24/11/2008 - 13:18
Ariadne Oliver
Ariadne Oliver
First appearance Parker Pyne Investigates
Last appearance Elephants Can Remember
Created by Agatha Christie
Portrayed by Jean Stapleton, Zoë Wanamaker
Information
Gender Female
Occupation Detective Story writer.
Ariadne Oliver is a fictional character in the novels of Agatha Christie. She is a mystery novelist and a friend of Hercule Poirot. Clearly she is a spoofed and caricatured alter ego of Christie herself.
Superintendent Battle is a fictional character created by Agatha Christie. He appears as a detective in the following novels:
* The Secret of Chimneys (1925)
* The Seven Dials Mystery (1929 – including some of the same characters, notably Lady Eileen “Bundle” Brent)
* Cards on the Table (1936, with Hercule Poirot and Ariadne Oliver)
* Murder is Easy (1939)
* Towards Zero (1944)
Battle is notable for his stolid good sense, and he relies in part on the appearance of being a stupid or unimaginative police officer as a means to investigating his cases. Until Towards Zero the reader knows nothing of his domestic arrangements, but in this novel we learn that he has a wife and five children, the youngest of whom (Sylvia) unwittingly provides a key clue to the mystery.
It is believed that Colin “Lamb”, the hero of The Clocks, is Superintendent Battle”s son, using a pseudonym to avoid unwanted attention.[citation needed]
Battle also has a secret professional life that is revealed in the denouement to The Seven Dials Mystery, but this is never referred to again. He is in many respects typical of Christie”s police officers, being (like Inspector Japp), more careful and intelligent than the police officers of early detective fiction, who had served only as foils for the brilliance of the amateur sleuth.
Tommy and Tuppence
Tommy and Tuppence are two fictional detectives, recurring characters in the work of Agatha Christie. Their full names are Thomas Beresford and Prudence Cowley.
Illustration by Arthur Ferrier of Tommy and Tuppence from the December 1923 issue of The Grand Magazine and the first-known image of the characters (See Partners in Crime)
The first time Tommy and Tuppence appeared in a Christie novel was in The Secret Adversary (1922). They started out their life as blackmailers (all in search of adventure and money), but the detecting life soon proved more profitable and much more exciting.
Their other appearances were in Partners in Crime, a 1929 collection of short stories (each reminiscent of another writer”s work); N or M?, a 1940s espionage novel; By the Pricking of My Thumbs; and Postern of Fate, the last novel Christie ever wrote (although not the last to be published).
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19/11/2008 - 09:10
Agatha Christie was born in Torquay in 15 september 1890 and died in 1976.
She wrote more than 80 books.
She also wrote romances under the name Mary Westmacott, but is best remembered for her 80 detective novels and her successful West End theatre plays.
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Her works, particularly featuring detectives Hercule Poirot or Miss Jane Marple, have given her the title the “Queen of Crime” and made her one of the most important and innovative writers in the development of the genre.
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She was educated at home, but when she was 16 she was sent to Paris to study piano and singing. Although she played the piano very well, her stage fright and shyness prevented her from pursuing a carreer in music.
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She married twice. First, with Archibald Christie who asked the divorce in 1926 to marry another woman. She disappeared for a time after the divorce and nobody never knew what happened. She married again in 1927. Her second husband was the archaeologist Max Mallowan, whom she met during a trip to Syria and Iraq.
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Two of her books was filmed with a millionaire cast:
Murder in the Orient Express – 1974 – with Albert Finney, Lauren Bacall, Ingrid Bergman, Sean Connery, John Gielgud
Death on Nile – 1978 – with Betty Davis, Mia Farrow, Jacqueline Bisset, Olivia Hussey, Maggie Smith.
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She sold over than 2 million books.
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Hercule Poirot
Poirot is one of Christie”s most famous and long-lived characters: he appeared in 33 novels and 51 short stories.His first published appearance was in The Mysterious Affair at Styles (published 1920) and his last was in Curtain (published 1975, the year before Christie died). On publication of this novel, Poirot was the only fictional character to be given an obituary in the New York Times; August 6, 1975 “Hercule Poirot is Dead; Famed Belgian Detective”
Miss Marple
Miss Jane Marple is an elderly woman who lives in the little English village of St. Mary Mead. She looks like an ordinary old lady, dressed neatly in tweed and is frequently seen knitting or pulling weeds in her garden. Miss Marple sometimes comes across as confused or “fluffy”, but when it comes to solving mysteries, she has a sharp logical mind, and an almost unmatched understanding of human nature with all its weaknesses, strengths, quirks and foibles. In the detective story tradition, she often embarrasses the local “professional” police by solving mysteries that have them stumped. Jane Marple, usually known as Miss Marple, is a fictional character appearing in twelve of Agatha Christie”s crime novels. Miss Marple is an elderly spinster who acts as an amateur detective, and lives in the village of St. Mary Mead. She has been portrayed numerous times on screen, and is one of the most famous of Christie”s creations. Her first published appearance was in issue 350 of The Royal Magazine for December 1927 with the first printing of the short story The Tuesday Night Club which later became the first chapter of The Thirteen Problems (1932). Her first appearance in a full-length novel was in The Murder at the Vicarage in 1930.
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12/11/2008 - 13:54
When I say Bewitched I mean the TV Serie from 1964. Endora (Agnes Moorehead – in the photo with Dick York, the first Darrin (in Brazil translated as “James”) – was very chic.
In the http://www.imdb.com there is a bit summary about the serie:
The young executive of an advertisement agency, Darrin Stephens marries a beautiful woman, Samantha Stephens. On their honeymoon, Sam discloses a secret to him: she is a witch with magic powers. He makes her promise him that she will live like a mortal, without using witchcraft and spells in their lives, but sometimes she uses her magic to help Darrin and herself. Sam”s mother, Endora does not accept her mortal son-in-law, hates him and can hardly say his name correctly. In the suburb of Morning Glory Circle, where they live, their curious next-door neighbor Gladys Kravitz suspect Samantha, but can never prove the weird situations she sees to her husband Abner Kravitz. Darrin works in the McMahon and Tate ad agency with Larry Tate, who is married to Louise Tate. Samantha frequently receives her witch aunts in her house, specially her sweet old Aunt Clara.
the serie lasted till 1972 but it is still broadcast in the cable TV
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