Agatha Christie (15 September 1890 – 12 January 1976) continues to get into limelight with dramatic regularity. Her play “Mousetrap” has become the world’s longest running play. And now Agatha Christie has set a new world record – for the book with the thickest spine (see photo above).
Measuring over a foot long, with 4,032 pages, the volume contains the complete Miss Marple stories – all 12 novels and 20 short stories.
With 252, 16-page hand-sewn sections, the production values of this limited edition are amazing and the attention to detail is remarkable. More here…
I lived in London for a few months in the mid-1970s. I was a young struggling journalist then (and proudly continue the tradition even now). Knowing my interest in theatre, my kind friends used to gift me tickets for plays including “The Mousetrap”. I am told that the play is still running after more than 23,000 performances.
In 1955 Christie was the first recipient of the Mystery Writers of America’s highest honour, the Grand Master Award, and in the same year, Witness for the Prosecution was given an Edgar Award by the MWA, for Best Play.
Most of her books and short stories have been filmed, some many times over (Murder on the Orient Express, Death on the Nile and 4.50 From Paddington for instance), and many have been adapted for television, radio, video games and comics. More here…
The Ann Arbor News tells us that “The Mousetrap” continues at 8 p.m. Friday, 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday, and 2 p.m. Sunday, this weekend only, at the Arthur Miller Theater, 1226 Murfin. Tickets are $20, $16 for students and seniors. To make a reservation, e-mail [email protected].
Swaraaj Chauhan describes his two-decade-long stint as a full-time journalist as eventful, purposeful, and full of joy and excitement. In 1993 he could foresee a different work culture appearing on the horizon, and decided to devote full time to teaching journalism (also, partly, with a desire to give back to the community from where he had enriched himself so much.)
Alongside, he worked for about a year in 1993 for the US State Department’s SPAN magazine, a nearly five-decade-old art and culture monthly magazine promoting US-India relations. It gave him an excellent opportunity to learn about things American, plus the pleasure of playing tennis in the lavish American embassy compound in the heart of New Delhi.
In !995 he joined WWF-India as a full-time media and environment education consultant and worked there for five years travelling a great deal, including to Husum in Germany as a part of the international team to formulate WWF’s Eco-tourism policy.
He taught journalism to honors students in a college affiliated to the University of Delhi, as also at the prestigious Indian Institute of Mass Communication where he lectured on “Development Journalism” to mid-career journalists/Information officers from the SAARC, African, East European and Latin American countries, for eight years.
In 2004 the BBC World Service Trust (BBC WST) selected him as a Trainer/Mentor for India under a European Union project. In 2008/09 He completed another European Union-funded project for the BBC WST related to Disaster Management and media coverage in two eastern States in India — West Bengal and Orissa.
Last year, he spent a couple of months in Australia and enjoyed trekking, and also taught for a while at the University of South Australia.
Recently, he was appointed as a Member of the Board of Studies at Chitkara University in Chandigarh, a beautiful city in North India designed by the famous Swiss/French architect Le Corbusier. He also teaches undergraduate and postgraduate students there.
He loves trekking, especially in the hills, and never misses an opportunity to play a game of tennis. The Western and Indian classical music are always within his reach for instant relaxation.
And last, but not least, is his firm belief in the power of the positive thought to heal oneself and others.