What do you know about Agatha Christie? What more would you like to know? Write three questions. Listen, read and check. Did the text answer your questions?
Сrime writers
Agatha Christie was a famous English crime writer who is best known for her detective stories featuring Hercule Poirot and Miss Jane Marple. Agatha was born in 1890 in the seaside town of torquay in Devon, England to an American father and an English mother. Her family was well-to-do and conservative and she was youngest of three children.
Although Agatha never attended school she didn’t lack education. She taught herself how to read when she was only four and later her pparents hired tutors to provide lessons in subjects such as music, dance, mathematics, and French. Agatha was a shy child and, having problems expressing herself verbally, she first turned to music and later to writting and became very good at making up stories. When she was eleven, her father died and she became very close to her mother with whom she started to travel a lot.
During the First World War, Agatha worked as a nurse in a hospital and it was during this time that Agatha Christie got the idea of writing a detective novel. Although she finished the story in a year, it wasn’t published until five years later. The Mysterious Affair at Styles introduced the retired Belgian police officer, Hercule Poirot, to the world and was a great success. Following this, Agatha would write more than 30 noveles featuring Poirot. In all she wrote over 66 novels, the most famous being Murder on the Orient Express, and according to the Guinness Book of records, Agatha Christie is the best-selling writer of her time with over four billion books sold throughout the world. In 1971, she was awarded the high honour of Dame of the British Empire before passing away peacerfully on 21st January 1976.
Read the text again and say if the statements (1-6) are T (true), F (false) or NS (not stated). Justife your answer.
Find the words/phrases in the text that mean:
Say four things you have about Agatha Christie.
Think! Think of a famous writer from your country. Write a short biography about him/her. Present it to the class.