meta_pixel
Tapesearch Logo
Log in
Witness History

Agatha Christie: best-selling novelist of all time

Witness History

BBC

Personal Journals, Society & Culture, History

4.51.6K Ratings

🗓️ 23 January 2026

⏱️ 11 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

On 12 January 1976, author Agatha Christie died peacefully, aged 85.

She created the detectives Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple.

By the time of her death, Christie had written more than 80 books. Most of her works were detective novels but she also wrote romances, short stories, poetry and plays.

In 2015, Louise Hidalgo spoke to her grandson, Mathew Prichard.

Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by the past. We take you to the events that have shaped our world through the eyes of the people who were there. For nine minutes every day, we take you back in time and all over the world, to examine wars, coups, scientific discoveries, cultural moments and much more. Recent episodes explore everything from the death of Adolf Hitler, the first spacewalk and the making of the movie Jaws, to celebrity tortoise Lonesome George, the Kobe earthquake and the invention of superglue. We look at the lives of some of the most famous leaders, artists, scientists and personalities in history, including: Eva Peron – Argentina’s Evita; President Ronald Reagan and his famous ‘tear down this wall’ speech; Thomas Keneally on why he wrote Schindler’s List; and Jacques Derrida, France’s ‘rock star’ philosopher. You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, such as the civil rights swimming protest; the disastrous D-Day rehearsal; and the death of one of the world’s oldest languages.

(Photo: English detective novelist, Agatha Christie. Credit: Bettman/Getty Images)

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

BBC Sounds, Music, Radio Podcasts.

0:05.7

Hello, you're about to listen to a BBC podcast, and I'm Ed Gamble, host of another BBC podcast, The Traitors Uncloaked.

0:12.7

But my show is available only on BBC Sounds, just like Ellis and John's Saturday bonus episodes,

0:18.2

The Pop Top Ten podcast with Scott Mills and Rylan, and comedy specials

0:22.2

from the likes of Harriet Kemsley, Susie Ruffle and Rommasheranganathan. However, and maybe I'm biased,

0:27.9

it's really all about the traitors uncoaked. So for a whole bunch of exclusive scoops and

0:32.6

podcasts, listen only on BBC Sounds.

0:43.8

Hi, this is Witness History from the BBC World Service.

0:46.8

Now, if this is one of your favourite podcasts already,

0:48.9

feel free to skip ahead a little bit.

0:51.6

But if you're listening for the very first time, welcome.

0:55.3

We're the podcast that takes you back to a moment in history by speaking to those who were there. Episodes are just nine minutes long and come out every

1:01.0

weekday. If that sounds like something you'd listen to, hit subscribe wherever you get your BBC

1:06.7

podcasts and turn on your notifications so you never miss an episode.

1:12.5

It's 50 years since the best-selling novelist of all time passed away.

1:17.4

Louise Hidalgo is taking you back to January 1976 and the death at age 85 of Agatha Christie.

1:25.3

Known as the Queen of Crime, she created fictional detectives,

1:28.7

Urquille Poirot and Miss Marple.

1:36.3

The dining room at Wallingford,

1:39.0

which is where she died,

1:40.2

had a moderate-sized circular dining-room table,

1:43.6

and my grandfather put all the letters that we all received

...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.

Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.