Agatha Mary Clarissa Miller Christie Mallowan was born on September 15 in 1890 at a house called Ashfield on the outskirts of Torquay, Devon.

She was the youngest of three children: brother Monty and sister Madge. Her father Frederick Alvah Miller was an American and her mother Clara Boehmer was English.

Their income was said to be derived "from a business in New York". It was a business which seemed to flourish without any personal attention from Frederick. Her father was a president of the Torquay Cricket Club.

Ashfield

On October 20 in 1890 she was baptized in the church All Saints Church which is about a twenty minute walk from their house.

She received names Agatha Mary Clarissa Miller - Mary after her grandmother, Clarissa after her mother and Agatha after a suggestion by a friend on a way to church.

Agatha Christie at dancing class in Torquay - in the center

She spent her childhood at Ashfield, an Victorian villa, which she adored and had a very strong influence on her life.

She didn't go to school but was educated at home. She was a bright child, who taught herself to read by the age of 5. She liked reading and she also took piano, singing, dancing, tennis lessons.

Agatha in Paris in 1906

Then when she was only 11 years old her father died.

At the age of 16 she was sent to Paris where she studied singing and piano. She considered becoming a professional opera singer but her voice was not strong enough. Also she considered becoming a concert pianist but her music master told her that she was too nervous to contemplate playing in public. Nevertheless she continued to play privately at Greenway House and elsewhere.

Agatha Christie with Archibald in 1919

After finishing school, Agatha spent three months in Egypt with her mother. When she returned to England in 1912 she met Colonel Lieutenant Archibald Christie and they married on Christmas Eve in 1914, at the beginning of the war. He went straight off to the war and Agatha worked in the dispensary of a Red Cross hospital in Torquay. There she learned about chemicals and poisons, which proved very useful to her in her later career.

Agatha with her daughter Rosalind

After long time Archibald returned home and on August 5 in 1919 their daughter Rosalind was born.

Agatha and Archie went in 1922 on a British Empire Exhibition. They also moved to a house called "Styles" after her first novel.

But the marriage was unhappy. It didn't last because Archie had fallen in love with another woman and so he asked for a divorce in 1926.

Agatha Christie

The same year also her mother died. Because of that Agatha went missing for 11 days and was eventually found in a hotel in Harrogate, in the North of England under an alias. She vanished after crashing her Morris motor car. But her disappearance is still a mystery.

In 1928 the divorce was finalized and Archibald Christie then married Nancy Nelle and died in 1962.

Max Mallowan

She later found happiness with her marriage to Max Mallowan on September 11 in 1930, an archaeologist who she met on her travels in Near East in 1927. She later often assisted her husband on excavations in Syria and Iraq.

She later often told:"An archaeologist is the best husband any woman can have. The older she gets, the more interested he is in her."

Rosalind and Mathew in 1947

The Second World War separated them and Agatha again worked at University College Hospital. During the world Rosalind, who married Huber deBurgh Prichard and had a son Mathew in 1943, widowed. She later married Anthony Hicks.

Greenway House

Agatha Christie also become president of the British Detection Club and in 1971 she was made a Dame of the British Empire. Max also received a knighthood in 1968 which gave them the titles of Sir Max and Lady Mallowan - also Dame Agatha Christie.

She and Max had Greenway House in Devonshire and Winterbrook House near Oxford. Towards the end Max and Agatha lived at Winterbrook House in Wallingford.

She died on 12 January in 1976 and two years later also her second husband Max Mallowan died.