born in Torquay, on the southwest coast of England as Agatha Miller

major hobbies as a child - roller skating and surfing

words - 'Who? Why? When? How? Where? Which?', written on a page of a sixpenny notebook, perhaps this was her idea of how to write a detective story

served as a nurse during WWI and also the period she met her first husband, Archie Christie, a soldier and airman

days, Christie went missing, following the death of her mother and her husband's announcement that he had fallen in love with another woman

married a second time, to archaelogist Max Mallowan. The couple travelled a lot to the Middle East, the inspiration for her novels "Death on the Nile" and "Murder in Mesopotamia"

novels based on fastidious Belgian sleuth Hercule Poirot, inspired by a Belgian refugee Christie spotted in Torquay around 1912

novel and short story appearances for Miss Marple, Christie's other longstanding detective loosely inspired by grandmother

languages in which Christie's books have been translated

number of copies sold worldwide

International Agatha Christie Festival takes place in Torquay