AT STYLES. Miss Jane Marple, her all-seeing village spinster, followed a few years later.
THE MOUSETRAP, her many other plays, and more than eighty novels and books of short stories brought Agatha Christie world-wide fame in her lifetime. Through her unique understanding of human nature, her dramatic skills and mastery of the art of story-telling she as become one of the most successful and best loved writers of all time.
Click for a larger image and on the other side
Agatha Christie, neé Miller, was born on 15 September 1890 in Torquay, Devon. Educated at home, she acquired as a child her lifelong passion for reading and writing. Knowledge of poisons, gained as a pharmaceutical dispenser in the 1914-18 war, proved invaluable for her crime writing. She maried Archie Christie in 1914; their daughter Rosalind was born in 1919.
A devotee of travel, she gave many books foreign settings, especially in the Middle East, where she assisted her second husband, the archaeologist Max Mallowan, on his expeditions in Syria and Iraq. Her daughter, her son-in-law Anthony Hicks, her grandson Mathew Prichard, born in 1943, and all who knew it shared her great love for Greenway, her house on the River Dart, which her family later gave to the National Trust.
Agatha Christie was appointed Dame Commander of the British Empire in 1971. She died on 12 January 1976.
Click for a larger image
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