Show Notes
Agatha Christie is the world’s best selling author and rightly regarded as the queen of crime. But less well known is her medical service in both world wars, and its influence on her writing.
Without WW1, there would be no Poirot. Agatha Christie trained as nurse and served as a red cross volunteer in WW1, encountering many Belgian refugees. She later trained to become a dispenser. In the second world war she served once again.
In this episode we explore that work, and the experiences and people - and poisons - she encountered would prove to be the perfect fuel for her writing career.
Guest
Tina Hodgkinson is a historian and the author of Agatha Christie’s London: A Historical Guide to the Queen of Crime’s Capital. She is employed at The London Archives, the UK’s second largest public archive. A member of the Crime Writers’ Association and a qualified City of London and City of Westminster tour guide.
Cats present
Cecilia
Useful links
Agatha Christie’s London: https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/agatha-christie-s-london-a-historical-guide-to-the-queen-of-crime-s-capital-tina-hodgkinson/29844c0f963a617b?ean=9781837050796&bkshp-astro=t
Do you like our podcast? Then please leave us a review, it helps us a lot!
Host: Gareth Edwards More about Gareth Edwards: https://battleguide.co.uk/untitled-history#host
To comment and ask questions, please join our community: https://untitled-history.com/supporters Use our code: Rabbit and get one month free as a Captain, or join as a free member.
Support via Paypal: http://battleguide.co.uk/untitled-paypal Merchandise and Shop: https://untitled-history.com/collections/all
Our WW1 Podcast: @NSQPod Our WW2 Podcast: @BSOWPod Battle Guide YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@BattleGuideVT
If you want to keep your finger on the pulse of what the team at Battle Guide have been getting up to, why not sign up to our monthly newsletter: https://battleguide.co.uk/newsletter
Gareth socials BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/garius.bsky.social Mastodon: https://mastodon.me.uk/@garius
Battle Guide Twitter: https://x.com/BattleguideVT General Enquiries: [email protected]
Credits: - Host: Gareth Edwards - Editing: Hunter Christensen - Production: Linus Klaßen Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
More from The Untitled History Podcast
In post-war Britain, the drive to build new housing and a better world led to a number of plans focused on creating modern towns. The boldest and most visionary of these was to be Milton Keynes, a city from nothing.
The Roman Army was powered by cheese. It fuelled its soldiers through war and occupation and, as Rome’s armies swept through western Europe, altered how an entire continent produced and consumed cheese.
In September 1926, art expert Paul Arndt was shown a newly-unearthed Ancient Greek statue by an Italian dealer. It was an extraordinary piece. Its sale for a vast sum of money to an American museum, along with other pieces unearthed, would create excitement across America.
On the 8th of 1940, a lone British destroyer encountered part of the German invasion force bound for Norway. The heroic last stand of HMS Glowworm against overwhelming odds earned her captain the first Victoria Cross of the war. Incredibly, this award was granted based on the recommendation of the German Admiral he had fought.
In 1940, Charles de Gaulle saved France. He called for resistance to the Nazi occupation from London. In 1958, with the French republic crumbling, he stepped forward to save France again.