Agatha Christie and the Eleven Missing Days Read online

  Jared Cade

  Agatha Christie and

  the Eleven Missing Days:

  The Revised and Expanded

  2011 Edition

  Scarab eBooks

  About this Book

  In December 1926, Agatha Christie disappeared in bizarre circumstances from her home in Berkshire, England. The discovery of the crime writer’s abandoned car led to the biggest manhunt in British history for a missing person. Eleven days later she was found over two hundred miles away in a northern spa town, claiming to be the victim of amnesia.

  Until the publication of this book in 1998 none of her biographers had come up with conclusive evidence as to what she did in the first twenty-four hours of her disappearance or whether her memory loss was genuine. Although the newspaper headlines made Agatha Christie famous, the private anguish that surrounded the episode ensured she made no reference to it in her memoirs.

  Jared’s Cade’s acclaimed biography – which has been used as the basis of a BBC television documentary – provides the answers to the mystery, including Agatha Christie’s long forgotten explanation of the notorious episode, along with startling accounts by her relatives that reveal for the first time why she staged the disappearance with the help of a co-conspirator and how it all went terribly wrong. His sympathetic investigation reveals the incidents that shaped her character and how the fall-out from the disappearance affected the rest of her life.

  Illustrated with photos from private albums, this fully revised and expanded 2011 edition draws on a newly discovered cache of family papers, diaries and letters, to which Jared Cade was given exclusive access, and reveals even more fascinating secrets about her life and works. Agatha Christie and the Eleven Missing Days is a must for all Christie devotees.

  ‘A brilliant job of research... Jared Cade has succeeded where all we other writers failed to trace what really happened to Agatha on the night of the disappearance.’ – Gwen Robyns, author of The Mystery of Agatha Christie.

  ‘A fascinating account’ – Wall Street Journal

  ‘A real page-turner’ – Daily Telegraph

  ‘This is the only biography that tells Agatha’s life story as it really was. Jared Cade’s insight into her personality is unsurpassed.’ – Judith and Graham Gardner, relatives of Agatha Christie

  ‘Jared Cade paints a brilliant picture of the tabloid press turning a disappearance and a possible murder hunt into a national jamboree, complete with day outings, picnics and all the pleasures of the chase. His book is a must.’ – Robert Barnard, author of A Talent to Deceive: An Appreciation of Agatha Christie

  ‘A wonderfully sympathetic and detailed biography requiring extensive research, which was made possible by a part of Agatha’s family, who were prepared to open up their archives and memories. Certainly a book that any real fan of Agatha should have; it still keeps her image as glowing as ever, but with the benefit of a deep human story.’ – Vanessa Wagstaff, author of Agatha Christie: A Reader’s Companion

  ‘Jared Cade’s new biography is valuable for the detail in which he examines her 11-day disappearance... His meticulously researched and interestingly illustrated volume is fascinating to read.’ – Charles Osborne, author of The Life and Crimes of Agatha Christie.

  ‘Jared Cade has unearthed the Queen of Crime’s long lost account of her disappearance from several decades ago. He has proved himself to be a detective so meticulous and thorough that Agatha herself would have been proud.’ – Sarah French, Northern Echo

  ‘Agatha Christie’s greatest mystery was her strange disappearance in December 1926. The already well-known writer’s car was found abandoned in Surrey. After vast publicity she was found, claiming to be suffering from amnesia, in a Harrogate hotel. Jared Cade, in a well-researched and attractively written book, unravels the mystery and explains how and why she fled from her husband. Although the book concentrates on this dramatic event, the author shows how echoes of the disappearance turned up in her later writings. The book is especially good in describing her second marriage and provides depth and texture to the life of one of the most popular writers of all time.’ – Contemporary Review

  ‘Jared Cade not only traces the disturbing events of the lost eleven days and their far-reaching repercussions; he also throws considerable light on the personality of a complex character, her sufferings (her second husband also deceived her), her frustrations, her achievements.’ – Keswick Reminder

  ‘Cade’s riveting, stylish procedural’ – Publishers Weekly

  ‘A gripping detective story’ – Harpers and Queen

  ‘Affectionate and objective’ – Alan Travis, Guardian

  ‘This thoughtful and absorbing inquiry lends credible dimension to the complex life story of mystery’s most celebrated practitioner. Well done!’ – Sue Grafton

