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Le plus grand Secret d'Agatha Christie — Transcript

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0:00Vanished, evaporated, nowhere to be
0:02found one December morning in 1926, and
0:05discovered 11 days later in a hotel
0:07with no explanation, the Queen of Crime
0:10became the lead character in a case
0:12only she could write—but this time,
0:15it wasn't in a book. Let's revisit this
0:17enigmatic disappearance, which still
0:19hasn't revealed all its secrets 100
0:21years later. A publicity stunt,
0:23personal revenge, or total amnesia?
0:26Many far-fetched theories were proposed
0:28, but the novelist never cleared up the
0:30enigma, even when writing her
0:31autobiography. At the time, this
0:34disappearance case shook England.
0:36We’re talking about it on
0:37Retrochronica. It is early morning,
0:47December 4, 1926, at a place called
0:49Silent Pool in southern England, about
0:5245 km from London. Passersby notice a
0:54Morris Cowley model car parked vaguely
0:57near the water's edge. The headlights
0:59were still on. Inside the cabin, they
1:01find a fur coat, some personal
1:03belongings, and most notably, a
1:05driver's license. The identity of the
1:07missing driver is immediately revealed.
1:09It is the novelist Agatha Christie. Was
1:11it a kidnapping? An escape, or a staged
1:14event? Everything is possible, and for
1:1711 days, the mystery remains complete.
1:19At that moment, Agatha Christie is
1:20already a famous writer. Obviously, not
1:23as much as today, with her 66 detective
1:25novels published in her lifetime in
1:27about a hundred languages. But at 36,
1:29the Briton has already published seven
1:31novels and a collection of short
1:33stories. Her latest, The Murder of
1:35Roger Ackroyd, was her first major
1:37success, once again following the
1:38character Hercule Poirot, who would
1:40become iconic. Imagine a specialist in
1:43police investigations and sordid
1:45murders suddenly vanishing, abandoning
1:47her car and leaving her fur coat in the
1:49middle of winter. Scotland Yard, the
1:52headquarters of the London police, is
1:54immediately put in charge, and the case
1:56proves to be a real puzzle that will
1:58only be partially solved. In our era,
2:01social media would have quickly talked
2:02about this mysterious disappearance. In
2:051926, the press was still very powerful
2:07, and newspapers rushed to relay this
2:09news, as unusual as it was worrying.
2:12Her face appears in articles as early
2:13as the next day. Journalists even
2:15imagine a possible scheme by the
2:17novelist, who might have disguised
2:19herself to change her appearance. The
2:21Daily News offers a reward of a hundred
2:23pounds to anyone who finds her. This
2:25case becomes a daily soap opera for the
2:27British public. Search parties are
2:29organized with dogs. More than 10,000
2:32people volunteer to help law
2:34enforcement, and missing person posters
2:36are put up. Investigators then begin to
2:39analyze every scenario. Could someone
2:41have a grudge against Agatha Christie
2:43and commit the unthinkable? Was she
2:45going through a period too difficult to
2:47continue living, or did she suddenly
2:49want to change her life? If you like
2:51mystery novels, you know that initial
2:53suspicions often turn to those close to
2:55the victim, especially the spouse. The
2:57novelist's husband is named Archibald
2:59Christie, a former soldier who works
3:01for an insurance company. They have
3:03been married since 1914 and even have a
3:05daughter, Rosalind. And when the police
3:07question him, Archibald soon explains
3:09that the couple has been struggling for
3:11a while and that he recently confessed
3:13to his wife that he was seeing a
3:15colleague, Nancy Neele. He becomes the
3:17perfect suspect, a husband ready to
3:19kill his wife to then marry his
3:21mistress. But these revelations, even
3:23if they are important, do not let us
3:25know if Agatha Christie is still alive.
3:27Besides, the former soldier has an
3:29alibi. The night of her disappearance,
3:32he was with that famous Nancy Neele,
3:34not far from where the car was
3:35abandoned. But all that is too little
3:37to incriminate him for anything. The
3:39investigators then look into the
3:40southern trail. She could have drowned
3:43in the nearby pond for various reasons,
3:45but after several days of searching the
3:47area and the bottom of the water, they
3:49dismiss this theory. Scotland Yard is
3:51desperate and even calls upon author
3:53Sir Conan Doyle, you know, the one who
3:56invented the character Sherlock Holmes.
