John Mallowan: Agatha the Photographer

To conclude the opening day of the Literary Festival, we are thrilled to be able to introduce a talk by John Mallowan on one of Agatha Christie’s many, but lesser known, talents: photography.

Agatha was an integral part of her husband Max’s archaeological dig team. The job titles that could be applied to the roles she performed were: catering manager; pharmacist; conservator; and photographer. These were roles essential for the smooth running of the digs, and showed her hidden talents. The roles were performed quietly in the background and probably not fully appreciated. It is the last of these that this presentation will focus on.

John and his family are very supportive of the Festival so we are thrilled to have him speak this year. He is Max Mallowan’s nephew and spent many happy school holidays with Max and Agatha. John has Agatha’s 16mm cine film from those digs in the Middle East which is now digitised, as well as many of her photographs and colour slides, some of which Max used to illustrate his lectures. These film clips and stills will be used to illustrate the talk.

This is a unique and very exciting opportunity for Festival goers to view some never-seen-before footage and photographs of an important aspect of Agatha’s life with Max.