John Steinbeck in 1939 Born

Personal qualities[edit]

Christie at Schiphol Airport, 17 September 1964

In 1946, Christie said of herself: "My chief dislikes are crowds, loud noises, gramophones and cinemas. I dislike the taste of alcohol and do not like smoking. I do like sun, sea, flowers, travelling, strange foods, sports, concerts, theatres, pianos, and doing embroidery."^[69]

Christie's works of fiction contain some objectionable character stereotypes, but in real life, many of her biases were positive. After four years of war-torn London, Christie hoped to return some day to Syria, which she described as a "gentle fertile country and its simple people, who know how to laugh and how to enjoy life; who are idle and gay, and who have dignity, good manners, and a great sense of humour, and to whom death is not terrible".^[70]:167

Christie was a lifelong, "quietly devout"^[2]:183 member of the Church of England, attended church regularly, and kept her mother's copy of The Imitation of Christ by her bedside.^{[12]:30, 290} After her divorce, she stopped taking the sacrament of communion.^[12]:263

The Agatha Christie Trust For Children was established in 1969,^[71] and shortly after Christie's death a charitable memorial fund was set up to "help two causes that she favoured: old people and young children".^[72]

Christie's obituary in The Times notes that "she never cared much for the cinema, or for wireless and television." Further,

Dame Agatha's private pleasures were gardening – she won local prizes for horticulture – and buying furniture for her various houses. She was a shy person: she disliked public appearances: but she was friendly and sharp-witted to meet. By inclination as well as breeding she belonged to the English upper middle-class. She wrote about, and for, people like herself. That was an essential part of her charm.^[1]

Death and estate[edit]

Christie's gravestone at St. Mary's church, Cholsey, Oxfordshire