Museum say Agatha Christie statue bringing more people to Wallingford
The statue was unveiled last year in the town where the classic crime author spend most of her life.
An Agatha Christie statue in Wallingford has made a big difference visitor numbers to a museum in the town.
That's according to the museum with an exhibition dedicated to the famous author, who created Hercule Poirot, and who lived most of her later life in the town.
Agatha Christie lived for 42 years in Winterbrook House, just inside the Parish of Cholsey, on the outskirts of Wallingford, with her second husband Max Mallowan who was a renowned archaeologist. She was always known locally as ‘Mrs Mallowan’.
She was a very private person and enjoyed the peace she found in Wallingford, where she wrote many of her books. She's best known for novels like Murder on the Orient Express and Death on the Nile. She is buried at Cholsey Church, and her grave is much visited by well-wishers.
In 2023 the Town Council raised funds for a bronze statue to be made to commemorate their famous ‘Queen of Crime’. It was designed and created by sculptor Ben Twiston-Davies and shows Agatha Christie holding a book and sitting on a bench looking out over the Kinecroft park. It was unveiled in September 2023 by her grandson, Mathew Prichard.
The statue is so realistic that even a dog was videoed offering her his stick to throw.
"She has sold more books than any other apart from the Bible and Shakespeare"
And now a year on from the statue first being unveiled in the town, directly outside the Wallingford Museum, the curator says it's sparked an increase in numbers.
Wallingford Museum Curator Judy Dewey says crime stories like Agatha Christies have enduring appeal:
"She has sold more books than any other apart from the Bible and Shakespeare. People come in to say they've read her books in Spanish, in French, they've been translated into hundreds of languages."
Today would also have been the author's 134th birthday.
Judy Dewey says her novels many TV and film adaptations bring her to a new and younger audience.
"She's such a well known author throughout the world, we've definitely had an increase in people coming to visit Wallingford, like other areas connected with her, because of the statue."