  ‘Jared Cade is an acknowledged expert on Christiana and Agatha Christie and the Eleven Missing Days has received much acclaim for its impressively detailed examination of the Queen of Crime’s disappearance.’ – Crime Time

  About the Author

  Jared Cade was born in 1962 and lives in London. He is a lifelong fan of Agatha Christie, and in 1993 he appeared on The 64,000 Dollar Question, correctly answering all questions on his specialist subject of Agatha Christie’s novels and winning what was then British television’s biggest cash prize of £6,400. While researching his biography about Agatha Christie’s life he located several short stories she had written in the 1920s that had escaped detection by scholars for decades. In 1997 they were published for the first time in the collection While the Light Lasts. He also traced copies of two missing Agatha Christie plays, Chimneys and A Daughter’s a Daughter, both of which have since been performed in Great Britain. He acted as a research consultant in 1997 for the BBC documentary series Mysteries With Carol Vorderman, which featured a segment on the writer’s disappearance. Agatha Christie and the Eleven Missing Days was first published in 1998 and still holds the distinction of being the only biography to be endorsed by relatives from her brother-in-law’s side of the family. In 2002 Agatha Christie and the Eleven Missing Days became the basis of a documentary for the BBC. The revised and expanded edition was published in 2011, as was Jared Cade’s debut murder mystery Deadly Vendetta. To find out more, please visit www.jaredcade.co.uk

  CONTENTS

  Title Page

  About the Book

  About the Author

  Acknowledgements

  Picture Section

  Preface

  Agatha Christie’s Family Tree

  Map of Newlands Corner

  Prologue

  PART 1: LOVE AND BETRAYAL

  1. Mauve Irises and Ewe Lambs

  2. The Man from the Sea

  3. Adversity and Prosperity

  4. Conflicting Desires

  5. The Gun Man Reincarnate

  6. Desperate Measures

  PART 2: SUSPICION, SPECULATION AND UNCERTAINTY

  7. Dredging the Silent Pool

  8. The Search Widens

  9. President Scrutiny

  10. ‘The Suspense of the Uncertainty is Terrible’

  11. Great Expectations

  12. A Call for Divers

  13. Official Protocol

  14. Last-Minute Cancellation

  15. Public Charades and Frozen Stills

  16. Her Heels Dug Up

  17. A Trip to the Canaries

  18. Questions in Parliament

  19. Sequel to the Ripley Road Hold-Up

  PART 3: WHILE THE LIGHT LASTS

  20. Partners in Crime

  21. The Golden Decade

  22. Darkened Skies

  23.
Memories Shadowed

  24. No Fields of Amaranth

  25. Accolades and Reminders

  26. The Twilight Years

  27. Unforeseen Ripples

  28. Confusing the Messenger with the Bad News

  Epilogue: A Realm of Her Own

  Works of Agatha Christie

  Also by Jared Cade

  Copyrights and Credits

  Acknowledgements

  This book could not have been researched and written without the help of a good many people. The Watts branch of Agatha Christie’s family has been a rich source of new information, and I would especially like to thank Judith and Graham Gardner, daughter and son-in-law of Nan Watts, whose brother Jimmy was married to Agatha’s sister Madge; Miles Watts’s daughter Averil; Humphrey Watts’s daughters Dame Felicity Peake and Sizza Watts; Jane Davies whose mother Eleanor Campbell-Orde was Humphrey Watts’s daughter and a great friend of Agatha; Lyonel Watts’s granddaughter Fernanda Marlowe and her husband George Herford; and Adrian McConnel who was married to Humphrey Watts’s daughter Penelope.

  I also want to express my gratitude to Anthony B. Martin, director of the Agatha Christie Centenary Celebrations; Christine Wilde; Marion and Ernest Chapel; Mr and Mrs David Tappin; Terrence Tappin; Patsy Robinson; Margery Campion; Richard D. Harris; Professor Donald Wiseman who helped Agatha and her second husband Max Mallowan excavate Nimrud; Mrs Loram for her recollections of Archie and Nancy Christie; Hubert Gregg who directed several of Agatha Christie’s plays; A.L. Rowse; George Gowler, Agatha’s butler at Greenway; and Millie Bush who was in service at Winterbrook House.

