Podcasts about Death on the Nile

Ali Fazal comes to Jashn-e-Rekhta for a warm, candid, and deeply reflective conversation on cinema, Urdu, poetry, ambition, and the stories that shaped him.Opening with a nazm, Ali moves from the grace of Lucknow's tehzeeb to his childhood memories of films, books, and language. He speaks about being born in Delhi and raised in Lucknow, the influence of his mother, his early connection with theatre and Shakespeare at Doon, and the difficult years that taught him fearlessness.The conversation also traces his journey from Bollywood to Hollywood, including Victoria and Abdul, Death on the Nile, and his work as a producer with Pushing Buttons Studios. Ali reflects on craft, ambition, plagiarism versus inspiration, Urdu pronunciation in cinema, the responsibility of artists, and why he still feels he has not “arrived.”From personal memories to sharp industry observations, this session brings together cinema, literature, language, and a rare honesty that stays with you long after the conversation ends.

Walter Hill month continues with a real doozy of a film, Bordello of Blood. It's not really a doozy, just real bad. Then we chat about what else we've been watching like Fackham Hall, Death on the Nile (1978), and Obsession.  Support us on Patreon! Patrons have access to the NOTLP Discord Server, weekly virtual meetups with the hosts, ad free episodes and tons of other great content. This podcast is brought to you by the Legion of Demons at patreon.com/notlp. Our Beelzebub tier producers are: Ernest Perez Shayna Spalla Branan & Emily Intravia-Whitehead Bill Chandler Blayne Turner Monica Martinson Bill Fahrner Brian Krause Dave Siebert Joe Juvland Matt Funke "Monster Movies (with My Friends)" was written and performed by Kelley Kombrinck. It was recorded and mixed by Freddy Morris. Night of the Living Podcast Social Media:      facebook.com/notlp instagram.com/nightofthelivingpodcast youtube.com/notlpcrew https://www.tiktok.com/@nightofthelivingpodcast

The Devon County Show returns to Westpoint on Thursday 21 May to Saturday 23 May, bringing three days of agriculture, entertainment and family fun to the region. GCSE and A-level exams are now in full swing, as a psychologist shares advice to help students manage stress and pressure during exam season. And one of the most beloved whodunits from Agatha Christie sails into Theatre Royal Plymouth, as audiences prepare for another gripping mystery on stage! Josh Tate presents this edition.

Episode 113 - Death on the Nile - We saw this production at the Sheffield Lyceum on 14 March 2026 Below is more detail about the production and it's on until 23 May 2026 so there is still chance to catch it if you want to... https://deathonthenileplay.com/ You can watch the trailer here... https://youtu.be/2EKXrqacwD4

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What a delight to talk to laura thompson about Agatha Christie. Above all, this episode was fun. Laura really does know more than anyone about Agatha and we covered a lot. What did Agatha Christie read? What did she love about Shakespeare? Was she pro-hanging? Why so much more Poirot than Marple? Why was she so productive during the war? We also talked Wagner, modern art, the other Golden Age writers, nursery rhymes, TV adaptations, poshness, nostalgia, Mary Westmacott, and plenty more. TranscriptHENRY OLIVER: Today I am talking to the very splendid Laura Thompson. All of you will know Laura's Substack. She has also written books about the Mitfords, heiresses, Lord Lucan, many other subjects, and most importantly today, Agatha Christie, who died 50 years ago. And there's a new book coming from Laura about Agatha Christie's 1926 disappearance.Laura, welcome.LAURA THOMPSON: So lovely to be here, Henry. I'm such a fan of your Substack, as you know.OLIVER: Well, same. Same. This is a mutual admiration call.THOMPSON: Well, thank you. Well, that's what we like.Christie's Favorite WritersOLIVER: Now tell me, what did Agatha Christie like to read?THOMPSON: Oh, a lot the same as us. I discovered she was a huge fan of Elizabeth Bowen, as we are. And Nancy Mitford, Muriel Spark. But her big love really was Dickens. She absolutely adored Dickens. I mean, she grew up in a house full of books, you know, and she wrote a screenplay of Bleak House for which she was handsomely paid. And it was never—I know, don't you long to know what that was like? Can you imagine—OLIVER: We've lost it? We don't have the typescript?THOMPSON: I've never seen it. I mean, maybe—I don't know whether it exists somewhere. But I just wonder how she tackled it, what she did. But yes, so that happened. And of course, Shakespeare, as we know from her books, which are full of subliminal and—I mean, you kind of notice them, but you don't have to.OLIVER: Yes. There's Shakespeare in every book?THOMPSON: No, but it's there, particularly Macbeth, which I suppose figures.OLIVER: Yeah.THOMPSON: Like The Pale Horse is completely Macbeth themed. And when I was a kid reading them, I think she really—Tennyson she uses a lot—she affected my reading in a good way.OLIVER: She sent you back to Shakespeare and the poets?THOMPSON: Well, sent me to them as a kid, probably. And also, there's a lot of Bible in her books, as I'm sure you've noticed.OLIVER: Yes. Yes.THOMPSON: Very easy facility with quoting the Bible.Christie and ShakespeareOLIVER: Now, what did she learn from Shakespeare? Because she clearly knows the plays in detail. She sees them a lot. She reads them. She and he are, I think, quite good plotters.THOMPSON: Is she even better than he is?OLIVER: Well, let's not get into that. But there is a sort of, in a funny way, a kind of affinity between them as writers.THOMPSON: That's so interesting.OLIVER: What do you think she learned from him?THOMPSON: Tell me how you—how you see that.OLIVER: Well, do you know that Margaret Rutherford adaptation, which probably you don't like and I do—THOMPSON: Go on.OLIVER: It's called Murder Most Foul, isn't it?THOMPSON: Yes.OLIVER: And there's something about the way that they can both walk the line between the sort of dark and deadly and the histrionic. Margaret Rutherford can't walk that line, but Agatha Christie can, right?THOMPSON: That's really interesting.OLIVER: And Miss Marple could come onstage in a couple of the plays. She's not so far off from being a Queen Margaret or some—in her angry moments maybe, do you think?THOMPSON: More rational, maybe.OLIVER: Much more rational.THOMPSON: Not so mad. Well, she's not mad, Margaret, is she? But she's upset.OLIVER: She starts off as a much sort of nastier character—Murder at the Vicarage, right?THOMPSON: Yes, she does. She was more acidic and then gradually—OLIVER: Waspish.THOMPSON: Waspish, and