3:58The Briton is very curious and takes a
4:00great interest in spiritualism. He uses
4:03his contacts to ask a medium for help,
4:05providing one of the missing woman's
4:07gloves. But nothing conclusive comes of
4:09it. 3 days pass, then 4 days, 8 days,
4:1111 days, the days go by and look the
4:13same, but no trace of the famous
4:15novelist until that famous 11th day of
4:18searching when a man calls the Daily
4:20News and claims to have seen Agatha
4:22Christie at a hotel in Yorkshire, in
4:24Harrogate. This is hundreds of miles
4:27from where her vehicle was left. But a
4:29very strange detail: this woman, who
4:31looks exactly like the Queen of Crime,
4:33checked into this hotel under the name
4:36Miss Neele. Have you made the
4:37connection? The last name of her
4:39husband's mistress. This testimony
4:41seems fishy, but the newspaper sends
4:42someone to the scene to verify the
4:44witness's claims. And indeed, it is
4:46indeed Agatha Christie walking through
4:48the establishment's hallways. While
4:50England moves heaven and earth trying
4:52to solve this strange disappearance,
4:54the 36-year-old writer has been staying
4:57for 11 days in this luxury hotel under
4:59a false name. She is surely reveling in
5:01everything that is happening outside.
5:03She spends her days walking around,
5:05relaxing. Rumors even suggest she read
5:08a newspaper that talked about her
5:09disappearance. The police are contacted
5:12, as is Archibald. Everyone goes to the
5:14scene, and there, it's total amazement.
5:16The creator of Hercule Poirot doesn't
5:18remember anything. In any case, that is
5:20what she claims. Upon seeing her
5:21husband, she doesn't recognize him. The
5:24couple returns home as if nothing
5:26happened, and Agatha Christie never
5:27speaks of her mysterious disappearance
5:30again. But then, what really happened?
5:40Admittedly, Agatha Christie was found
5:42safe and sound, with no signs of injury
5:44or trauma, but this case is far from
5:46solved because there is still a major
5:48problem in this whole story. The
5:50novelist has no memory of those 11 days
5:52and does not even recognize her husband
5:55when he arrives at the hotel. How can
5:57the investigators clear all this up if
5:59the main witness cannot explain
6:01anything? As with any unsolved case,
6:04many theories have been proposed, and
6:06some are actually quite plausible.
6:08First, one hypothesis is officially
6:10accepted to close this case for good:
6:12amnesia. Indeed, the police are not
6:14going to question the word of a
6:16successful novelist, after all. At the
6:18time of the events, Agatha Christie was
6:20going through a particularly difficult
6:22period—I will come back to that later
6:23—and was not happy. We know that
6:26following an emotional shock or
6:27saturation, the brain can behave
6:29strangely or even trigger dissociative
6:31disorders that can lead to flight.
6:34Medically, it is entirely possible that
6:36the writer suffered from a rare form of
6:38amnesia, to the point of wandering to
6:40that hotel while temporarily forgetting
6:41her true identity. But where this
6:44theory falls apart is that the Briton
6:45supposedly remained 11 days without
6:47knowing her identity before resuming
6:49the course of her life without issue
6:51and without sequelae. Even today,
6:53amnesia is the official version of this
6:55story, but some biographers refuse to
6:57believe it, just like many of the
6:59novelist's admirers. Among the theories
7:01, there is the idea of a staged event
7:03to regain inspiration. As a reminder,
7:05in 1926, Agatha Christie had already
7:07published seven detective novels, and
7:09even though she had always had an
7:11overflowing imagination since childhood
7:13, she was in a negative slump. What
7:15could be better for the queen of crime
7:17than to stage her own disappearance to
7:19trigger a giant investigation of which
7:21she is the main character? Especially
7:23since it fits the writer's personality,
7:25who is known for being playful and who,
7:26according to her husband, was very good
7:28at disguising herself. In an interview
7:31with the Daily Mail, Archibald Christie
7:33even admitted that planning a
7:35disappearance had crossed his mind,
7:36likely due to his work. Perhaps she was
7:39bored and needed to add a little bit of
7:41action to her bourgeois life. I looked
7:43into which two novels were published
7:45after her disappearance. The first is
7:47The Big Four, where Hercule Poirot
7:49faces an international criminal
7:50organization, and the second is The
7:52Mystery of the Blue Train, again
7:53featuring the Belgian private detective
7:55, where a crime disrupts his trip to
7:57the French Riviera. There is no real
7:59similarity to what happened to her,
8:01which makes the lack of inspiration
8:03theory quite shaky. But this idea joins
8:06another theory, that of one of the
8:08greatest publicity stunts of the
8:10century. First, we must realize that
8:12being a celebrity as a writer, and a
8:14woman at that, was unheard of at the
8:15time. Agatha Christie was one of the
8:18first to achieve this status in the
8:191920s. Being on the front page of
8:22newspapers for nearly two weeks and
8:23disappearing mysteriously obviously
8:25fueled an already established fame.
