When we think of Agatha Christie, there's a tendency to recall her as she was later on

in her life. A vastly successful author and playwright, comfortably a sconce in her tweeds

and pearls, she glances up at the camera from between two towering piles of books.

Her graying hair carefully arranged in elaborate curls, she looks mysteriously off to the

side in a dramatic black and white portrait for her book covers.

Slightly stooped in a raid in a shiny frock, she wields a sword to cut a huge cake in

celebration of the mouse traps long run on stage. This was Agatha Christie the celebrity,

the record breaking phenomenon, the brand. She guarded her private life carefully, so

that her lasting image in the public consciousness has been formed by these relatively few photographs

glimpses. In later life, she also begins to share some characteristics with one of her best-known

creations, Miss Marple, and there is a temptation to see them as one and the same. Words like

adventurous, intrepid, and daring aren't the first that come to mind when describing

her. But the Agatha Christie of 40 years earlier, who had come through the strenuous and

traumatic experiences of the First World War, only to embark on the new challenges of

marriage, parenthood, and a fledgling literary career? Now she was someone who was prepared

even eager to take risks and break molds. And in 1922, she did just that. On the 20th of

January that year, she and her husband Archie gave in to the restlessness and dissatisfaction

that had plagued them on and off since the end of the war, and set off on a year-long

trip around the world. At a time when relatively few people travelled long distances for pleasure,

they embarked on a journey that would see them circle the globe, and visit places they

had only previously dreamed of seeing. This is the story of Agatha Christie's grand tour.

Welcome to She Done It. I'm Caroline Grampton.

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