sort of mellowed. I see what you mean. And almost in the way that she calls herself—although that's obviously not Shakespeare—calls herself Nemesis.OLIVER: And the sense of atmosphere.THOMPSON: Yes, and the way they're structured. That's not necessarily just true of Shakespeare, but there is this sort of act three entanglement and this beautiful act five resolution that goes on with a soliloquy, I suppose.OLIVER: And some people think they both get confused in act four, but that's obviously not true, that this is the real mess of the plot. I think she might have learned quite a lot from Shakespeare, right?THOMPSON: That's really interesting. But, you know, the way she writes about Shakespeare in her letters to her second husband, Max, because when she was living in London during the war and almost at her most productive—I mean, her productivity levels are insane. And hitting every ball for six, really, you know: Towards Zero, Five Little Pigs, a couple of Westmacotts, which I'm sure we'll talk about. But she spent a lot of time going on her own to see Shakespeare.She's very—I hope I'm right in saying this—she's very sort of Ernest Jones [CB1] in her approach. She doesn't regard them so much as the products of words on a page; she regards them as rounded characters. Why were Goneril and Regan the way they were? What's wrong with Ophelia? You feel like saying, “Well, whatever Shakespeare wanted it to be,” but she sees them in that way. And Iago particularly—OLIVER: Yes.THOMPSON: —is the one that gets her. Yes. In one of her, I better not say which, but a major, major novel.And the book that she wrote under the name Mary Westmacott, The Rose and the Yew Tree, which I think might well be her best book of all. I think—well, I'll just say she wrote these six books under a pseudonym, Mary Westmacott. People call them romantic novels; that's sort of the last thing they are. And they're very, very interesting mid-20th-century human condition novels, and they're full of lots of stuff that she had to distill for the detective fiction. And she talks a lot about Iago in The Rose and the Yew Tree really interestingly, I think.Christie on Shakespeare?OLIVER: Now, Max said she should just write a book about Shakespeare, all this Shakespeare all the time. But she didn't. Why?THOMPSON: No. I don't think she ever liked being told what to do.OLIVER: [laughs]THOMPSON: His letters to her are quite annoying, aren't they?OLIVER: Yes, yes. I've only read what's in your book, but yes, I didn't warm to him.THOMPSON: I'm glad because people do. He gets a really good press even though he was unfaithful. But it worked, the marriage, because they both got what they wanted from it. But he said that, yes, and she says, “Oh no, they're just thoughts for you.” I don't think she would've felt the need, somehow. I think she liked saying things in her own more oblique way.OLIVER: Save it for the novels.THOMPSON: Yes, she's a great mistress of the indirect, I think, really. The way she writes about Macbeth in The Pale Horse, which I think is a really underrated novel, including thoughts on how it should be staged, which are really interesting and very, very good. I think she would've preferred to do that and use it to her ends.And of course, she has an incredibly powerful sense of evil, which I suppose is also in Shakespeare. Hers is a Christian sensibility, I mean, no question. People never talk about that, but it really is.OLIVER: Was she pro hanging?THOMPSON: Well, I think she took a kind of utilitarian approach that the innocent must be protected. And she took a view that if you've killed once, it becomes very easy to kill again because something in you has shifted, so you become a danger to the community. So I suppose in that sense she was.I mean, Miss Marple was. She's quite—“I really feel quite glad to think of him being hanged.”OLIVER: It's one of her most striking lines.THOMPSON: It is, isn't it?OLIVER: Yes.THOMPSON: So I suppose she was. I mean, I suppose she was. You know, she's very modern, she's very subtle in her thinking, but at the same time, she is a late Victorian product of her society. Yes.Dickens and Christie's FamilyOLIVER: Now, you mentioned this Bleak House script. She loved Bleak House. Do we know what she loved about it? It's obviously the first detective novel. Are there other factors?THOMPSON: You are going to know—this is when I'm going to start coming across as an idiot. Is it written before The Moonstone? Yes, of course it is.OLIVER: I think so. Yes. Yes. It's the first time there's a police detective in a major English novel.THOMPSON: Okay. I think she—do you know, this is a really good question. I don't actually know why she loved Dickens so much. She grew up—she had that rather intriguing upbringing whereby she had two much older siblings, a sister who was 11 years older, a brother who was 10 years older. Father died when she was 11.So she grew up incredibly close with a really rather intriguing mother, Clara. This is in the house at Torquay. And her mother encouraged her in a way that, it seems to me, quite unusual for the time and for the class to which she belonged. Because it was never deemed that it would interfere with her marrying and leading a more conventional life. But she always wanted to express herself creatively. And I think her mother possibly was a frustrated creative. I don't know. She had a lot of go in her.And whether it was just something she read with—I think anything she did at an early age with her mother would've made a huge impression on her. I think what you read when you're that age, you never quite—I never read Dickens at that age, so I've never quite got the habit.OLIVER: But if she's born in 1890, presumably her mother is just about old enough to have been alive when Dickens was alive. And so she's got a somewhat direct—THOMPSON: Yes, she was.OLIVER: You know, it's sort of back to the original culture of it, as it were.THOMPSON: Yes. Isn't that extraordinary?OLIVER: Yes. Yes. It's crazy to think. So she must have taken it in maybe in a more original way, somehow?THOMPSON: Possibly. Certainly Tennyson, I get that feeling, because her mother wrote this rather leaden sub-Tennysonian poetry. [laughter] It's like Tennyson on the worst day he ever had, but worse than that.OLIVER: But worse, yes.THOMPSON: Yes. And she wrote poetry like that, the mother, which is really rather sweet and touching to read. And obviously she would've been alive at the same time as Tennyson. So, yes, I'd never, ever thought of that before. Isn't that extraordinary? I mean, they went to see Henry Irving.OLIVER: Yes.THOMPSON: Yes. And yet she feels—it just amazes me, this—so I'm leaping slightly here, but this 21st-century halo of cool that she