8:27After her reappearance, the sales of
8:29her books skyrocketed across the
8:31country, at least in the short term.
8:33But the writer was quite a private
8:34person. She did not like being in the
8:37spotlight, and even less exposing her
8:39private life, which casts doubt on this
8:41theory. Whether this theory is true or
8:43false, the disappearance had an immense
8:45publicity impact. There are now two
8:47other options remaining. The first
8:49would be a suicide attempt. So, in
8:51great distress, depressed, and unable
8:53to manage her life as she wished,
8:55Agatha Christie might have decided to
8:57end it all by driving into the pond,
8:59but changed her mind at the last moment
9:01. She might have finally decided to
9:03leave the car, take the train, and go
9:05far away to recharge. According to
9:08British biographer Laura Thompson, the
9:10London police chief supported this
9:12theory for several days. Unlike the
9:15other theories, this one is entirely
9:17possible, but why check in under her
9:19husband's mistress's name if it wasn't
9:22premeditated? We now come to the most
9:25plausible and ironic theory of all. A
9:28little personal revenge. Let's go back
9:30in time. Agatha Christie learns that
9:32her husband, whom she has been married
9:34to for 12 years and with whom she has a
9:357-year-old daughter, is cheating on her
9:37with a younger colleague. The man she
9:39fell in love with no longer exists. He
9:41feels neglected by this wife who never
9:43leaves her typewriter, and she has just
9:46been dealt a massive blow. Normally,
9:49all of this could have ended in an
9:50argument or a separation. But don't
9:53forget that this mishap happened to the
9:54queen of crime, the perfect opportunity
9:56to show off her imagination and her
9:57sleight of hand. She then devises a
10:00devious plan to teach Archibald
10:02Christie a good lesson. The novelist
10:04first writes him a letter. Now, not all
10:07sources say the same thing. So one must
10:09be careful on this subject. For example
10:11, biographer Laura Thompson claims this
10:13letter was intended for her
10:15brother-in-law and not Archibald. In
10:18any case, this letter informs the
10:20recipient of her need to escape, to
10:22head north. A clue that the police did
10:25not really take seriously. Next, the
10:28writer fled in her car on December 3rd
10:30at nightfall, the evening her husband
10:33was with his mistress. A way of
10:35protesting by giving him a run for his
10:37money. Next step, heading to a
10:40luxurious hotel to rest, checking in
10:42under her husband's mistress's name.
10:45But she is patient for the final blow.
10:47She knows it is only a matter of time.
10:49After 11 days on the run, she is
10:51unmasked and when her husband appears
10:53at the establishment, she doesn't
10:55hesitate for a second. "Excuse me, sir,
10:57I don't know you," she reportedly said,
10:58according to some historians.
11:00Throughout this story, the criminal
11:02case expert left clues behind.
11:04Archibald Christie, her husband, who
11:07was with his mistress. He was suspected
11:10of murder and his wife didn't even
11:11recognize him. You have to admit it's a
11:14rather successful revenge. What makes
11:16this inexplicable disappearance so
11:17successful is precisely the different
11:19possible leads. Everyone can have their
11:21own theory about her strange behavior.
11:23And yet, no one will ever know the
11:26truth. The only time the reader could
11:28have had an answer, the queen of crime
11:30preferred to remain silent. In 1977, an
11:33autobiography was published
11:34posthumously, a year after her death,
11:36where the British author recounts her
11:38childhood, her life as an adult, a wife
11:40, and a mother. She wrote until her
11:43last breath and insisted the work only
11:45be made public after her passing. But
11:47even then, it's a total blur. She
11:50barely mentions this episode from
11:52December 1926 and gives no explanation.