  Others to whom I am indebted include Ian Blair, Chief Constable of the Surrey Constabulary and Geraldine Phillips; Barbara Hick of West Yorkshire Police; Ruth Harris of West Yorkshire Archive Service; Maggie Bird of the Metropolitan Police Archives Branch; Poole and Poole handwriting experts who deciphered a difficult sample of Agatha Christie’s handwriting; Susan Healy and Chris Bradley of Thames Valley Police (which now incorporates the Berkshire Constabulary); Dawn Smalley; Edith Butler; Edith Butler Nick Forbes of the Kew Public Records Office, holder of the Bradshaw Railway Guides; Ralph Barnet of the Surrey County Council who as an administrative ranger of Newlands Corner gave me a guided tour of the area and chalk pit into which Agatha’s car almost plunged; Eric Boshier and Wilfrid Morton who as members of the Surrey police took part in the search for Agatha. Richard Brotherton and Anders Ditlev Clausager of the British Motor Industry Heritage Trust; Mark Priddey of the Oxfordshire Archives; Detective Sergeant Christopher Roberts, formerly of the Camberley Police Force; William Taylor of the Royal Observatory, Edinburgh, and Ian McGregor of the British National Meteorology Library and Archive for supplying moon and weather conditions for 3 December 1926; Bruce Hoag; Lisa Spurrier, Robert Hale, Elizabeth Hughes and Mark Stevens of the Berkshire Record Office; Patricia Willis of the Surrey Record Office; Eamon Dyas; R.M. Jones; Celeste Kenney; Althea Bridges; Colin Price; Bill Indge; Tibby Kull; and Jack Boxall who with his father searched for Agatha. Others include Dame Jean Conan-Doyle for information about the Christies’ mutual friend Air Commodore Rankin; Gina Dobbs of Random House for permission to examine Agatha’s business correspondence with the Bodley Head; Michael Bott of Reading University; Michael Rhodes, former keeper of Agatha’s correspondence for the Bodley Head; Stuart Ó Seanóir of Trinity College Library, holder of Judge Bodkin’s correspondence; Glenise Matheson of the John Rylands University Library; Christopher Sheppard of the Brotherton Collection, Leeds University Library; Catherine Cookson of Marylebone Library; Brigadier K.A. Timbers, Historical Secretary of the Royal Artillery Institution; Richard Bland of Clifton College; Roland Lewis; Stewart Gillies and the staff of the British Library; Helen Pugh of the British Red Cross; and Ray Martin and the staff of the British Telecom Archives.

  My thanks, too, go to Kay Farnell of the Automobile Association; Margaret de Motte for access to the papers of the Watts Family of Abney Hall; Peter Berry; Lord Brabourne and the Trustees of the Mountbatten Archive; Gwen Robyns; Kai Jorg Hintz; Jean Debny; Tim Raven; Christopher Dean; Barbara Reynolds; Phillip L. Scowcroft; Jacob Ecclestone; Jacqui Kanaugh of the BBC Written Archives; Mike Dolton of BBC Sound Archives; His Grace the late Duke of Northumberland; Michael Baxter; Charles Ward; and Philip Garnons-Williams, owner of a 1920s Morris Cowley car, who acted as my driver when I restaged the journey Agatha took on the night of her disappearance.

  I have also been helped by Shari Andrews of the Old Swan Hotel, formerly the Harrogate Hydro; Malcolm Nessam; Mr Stay of Harrogate Library; the staff of the Library of Congress; Mr T. Lidgate; St Catherine’s House and Somerset House; Michael Meredith; the staff of Bristol Library University; the staff of Kensington and Chelsea Libraries; Sally Harrower of the National Library of Scotland; Linda S. Moore of Charles Parkhurst Rare Books; the late Kathleen Tynan, who scripted the film Agatha and to whom I spoke before her death, and Leon Wieseltier, executor of her estate; Roxanna and Matthew Tynan, who since then have helped to make it possible to view their mother’s private research papers and other related matters; and Mr and Mrs Wood for showing me around their home at Styles, Sunningdale.

  Finally, special thanks is due to a small band of dedicated and knowledgeable Christie enthusiasts who kept me informed and whose modesty prevents them from being named here.