has around her, Agatha Christie. [laughter] I know, it's awful in a way, but the way she can be reinterpreted—that is a bit Shakespearean, in a way.I don't mean to make extravagant claims, but there's a sort of translucent quality to what she writes that means that people can impose and pull it and twang it and know that she won't let them down, as we are seeing constantly at the moment.Art and MusicOLIVER: Yes. No, I agree. Other arts—we know about all this, she loves reading. What music did she enjoy, for example? Did she like paintings?THOMPSON: Yes, she loved paintings. She liked modern art. She was painted by Kokoschka. It's very good. And she writes about modern art. In Five Little Pigs, the painter in that is a modern artist.And then music was her grand passion. I mean, music was her original career choice, as you know, of course. She must have had a good voice. She thought she could make a career of it. And she could play the piano. Beautiful piano at Greenway, it's still there.And they used to do this thing—I think it's a lovely idea—as a family. They would fill in what they called the book of confessions, and it would be questions like, “What is your state of mind? If not yourself, who would you be?” And at the age of 63, which is the last time she filled it in, she wrote, “An opera singer.” So that was still what she would've dreamed of doing. She loved Wagner very, very deeply.OLIVER: Okay. Interesting.THOMPSON: And there's a Wagner theme in a very late book, Passenger to Frankfurt, the one that everybody hates except me. And music, I mean, as a girl when—so her voice wasn't strong enough for opera. I think her ultimate—same as I grew up wanting to be a ballet dancer, I think her ultimate would've been to sing Isolde at Covent Garden.And in some of her short stories and in her first Mary Westmacott, which is called Giant's Bread, which is about a musician—and she really inhabits this character, Vernon, and it's all about modern music. And somebody who knew about this stuff, which I don't, told me, “No, she knew. She knew what was going on. She knew about the trends.” This is in the late twenties.And she always went to Beirut, and that was her real, real, real passion. She was one of those restlessly creative people. And her mother, God bless her, encouraged it.Christie's UniquenessOLIVER: What is it that distinguishes her from the other detective fiction writers? Because she doesn't, to me, feel—she's obviously part of this whole generation, this whole golden age, whatever you want to call it, but she doesn't feel the same as them somehow.THOMPSON: No.OLIVER: What is that?THOMPSON: Do you think it's her simplicity, that distilled simplicity that she has? She doesn't write linear; she writes geometric, I always think.OLIVER: Tell me what you mean.THOMPSON: Well, if you think of a book, the one I admire the most, as I constantly go on about, which is Five Little Pigs—you think about the amount of stuff that's in that book. It's a meditation on art versus life. The solution is unbelievably intriguing, I think. There's a whole family psychodrama in there. And every move of the plot, she's also moving on a—every move of the plot is impelled by a revelation of character. So plot and character are utterly intertwined, distilled together.I don't think any of the others can do that. I think Dorothy Sayers would take twice as many pages. And she'd dot every i and cross every t, and she couldn't bear loose ends or anything, could she? And she liked to reveal her knowledge of other things, almost to—I think the others like you to know that they're a bit better than the genre, maybe. Their detectives are superhuman, almost; wish-fulfillment man, almost.She doesn't do that with Poirot. He's just pure omniscience, really, plus a few tics and traits and, you know, mustache. I think it's that distillation and simplicity and the way she inhabits the genre in a way that the others don't quite do. And at the same time, she's redefining it from within.OLIVER: There's something as well, I think, about—she gets past the kind of Sherlock Holmes model in a different way. They still all have a bit of an overreliance on that, maybe.THOMPSON: Yes.OLIVER: Whereas Poirot in, what is it? In something like, is it Murder in the Mews? Very sort of Sherlock and Watson—THOMPSON: Yes.OLIVER: —kind of dynamic. But within, I don't know, two or three novels, that's gone, and he's Poirot as we know him, as it were.THOMPSON: Yes, yes.OLIVER: And she kind of, as you say, makes it her own thing and goes off in new directions.Christie and the TheaterTHOMPSON: Yes. She's sort of conceptual and the others aren't quite, I think. She doesn't do—she does something completely different with the whole concept of what a solution is, it seems to me. She doesn't—it's not Cluedo, is it? It's not, there's six of them, and eventually it has to be one of them; however many tergiversations or however you say that word, you sort of know that. Whereas with her, it's: it's nobody, or it's everybody, or it's the policeman, or it's a child, or there's something bigger and bolder going on.And she writes—I think she writes very theatrically. I think she writes scenically. I think she's incredibly good at character and action. That scene where you know the girl's a thief because Poirot leaves out 23 pairs of silk stockings, and he goes back in the room and there's 19 or something like that, tells you everything. It's all in there.OLIVER: The solution to 4.50 from Paddington, which we shan't reveal, but—THOMPSON: That's Cards on the Table. But what I mean is, she's given us a little scene that tells us all we need to know about that person, really: a sort of timid thief who can't resist—OLIVER: Yes, but that's what I'm saying. At the end of 4.50, the solution is staged.THOMPSON: Oh, sorry. Yes.OLIVER: It is literally a little re-creation of the drama, if you see what I mean.THOMPSON: Yes, I do. Sorry, Henry. Yes, absolutely.OLIVER: No, no. We're crossed wires.THOMPSON: Yes, yes, yes.OLIVER: But she is very theatrical, yes.THOMPSON: No, you are absolutely right. That's a reenactment.OLIVER: Of something that was seen almost like in a—you know, the whole thing is very—THOMPSON: Yes, yes. Well, she was a great—I mean, obviously Shakespeare, but she was a great lover of the theater as a medium. And of course, she wrote plays, as we know, which I think are far weaker than her books, myself.OLIVER: Even The Mousetrap?THOMPSON: Especially. [laughter] When did you last see it? Or have you not—OLIVER: I've seen it once. I've seen it—you know, I don't know, before I had children, a long time ago. And I thought it was great. It was a lot of fun. The ending of act one, when someone opens a door and they