Hello.
This is 6 Minute English
from BBC Learning English.
I'm Sam.
And I'm Neil.
Have you ever played the game,
Cluedo, Neil?
The idea is that
the person playing detective
discovers who the murderer
is, where the crime took
place, and which
weapon was used.
The last time I played Cluedo
it was Professor Plum, in
the library, with the dagger!
Cluedo is based on a very
popular type of book - the
murder mystery, sometimes
called a whodunnit - a
story about a murder which
does reveal who the murderer
is until the end.
The queen of murder mysteries
is a British writer who was
born in 1890.
Her books
are read all over the world
and have been translated
into a 103 different
languages.
Her name is
Agatha Christie.
To date over 2 billion copies
of her crime novels have
been sold worldwide, making
her the best-selling
novelist of all time...
and the subject
of this programme.
Perhaps her best-known story
is 'Murder on the Orient
Express', a whodunnit
featuring her most famous
detective, Hercule Poirot,
who starred in 33 of
Agatha Christie's books.
More about that later but
as usual I have a quiz
question for you, Neil.
Poirot may be Agatha
Christie's most famous
detective, but he isn't
her only one - so who is
Agatha Christie's other
fictional detective?
Is it:
a) Hetty Wainthropp?
b) Jessica Fletcher?
or,
c) Miss Marple?
I'll guess it's
a) Hetty Wainthropp.
OK, Neil.
I'll reveal the
answer at the end
of the programme.
As mentioned, one of Agatha
Christie's most famous books
is 'Murder on the Orient
Express'.
The story takes
place on a train travelling
from Istanbul in Turkey to
Calais in northern France.
Listen as writer and Agatha
Christie superfan, Harriet
Gilbert, summarises the
story for BBC World Service
programme, World Book Club.
Poirot is on the train,
heading back home to England
from Syria, when two
unconnected events take
place.
In a snowstorm in
Croatia, the train comes
grinding to a halt and in
one of the sleeping berths,
a passenger is murdered.
Since it's impossible for
anyone to have reached the
isolated snow-trapped train
or to have escaped from it
without leaving telltale
footsteps in the snow, the
killer can only be one of
the dozen people sharing
Poirot's coach.
Yet as
he starts to investigate
it seems that each of
them has an alibi for
the time of the murder.
Impossible?
Well, Poirot's
certainly perplexed...
During a snowstorm, the
express train comes to a
grinding halt - it slows
down until it stops
altogether.
Then,
someone is murdered!
The murderer can't have
escaped without leaving
telltale footprints in the
snow.
When something is
described as telltale,
it reveals information
which allows a secret to
be uncovered.
For example,
lipstick on your husband's
shirt could be a telltale
sign he's having an affair.
The murder victim is found
in bed stabbed with a knife.
Poirot begins to investigate,
but as he questions the
train passengers one by one,
it seems that everyone has
an alibi - proof that they
were somewhere else when
a crime was committed.
Naturally, this leaves the
Belgian detective perplexed,
or confused because
something is difficult to
understand or solve.
I won't spoil the story
by telling you what happens
next, Neil.
But let's just
say that, as usual, Poirot
uncovers the murderer using
his incredible powers
of observation.
In her stories, Agatha
Christie describes Hercule
Poirot as a very strange
or eccentric man.
The author, Sophie Hannah,
has written several new
Poirot stories based on
the characters invented by
Agatha Christie before her
death in 1976.
Here she is
describing more of Hercule
Poirot's strange
characteristics to BBC
World Service Programme,
World Book Club.
There's the sort of the
outward things, his
appearance which is very
striking and very unusual,
and his sort of, I suppose
foibles is the best thing
to call them, he likes
neatness, he likes order,
he approaches thing very
methodically, he's very
proud of his luxuriant
moustaches, you know,
all of that.
Sophie calls Poirot's
unusual behaviour his
foibles - habits or
characteristics which are
considered strange or
foolish but which
harm no-one.
Yes, unlike the fictional
murderers he uncovers,
Poirot's foibles do no
harm, but it makes me
wonder if Agatha Christie's
other famous detective
also had unusual habits.
Well, first you'll have
to reveal the answer to
your quiz question, Sam.
You asked me for the name
of Agatha Christie's other
famous detective, and I
guessed it was
a) Hetty Wainthropp.
Well, I'm afraid that was
the wrong answer!
In fact,
Miss Marple was the name
of Agatha Christie's
second most famous
character - although Hetty
Wainthropp is a
fictional detective on TV.
Now that we've solved the
murder and revealed the
correct answer, let's
recap the vocabulary
starting with whodunnit -
a murder story which does
not tell you who the
murderer is until the end.
In the whodunnit, 'Murder
on the Orient Express',
the train comes to a
grinding halt - it slows
down until it
stops altogether.
A telltale sign reveals
hidden information so
that a secret can
be revealed.
An alibi is proof that
you were somewhere else
when a crime was committed.
To be perplexed means
to be confused because
something is difficult
to understand.
And finally, someone's
foibles are their strange
but harmless habits
or behaviour.
That's all for our
six-minute investigation
into the mysterious world
of Agatha Christie.
Goodbye for now.
Goodbye.