11:55She definitely chose to take her secret
11:57with her and never speak of that dark
11:59year 1926 again. A year that was indeed
12:10particularly difficult for the novelist
12:12and which also logically explains her
12:15behavior. On April 5th, she receives
12:17terrible news. Her mother has just
12:19passed away. Clarissa Margarette Miller
12:21was 72 years old and was a pillar of
12:23support for the writer. Having lost her
12:25father at the young age of 11, she
12:27developed a close bond with her, and it
12:29was her personality above all that left
12:31a mark on the young novelist. Curious
12:33and inventive, she was a true source of
12:35inspiration for Agatha in the
12:37construction of her works. She also
12:39believed in the supernatural,
12:41spiritualism, and intuition—elements
12:43regularly found in her detective novels
12:45. Having to attend her funeral, sort
12:48through her belongings, relive memories
12:50, and return to her childhood home was
12:52a very difficult situation. Two months
12:55later, her novel The Murder of Roger
12:56Ackroyd was released in bookstores, and
12:58it was a huge success for the author.
13:00Something to mentally support Agatha
13:01Christie. But this mental respite was
13:03short-lived, as you know, she first
13:05learned her husband was cheating on her
13:07and then that he wanted a divorce,
13:09while she was still mourning her mother
13:11. With increasing frequency, the former
13:14soldier visited Nancy Neele, who was 10
13:16years his junior, leaving the novelist
13:18alone with her typewriter. Lacking
13:21inspiration, Agatha didn't know which
13:23way to turn. She also had to look after
13:25her daughter, Rosalind, on her own
13:26while trying to be a famous writer.
13:28This nightmarish year partly explains
13:31her desire to flee her home for a week
13:33before Christmas and present her spouse
13:35with a fait accompli. However, this
13:38whole affair did not save her marriage,
13:40as the Christies divorced two years
13:42later in 1928, which was quite rare for
13:44the time. The former soldier
13:46immediately remarried Nancy Neele, who
13:48would remain his wife until her death
13:50in 1958. For her part, Agatha Christie
13:53was only at the dawn of her career, and
13:55the best was yet to come, as her
13:57greatest classics appeared after this
13:59famous disappearance. Murder on the
14:01Orient Express, Death on the Nile, And
14:03Then There Were None, or even They Came
14:05to Baghdad. All these now-essential
14:08works were partly made possible thanks
14:10to this new life as a divorced, free,
14:12and independent woman. Logically, the
14:14novelist had the money necessary to
14:16travel, discovering countries and
14:17cultures far from the United Kingdom.
14:20It was by boarding the Orient Express
14:21herself or participating in
14:23archaeological research in Egypt that
14:25these stories were born. All this in
14:27the company of archaeologist Sir Max
14:29Mallowan, whom she met in 1930 during
14:31an excavation at a site in Iraq, then
14:33part of ancient Mesopotamia. The two
14:35history and discovery enthusiasts were
14:38a perfect match and even married
14:39discreetly that same year.
14:41Interestingly, he was 14 years her
14:43junior, and they didn't even share the
14:45same religion, as she was Anglican and
14:47he was Catholic. Yet, they were
14:48perfectly complementary and remained
14:50together until the writer's death in
14:521976. Even though her sudden
14:55disappearance in 1926 was caused by
14:57great suffering, it also allowed her to
14:59become the world-renowned writer she is
15:01today. Novels, short stories, stage
15:04plays. Agatha Christie truly is the
15:07queen of crime across all literary
15:09genres. In fact, she is still
15:10considered the best-selling author in
15:12history after William Shakespeare—a
15:14world where she might not have divorced
15:16Archibald, where she might have lacked
15:18inspiration due to her troubles, where
15:20she might never have traveled. Perhaps
15:22readers would never have known the
15:25woman who has never been equaled by
15:27anyone. Agatha Christie passed away on
15:30January 12, 1976, at the age of 85. She
15:32leaves behind an extraordinary legacy:
15:35some sixty novels, numerous film
15:37adaptations, a detective with an iconic
15:39mustache, and cases as outlandish as
15:42they are clever. The novelist took her
15:44greatest mystery with her—the story
15:46of her disappearance one night in
15:48December, 100 years ago. And you, what
15:50is your theory?

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