say, “Oh, it's you.” It's very dramatic moments. You don't like it?THOMPSON: No, I think you're right. I wouldn't mind seeing it done really, really well. There's something strong at the heart of it, that theme that haunts a lot of her books about what happens to children who are unwanted.OLIVER: Yes.THOMPSON: Which is in loads of her—no, not loads. It's in Ordeal by Innocence. It's in Mrs. McGinty. That's, I think, because that happened to her mother. Her mother was given away as a child. Her own mother was a poor widow and gave up her daughter to be raised by her rich sister, which is not—it's not abandonment, but I think—OLIVER: Well, yes.THOMPSON: — it's not great. And I think all these things were absorbed by Agatha as a child. She grew up in what we would today call a house of—I hate this—strong women. I hate that “strong woman” thing, but they were strong women. Her mother was very, you know, as we've said, a sort of driving little person. And the rich grandmother, the poor sister, the dynamic there, they both fed into Miss Marple.And then her older sister, Madge, who was a big personality and actually had a play on in the West End before Agatha did, which I've always thought was extraordinary, just to write a play and have it on in the West End in 1924.And the men were—the father was feckless and charming and a rather grand New Yorker, he grew up as, and then settled in Torquay. And the brother was the Branwell Brontë. [laughter] He ended up a drug addict, which is also a type that feeds into her fiction: the man who could have made something of his life and goes wrong.The TV AdaptationsOLIVER: So all this theatricality in the books is obviously why she adapts so well to TV, and again, a lot of the others don't.THOMPSON: Yes, that's true.OLIVER: How famous would she be now without the TV adaptations?THOMPSON: Well, by 1990, so the centenary, she was a hell of a lot less—and that's really when the Poirots got going, which she never wanted. She never wanted—she didn't really want Murder on the Orient Express. It was only because it came via Lord Mountbatten. I don't know. I don't know because I think they're mostly not very good. I don't know what you think about the adaptations. But maybe that's deliberate, that they're less—if they drove you back to the books, you'd probably get quite a pleasant surprise.OLIVER: It's hard for me to say because I saw them all more or less after I'd finished reading her.THOMPSON: What did you think?OLIVER: I love Joan Aiken—not Joan Aiken, what's she called?THOMPSON: Yes, Joan Hickson is marvelous. Yes, absolutely.OLIVER: Hickson. I think she's just perfect because as you say, the simplicity, the not overstating. The “Pocketful of Rye” episode where she turns up and quotes the Bible, and the vicious older sister is there, and they have that moment. It's all so cleanly done.THOMPSON: Yes, I agree.OLIVER: David Suchet, I quite like him. I think he has those wonderful moments. “I cannot eat these eggs. They are not the same.” I think that's very good. It's very funny, you know, he gets it.THOMPSON: You prefer him in spats and art deco mode to when he became—he became like a de facto member of the House of Atreus by the end, hadn't he? It had gone very, very—OLIVER: I mean, I certainly didn't watch them all, no, no.THOMPSON: No. Well, I sort of had to.OLIVER: Yes, you did.THOMPSON: But I could never get through those short story ones. I don't think I've ever got—OLIVER: The moral sort of doom of it all, yes.THOMPSON: Well, the early ones, when they always had—you could see they'd hired a car for the day. [laughter] And I don't think I've ever got to the end of one of those.But I think—sorry, going back to your question, I think they probably did make a massive difference. You know, they're really, really popular. And whether she would have—what you think her—she might be read as much as somebody like Sayers if it weren't for all those adaptations. But then the fact of all those adaptations tells its own story in a way, because that wouldn't happen to one of the others, as you rightly said.Resurgence and PopularityOLIVER: No, they don't have that quality. And also, she was bigger than them. That's why they picked her, because she was bigger than them anyway.THOMPSON: And simpler. Because when I used to read them at university between the pages of Beowulf or whatever, like porn, [laughter] it was a bit mal vu. You read her for entertainment. But you certainly—I don't think—she's always been admired by a certain kind of French intellectual, hasn't she, for that subtextual quality that she has, that sort of fathomless quality that she has.But when I researched that biography, which I started in 2003, I can remember going on the radio. And names will not be named, but I was like a figure of fun with a couple of other detective writers, quite well known, who just sort of openly mocked me for taking her seriously and more or less said, “Oh yeah, we love her, but she's terrible” kind of thing. “Why are you taking her seriously?” I mean, it was regarded as a bit of a joke to take her seriously.I'm not saying I changed the game or anything like that, but I think there must have been a movement around that time in the early twenty-naughties—whatever the damn thing, decade's called—to start seeing that she is an interplay of text and subtext, facade and undercurrents, and these powerful foundations that underpin her books. Murder on the Orient Express is, you know, “Does human justice have the right to exert itself when legal justice has let it down?”There are these very strong—I think this is part of why she's survived the way she has. We intuit powerful truths underneath the Christie construct, if you like. I always say she's not real, she's true. I think she's incredibly wise about human nature, possibly more than any of them.You take a book like Evil Under the Sun, and there's a femme fatale who's murdered. “Oh, the femme fatale. No man can resist her.” Turns out she can't resist men. She's prey; she's not a predator. And of course, women who are so dependent on their looks and so on, that is what they are. They are prey. They're not predators. They're very, very vulnerable. Just a really small thing like that. And I just think, oh, you're very—there's so much easy wisdom in there somehow.And she deploys it perhaps differently—I mean, Ruth Rendell is wise, but it's very, “I am wise and you're going to pay attention to me.” You know what I mean? It's all very, “I'm very dark and very wise and very,” you know. I love her, but everything's so easy with Agatha. It's so, to coin a phrase, two tier. You can read them and have fun with them. You can read them and there's so much stuff going on underneath, and yet she presents this