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wallingford
‘Mrs Mallowan’ exhibition
at Wallingford Museum
Wallingford Museum has a lot to offer for its season
ticket this year. As well as the main 2014 special
exhibition ‘Siege & Strife: Wallingford & War’, and the
resident exhibition of ‘The Wallingford Story’, there is
the ever-growing display, ‘At home with the Queen of
Crime: Agatha Christie’.
This features the world-renowned author, Agatha
Christie, who lived with her archaeologist husband
Max Mallowan in Winterbrook House, Wallingford,
from 1934 till her death in 1976. Many of her novels
were written there. The house is identifiable by its
Oxfordshire Blue Plaque.
The exhibition takes you behind the scenes to
her home life, featuring photographs of her at
Winterbrook House and memories of local people
who met her. You can read several personally
handwritten letters which reveal her love of
pantomimes and her gradual frustration as her health
declined in her final years. Many stories have been
gathered from Wallingford and Cholsey people who
knew ‘Mrs Mallowan’, people who visited her, served
her in shops, worked for her at Winterbrook House
and even interviewed her.
Agatha Christie was a very private person, something
Wallingford has always respected, but this exhibition
opens the door just enough to give poignant and
fascinating glimpses of the local life of the world’s
most famous and best-selling writer, rightly dubbed
‘The Queen of Crime’.
Plans are being made for an Agatha Christie Weekend
throughout Wallingford and Cholsey (19th to 21st
Sept). A season ticket costs just a £4 for adults, and
FREE for children! Further details of the exhibition are
to follow. Keep an eye on the Wallingford Museum
website -
Wallingford Museum is very pleased to bring the
knowledgeable and entertaining Lucy Worsley to
the town. Lucy has very kindly agreed to visit us in
Wallingford on September 20th as part of the local
celebrations of our most famous literary resident,
Agatha Christie - and she will be giving an illustrated
talk in St Mary’s Church, Wallingford on that Saturday
evening on the subject of: A Very British Murder.
Tickets for this event on the evening of Sat 20th
September will be on sale locally from July 1st,
priced £15, from Wallingford Museum and the Town
Information Centre.
These tickets are likely to be very much in demand, as
Lucy has a wide following, so be sure to buy early!