  Preface

  On 3 December 1926 a distraught woman mysteriously vanished from her home in Berkshire, England. The discovery of her abandoned car in Surrey led to fears for her safety. She was found a week and a half later in a luxurious hotel in Harrogate, Yorkshire, reading newspaper accounts of the nationwide search for her. When her extraordinary conduct was challenged, her husband intervened, claiming she was suffering from amnesia. The woman was Agatha Christie, and the events of those eleven missing days would haunt her for the rest of her life.

  The disappearance was to prove a watershed in Agatha’s life, and her enduring reticence on the subject has posed a number of intriguing questions. How could a woman who saw photographs of herself on the front pages of newspapers have failed to realize she was the most talked-about woman in Britain? What was the significance of the trail of letters she left in her wake? And what prompted her husband to reveal that she had previously spoken about the possibility of disappearing and, when she was discovered, why was he approached to pay the bill for the police search?

  Although the disappearance made her famous, no previous account of Agatha’s life has fully explained the extraordinary circumstances behind the disappearance and why she behaved as she did. I discovered during the early stages of my research in the 1990s that most of the books written about the author have amounted to little more than literary critiques. All the writers concluded that Agatha experienced some sort of nervous breakdown and that the notoriety of the disappearance led to her becoming a recluse. In Britain there had been just two actively researched biographies, and in their account of Agatha’s long life both writers had admitted difficulty in tracing witnesses. An unauthorized biography by Gwen Robyns in 1978 had challenged the family’s official explanation, while an authorized biography by Janet Morgan in 1984 had drawn a decorous veil over the disappearance, blaming much of what happened on press intrusiveness. Both biographers maintain that Agatha never discussed the incident after she was found. This is factually wrong. Agatha did eventually discuss the disappearance, and her motive for breaking her silence was as instructive as her reasons for never publicly speaking of the matter again.

  Intrigued by the story, I had a hunch that the explanations previously advanced for the most famous incident in the author’s life contained too many discrepancies to be wholly credible. On my first visit to Newlands Corner, Ralph Barnet, an administrative ranger with the Surrey County Council, gave me a guided tour of the area and the chalk pit into which Agatha’s car almost plunged. It was immediately apparent that her disappearance could not possibly have occurred under the circumstances described by her and latter-day theorists. So what had re
ally happened? Fuelled by curiosity at the many unresolved questions, I embarked on a pilgrimage around England to find out more about the reclusive personality who had figured in her own bizarre real-life mystery.

  As a child Agatha had delighted in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass, but it quickly emerged that the cover-up her family and others had perpetrated immediately following her disappearance demanded a greater suspension of disbelief than anything Lewis Carroll could have written. The Christie family’s explanation left numerous questions unanswered and dozens of loose ends. For instance, what was the significance of the identity she created for herself during her disappearance, and why did the press hint broadly at deliberate design? Given that her bank accounts had been stopped by the police, how did she survive financially? Also, what was the intriguing significance of an inscription to a friend written on the flyleaf of one of her books three years after the disappearance?

  In discovering the answers to these and other questions my own journey was no less labyrinthine that Agatha’s, but I managed to trace a number of people with first-hand knowledge of the disappearance. The truth has emerged from an impeccable source following an inevitable weakening of the walls of silence that the writer built around herself in her lifetime, since her own prediction that she would be forgotten within ten years of her death has not proved true.

  After her sister Madge married Jimmy Watts, Agatha became life-long friends with his sister Nan. The latter’s daughter and son-in-law, Judith and Graham Gardner, have confirmed the truth about the disappearance and other hitherto undisclosed details of Agatha’s personal life. Judith and Graham knew Agatha intimately, and their knowledge of her together spans over eighty-five years. Their reason for confiding in me, in opening up their photograph albums and showing me private letters for the very first time, is because I have read everything Agatha wrote, since, as they say, ‘There’s no short cut to Agatha. You have to read the books.’ They have broken decades of silence and officially endorsed this biography to put Agatha’s relationship with the Watts side of her family into perspective for her fans and also because they wish ‘to put an end to all the ridiculous speculation about the disappearance’. I owe them an enormous debt of gratitude, as do Agatha’s many admirers. My interest in updating and expanding this biography came after the discovery of a new cache of diaries, letters and family correspondence to which they have, once again, given me exclusive access. I am also grateful to other family members for supplying me with background information on the Wattses.