smooth face. I don't think any of the others are quite that resolved, if you like.Self-AdaptationsOLIVER: Now, you wrote that her own stage adaptations of The Hollow and Five Little Pigs lack the subtlety of the original books, quote, “almost as if Agatha herself did not realize what made them such good books.” How much of her talent do you think was unconscious in that way?THOMPSON: Yes. That's such a good question. I do think that, about those plays, it could have been that she just thought, “That's not what my audiences are going to want from me. They're just going to want to be entertained by”—we know she can do the other thing because of her Mary Westmacott books, where everything is laid out. They're not distilled at all; they're quite the opposite.I think they must have been such a pleasure for her to write because she didn't have to constantly—they're unresolved; they ask questions that don't have to be answered. She could have done that with those plays, I'm sure, but I think she would've thought people aren't coming to see them for that. I think she had a very good opinion of herself, in the best possible way.OLIVER: Hmm.THOMPSON: Like I said to you earlier, she didn't take a lot of notice of anything anybody said to her. Because it is like writing this other little book, the one I've just done about 1926. She was very acclaimed right from the start. I didn't emphasize that enough in the biography. And she was really recognized as very special right from the start.And I think it's extraordinary to me how—it's so difficult for us today, isn't it? We're so at the mercy of “That won't sell, don't do that, blah, blah, blah.” She really did not just plow her own furrow, but create that furrow in a way that you can only compare with, like, Lennon and McCartney. Or whether the time was absolutely right that they let her run, they trusted her to do what she wanted, and because she had the gift of pleasing readers . . .You do really feel, although those books are very tight and taut, you do feel an instinctive ease in what she's doing, an instinctive sort of—there's a kind of liberated—which sounds perverse because they are so controlled, the books. But I always feel she's doing exactly what she wants to do because she knows what it is and she knows how to do it. Because I think, would she be amazed that you and I are having this conversation now? I don't know that she would be, really. What do you think?OLIVER: No, I agree with you. I think she had what Johnson said, the felicity of rating herself properly. I think she knew she was really good.THOMPSON: You might know he'd say it right.OLIVER: Yes. [laughs] But there's a—I think there must have been something about—I think it's in Poirot's Christmas, one of those, where someone gets killed in the night in their bedroom, and they go up. And one of the women says, “Who would've thought the old man had so much blood in him?”And the quotation just sort of occurs to—I think there's quite a lot of that in Christie, right? Things are coming up and it fits. And she's good enough to run on instinct at times.THOMPSON: That's right. That's it. Exactly. That's absolutely right. Like the way she quotes from the—yes, I love the bit when she quotes from the Book of Saul in One, Two, Buckle My Shoe, which is really quite a profound novel about whether—I mean, it's terribly timely—whether it's better to be run by a corrupt capitalist or to let in the radicals. And as I said in the biography, the corrupt capitalist wins on points. But then another element enters, which is what power does to people. And that's when she quotes from the Book of Saul.And it's just like you said, this—an instinctive that she—I do always feel her as an instinctive writer, even though—her notebooks are intriguing because obviously some plots she really has to work away at. And yet they feel felicitous. A coup like The ABC Murders, and she's really—that went through lots and lots of iterations. But what she'll often do is scribble down a line of dialogue, a line of “There they are.” It's the whole—it's not bullet points, which is a loathsome concept. It reminds me of a bee going from flower to flower and knowing exactly which—and she's got this gift of knowing what flowers we're going to need.I sometimes fear I overdo it. I don't want be like one of those people who's writing a PhD on, what was the thing I said on Substack, gynocracy in St. Mary Mead or whatever. It's not—I do think that's a bit overdone these days, the rummaging in the subtext, because she's an interplay. And that's why I write that chapter in the book called “English Murder,” which is about the facade, you know, “smile and smile and be a villain.” And there's nothing more interesting. There's nothing more interesting than murder among classes who are trying to cover things up.And she does that—that's at the heart of golden age murder, I suppose. And I just think she does that better than anybody because she's so all the things we've been talking about. She's so distilled, she's so simple, she's so smooth, she's so instinctive. And she's doing it the way she wanted to do it because of your wonderful Dr. Johnson quote. She knew not to take notice of other people, including her—Quick Opinions on ChristieOLIVER: Should we have—THOMPSON: Yes. Go on.OLIVER: Sorry, sorry. Should we have a quick-fire round?THOMPSON: Please.OLIVER: I will say the name first of a few of her books—THOMPSON: Oh, god.OLIVER: —and then a few other detective writers, and you will just give us your unfiltered opinion: good, bad, ugly, indifferent.THOMPSON: Okay. What fun.OLIVER: You can “nothing” them if you want to.THOMPSON: Okay. [laughter]OLIVER: Hallowe'en Party.THOMPSON: Underrated. Very interesting on sixties counterculture and the effects of societal breakdown, et cetera. What do you think?OLIVER: I think it's a real page turner. I remember reading that for the first time. I loved it. Yes. Nemesis.THOMPSON: I can't keep saying the same thing. Underrated. [laughter] Very interesting philosophy of love in that book, I think. I think it harks back to her first marriage. However badly it turns out, it's better to have experienced it. It's quite a mournful novel.OLIVER: The Mr. Quin—THOMPSON: Oh.OLIVER: Oh, sorry.THOMPSON: No, no. Sorry. You carry on. Marvelous. So inventive, don't you think? Such a clever character.OLIVER: Why didn't she do more of him?THOMPSON: Yes, that would've been good. And she was always interested in the commedia dell'arte. She wrote poems about it as a girl. And the concept of Mr. Quin, yes, as this sort of evanescent figure who's also a moral force, isn't he really? Or—yes, I wish she'd done more. They're marvelous.OLIVER: Towards Zero.THOMPSON: Oh, top notch, don't you think?OLIVER: One of the best.THOMPSON: Yes, I agree. Frightening motive. Very Ruth Rendell.OLIVER: It's very distinct in her. I haven't read all of her novels, but it's very distinct.THOMPSON: But the plot is, again, typical of her because it redefines the word contingent. [laughs] I mean, Dorothy Sayers would be having palpitations. She's very bold and grand like that. “Oh, there's a loose end. Oh, who cares?” You know, I mean, it's so—it just drives along that book, doesn't it? Yes. But I agree with you, one of her best.OLIVER: Death on the Nile.THOMPSON: Quite moving, I think. I think it's one of those ones from the thirties that, again, is talking about love in a way that—I think it just strikes a personal note to me because she was very in love with her first husband, Archie Christie. And he did fall in love with another woman, and it did cause her extreme pain that some people said to me she never quite got over.And I feel that a little bit in that book. There's a shadow of something quite powerful in that book, I think. Again, very, very loose and lovely plot, but powerful. Would you agree? Very good on the place as well, I think, Egypt.OLIVER: I love it. I think the solution is great.THOMPSON: Yes.OLIVER: And it makes a really good film.THOMPSON: It's a great film, yes. Wonderful film.Other Mystery WritersOLIVER: Yes. Okay. A few other detective writers: Michael Innes.THOMPSON: You've got me. I haven't read him. Should I?OLIVER: Oh, I think you will like him. Yes. Try Hamlet, Revenge!THOMPSON: Okay. Okay. Oh, I like it already.OLIVER: Yes, yes, yes. Oh, this is exciting. Gladys Mitchell.THOMPSON: Can't get into her.OLIVER: No.THOMPSON: What do you think? Should I try a bit harder?OLIVER: I read two. I thought they were good. I was not intrigued.THOMPSON: No, somebody told—OLIVER: The ones I read—Spotted Hemlock is a wonderful, like, wow, that's great.THOMPSON: Okay. Okay. Somebody said to me, I know she really—no, I didn't—I read it in a book that she really hadn't liked Agatha Christie, but you know, who knows? All that Detection Club rivalry, you can imagine. But okay, Spotted Hemlock—if I'm going to read one, try that, yes?OLIVER: Yes, that's a great book. Margery Allingham.THOMPSON: Kind of love her, but I never understand her plots. I always feel I'm in a bit of a fog, but she's quite a good writer. Do you think? Or what do you think?OLIVER: She's good at the fog. She's good at that sort of whirligig sense that there's a lot going on—THOMPSON: Yes, whirligig.OLIVER: —and you've got to get to the end before they do, kind of thing.THOMPSON: Also, she had a pub in her sitting room. Now, I like a woman who has a pub in their sitting room.OLIVER: [laughs] E. C. Bentley.THOMPSON: You've got me again, Henry.OLIVER: Oh, The Blotting Book mystery. You'll like this.THOMPSON: Okay. Okay.OLIVER: The other one is not so good, but you'll like that a lot.THOMPSON: Okay.OLIVER: Edmund Crispin.THOMPSON: Didn't get on with him.OLIVER: Why not?THOMPSON: Don't know. Don't know. It sounds like I don't read the men, doesn't it? Which is not the truth at all.OLIVER: I think that's fair enough, isn't it?THOMPSON: Well, I don't know. I don't think anyone's ever come up with a really good reason why women have shone so brightly in this genre. I don't know. Why didn't I—I read that one, the toyshop one [The Moving Toyshop] or whatever. I don't know. I just didn't get on with it.OLIVER: Too glib?THOMPSON: Possibly.OLIVER: Bit flippant, bit sort of funny-funny?THOMPSON: Possibly. I just couldn't quite get hold of it in some way. I don't know.OLIVER: I quite like Edmund Crispin, but I do think he's got a bit of a “he's a very clever boy” about him.THOMPSON: Maybe that's what it was. Maybe that.OLIVER: Something, yes. G. K. Chesterton.THOMPSON: I haven't read Father Brown. Oh, this is awful, isn't it? I'm starting to sound like a radical feminist by accident.OLIVER: [laughs] Maybe that's what you are, Laura. Maybe you just need to admit it. [laughs]THOMPSON: No, it does. It sounds really bad because I do really love almost all the women. I just, I don't know why I haven't read him.Christie and NostalgiaOLIVER: Was Agatha a nostalgia writer?THOMPSON: No, I don't think so. I don't think so. I don't think anyone who was a nostalgia writer would've written At Bertram's Hotel, which is an entire spin on the riff of nostalgia. Really clever. I think that's such a clever book. The way she traps us in her golden age, you know, this phantasmagoria of the re-created golden age. And then she says, “Ha, really fooled you.”I've written about this. I think she moved with the 20th century far more than is realized. I love those Cold War novels she writes about her dislike of ideologies. I love her postwar books about the fragmentation of the hierarchical society. I think she's—well, she's an incidental social historian, as are, I think, P. D. James and Ruth Rendell, but they're much more underlined about it. Again, I'm intrigued what you think. Do you think she is?OLIVER: I think there's definitely some quality, particularly to the Miss Marple stories—as you say, the social history sort of becomes a way of preserving something that's disappearing. One of them, written in the sixties—you can tell me which one—it opens with that description of all the new houses in the village and the mothers who give their children cereal for breakfast. And what sort of a thing is that to give a child? They should have bacon and eggs. Bacon and eggs is a real—you know, and she does have a real something heartfelt and real sense that this part of England is going, and this new thing is coming in.THOMPSON: That's true. That's absolutely true. That's The Mirror Crack'd. And it's—OLIVER: The Mirror, yes, yes.THOMPSON: Yes, and that whole thing of Mrs. Bantry's house has now been bought by a film star and blah, blah, blah. Yes, no, you are absolutely right. I didn't think hard enough before I answered your question.OLIVER: But no, what you said is also true. I can't sort of work out to what extent she regrets it, to what extent it's just useful material for her, you know?THOMPSON: Both. I mean, some of her late books, including Endless Night, I think, which is an incredibly modern book—that whole “me, me, me” culture of “I want, therefore I will have now,” which is written when she was quite an old lady. And then a book like Passenger to Frankfurt, which is—it's a bit sub–Brave New World, but it's very honest and pessimistic about a future—well, the one we are living in, really—full of fear and uncertainty and almost dystopian.She was a realist. You know, she is Miss Marple in a lot of ways. She was a realist in a way that I think a lot of us would find it difficult to be. And her American publishers were often—would sort of say, can she tone this down? Can she not have a young person who's completely evil? Readers want to know, is she going get any therapy? [laughter] And it's so true. There's quite a lot of that going on.She's very clear-eyed. So if she—I'm a bit nostalgic for Blur, do you know what I mean? I mean, you can't help it, in a way, like that brilliant example you give at the start of The Mirror Crack'd. But I would say her image is quite at odds with the reality of her in that way. But the image—OLIVER: And the adaptations don't help with that.THOMPSON: No. No. But at the same time, that Christie image, you know, the gentlewoman, the tea or the eternal bridge party, blah, blah, blah, that has a huge power of its own. So just being too iconoclastic about her, I think, is also a lie. Because I think, again, it's that interplay. She used the image, and the image—I hate the word cozy. I loathe the word cozy, but there's no denying that any book of that kind does have that quality. So I suppose even that's nostalgic in a way.Christie's PoshnessOLIVER: In a way, yes. How posh was she?THOMPSON: Good question. I've been thinking about that a lot. Quite, I would say. Quite grand, with that confidence. Her father really was—as I said, he was a young blade in New York dancing with Jennie Jerome and blah, blah, blah. And then it so happened that he ended up in Torquay, which of course then was very posh. And the fact that when she disappears, she disappears to Harrogate, [laughs] which is like the Torquay of the north.I remember her grandson saying to me, “She dealt with her literary agent. To her, he was staff.” You know, that kind of thing. Her sister, there is a—well, her sister ended up very grand indeed with a huge house up in Cheshire.I think she just had that internal confidence, really. She wasn't—and that there wasn't much money. I mean, there was very little money when she was growing up, as of course you know, but that didn't matter. I mean, her voice is insane. Her voice is, [affecting a posh voice] “Oh, it's lucky it just happens.” [laughter] But yes, there's a part of her that is real late Victorian upper middle class that, again, underpins her books.It's amazing really how broad-minded and cosmopolitan she was. But possibly, I mean, possibly that does—she was—you know, when she disappeared, she was described in foreign newspapers as an Anglo-American, the embodiment of Englishness, and that's how she was described. And then of course she was genuinely cosmopolitan in her love of travel and her love of other cultures and all that obvious stuff. Yes.Inspirations for Miss MarpleOLIVER: How much of her grandmothers is in Miss Marple?THOMPSON: Quite a lot, I would say, particularly the—OLIVER: Drawn from life?THOMPSON: Well, in an essential way not, because Miss Marple has no real experience of life in that way. We're occasionally told about some chap who came calling who wasn't suitable or whatever, but she's almost defined by nonexperience of life in a sense, but observation of life. She's an observer. She's not an outsider in the way that Poirot is. She has a place within the social hierarchy and whatever, and that village has a reality to it. And the way it changes has a reality to it. But she is defined by being an observer, I would say.But Margaret Miller, who was the rich grandmother, who is the one who had the big house at Ealing and was—you know, she's the one who would go to the Army and Navy stores and all that stuff that's in At Bertram's Hotel. She was—there's a lot of her in Miss—I think, as I say in the book, she grew up with the sound of female wisdom in her ears. You know, her grandmother was the sort of—if she'd seen her up in Harrogate, she would've known exactly what was going on. You know, one of those kind of women who could spot an affair at a hundred paces, just a wise sort of woman, worldly, worldly woman.And Miss Marple is worldly in her thinking, but not in her experience, particularly in a book like A Caribbean Mystery, which I think is—she's a real sophisticate, Agatha. I mean, I'm reading The Hollow again at the moment. And it's really astounding to me how there's a love affair at the center of it with a young woman who's kind of a self-portrait and this married man. And not only, there's not—it's not only nonjudgmental; there's literally no concept of judgment being in the vicinity. It's really, really sophisticated, grown-up stuff, I think. And again, I think that's maybe not recognized about her that much.Nursery RhymesOLIVER: What are the importance of nursery rhymes to her?THOMPSON: Yes, that's interesting. They're part of that distilled quality she had, I suppose, that really simple ability to catch hold of something that is simple and familiar in itself and then subvert it. There's books where she—I don't think she needs it in Five Little Pigs. I think the book is almost too good for that.But is it not to do with that—like her titles, which are really, really simple with a faint frisson of the sinister about them. Is it not that ability she has to catch, to take something really, really simple and subvert it for her own ends? What do you think? Do you think that's right? Or do you think it's something more than that?OLIVER: No, I think the simplicity is the point, and I think it probably gives her a way of talking, of showing how fundamental the wickedness is. And as you say, the children can be evil, and it's part of the darkness in a way, but it gives the appearance of innocence and, oh, One, Two, Buckle My Shoe? You know, children do this. And so it leads you through and makes it worse somehow. [laughs]THOMPSON: Yes. Exactly. Exactly. But I know I've—how many times have I said the word simple? But I really do feel that's the heart of her. And I also feel it's the heart of why she was misunderstood when I was growing up reading her because it was mistaken for simplistic.Wartime ProductivityOLIVER: Why was she so productive during the war? I mean, there were four books one year.THOMPSON: Yes.OLIVER: And as you say, they're some of the best. I mean, what is it about the war that gets her so busy?THOMPSON: Well, she was on her own, which she had never been, really. Well, obviously she divorced her first husband in 1928. So there's a couple of very bleak, dead years before she met her second husband and married him in 1930. But she wasn't completely on her own because she had her friend Charlotte Fisher, who was a sort of secretary-companion, but much more than that—really, really good friend.But in the war, Max Mallowan was abroad. Her daughter—she had one child—her daughter was married and living in Wales. And she was living in the Isokon building in North London, which I love because that's like, “You think I'm chintzy and old fashioned. And here I am socializing with the sort of left-wing intelligentsia at the Isokon building.” And there's something about being in that adorable little flat—they're so fabulous, those flats—and being alone but not feeling abandoned, as she had after her first marriage.And I suppose also, you know, war is, you either cower in despair or you think, “Right, well, better get on with it.” War is stimulating in that way. I think it was to quite a few writers, maybe, or quite a few creatives. The shadow of death. But there was something about that solitude but not abandonment, plus the stimulation of not knowing whether it was your last day on earth that did—it did. I mean, it's absolutely insane how productive she is.And then she wrote—she had a week off. She was also working as a dispenser at a London hospital, and she had a week off. And she wrote a Mary Westmacott, Absent in the Spring, which is one of her best Westmacotts, I think. I mean, she's got a week off and she writes a book. I mean, Jesus, there's a challenge to us, Henry. [laughter]The Mary Westmacott NovelsOLIVER: What are those Mary Westmacotts like? Because I've never read them, but you seem very—THOMPSON: Oh, have you not?OLIVER: You're very up on them. You like them?THOMPSON: I am. I really am. Well, for a biographer, they were a treasure trove because they're very revealing. Unfinished Portrait is, I think, as close as you are ever going to come to a true autobiography, as opposed to the actual autobiography, which is charmingly disingenuous.OLIVER: And also dull. No? I mean, it's just so dull.THOMPSON: Do you think? It is a bit.OLIVER: I couldn't read it. I couldn't read it. No, it was so long and so leaden. I felt like she didn't really want to tell me the story of her life. Just couldn't.THOMPSON: Well, I think that's probably right. It was very heavily edited after her death. And her daughter was very, very protective of her. So, Max Mallowan as well. So maybe there was a much better book in there somewhere. Who knows?OLIVER: So we should read Mary Westmacott if we want the unfiltered Agatha?THOMPSON: I would say Unfinished Portrait. It really fascinates me because the worst time you've ever gone through in your life—so in 1926, she lost her mother and her husband in the space of four months. And I think an awful lot of people, even writers, would think, “I'm going to put that behind me and get on.” But she had to reopen the wound. She had to go through it all again eight years later. I find that really, in itself, incredibly revealing about her.Poirot vs. MarpleOLIVER: Why is there so much more Poirot than Marple?THOMPSON: Yes, I've wondered that because there is this little thing that she hated him, which I don't really think she did. It's just something people say, isn't it?OLIVER: Well, it's a common thing about artists. They're supposed to hate their most successful work, but—THOMPSON: Yes. Yes. All I could come up with was that he was easier to put in different places. He could conceivably be on the Nile or in Mesopotamia or—I mean, it would be a—she does manage to get Miss Marple to the West Indies, but it's certainly—OLIVER: There are only so many holidays your nephew can send you on.THOMPSON: He was really successful, that nephew, wasn't he? Who do you think he was like? Sort of Ian McEwan or—OLIVER: [laughs] I know. It was sort of crazy, isn't it?THOMPSON: And very kind to her.OLIVER: It might be to her credit that she doesn't do a Midsomer Murders thing and just sort of wave away and say, “Oh, we can just have as many of these murders as we want.” She says, “No, we can only fit—” Do you think maybe that's it?THOMPSON: I think there might be a bit of that. I mean, her notebooks sort of—some of the books were originally Marples, like Cat Among the Pigeons and Death on the Nile, in fact. And then they became Poirots. I just wonder whether he's a bit more malleable because she is a more rooted, fixed entity.And he is—I don't mean to denigrate David Suchet because he's a fantastic actor, but he does root him more than I think the written version. I think he is a sketch on the page. And one of her great skills, I think, is how she can sketch, and they've got that quality of aliveness on the page, which you just can't analyze, really. I don't—well, I can't. And that's how I see Poirot. So he was more movable in that sense.And she's incredibly good at certain—like Sleeping Murder, there's no way you could have him in that. And Miss Marple is—her qualities are so perfect for a book like that, which has suddenly reminded me of how she got me into John Webster. I never read John Webster until—OLIVER: [laughs] That's great.THOMPSON: The way she uses The Duchess of Malfi is so clever. Do you think that's right about Poirot? Do you think there's something more . . .Reader Preferences and SalesOLIVER: I can see that. I wondered if there was some reader's prejudice involved.THOMPSON: Oh.OLIVER: Poirot is the sort of exotic—Sherlock Holmes, one thing that makes him popular is that he's a bit wacky, you know. And Poirot—he's always talking about, “You English are so xenophobic. Excuse me, I am Belgian.” And with the eggs and all the little—whereas Miss Marple's just the kind of old lady that we all wish there were more of. And how much of that will readers take? I don't know.THOMPSON: Yes. Although, as I say, she, she did—I mean, I think her publishers did like her to do Poirot, but I don't know that she would've been influenced by that necessarily. I mean, maybe she was—maybe I'm overdoing her—OLIVER: Well, she had these terrible money problems. Didn't she have to be a little bit focused on the dollar?THOMPSON: She did. She did, but she didn't—well, I mean, the money problems are insane because they were absolutely no fault of her own. They were to do with test cases, and it was just this sort of accumulation of horror that put her in tax problems during the war. And she really never could dig her way out of them and was advised to go bankrupt twice, which is unbelievable, just as a way of clearing it. I mean, it's terrible.But I don't know that she—I think her attitude was a bit more, “Well, why should I even bother if they're just going to take it away from me?” In 1948 she didn't write anything at all because I think she thought, “What's the point?” But then, that wasn't her way. But I don't know that she thought of writing as a way of digging out of it necessarily. But I could be—OLIVER: The Marples, did they make less money? Were they, did they sell less?THOMPSON: Not really. I think they all sold. Even poor old Passenger to Frankfurt sold hugely, absolutely hugely. I think people—I mean, my parents would—it was like people just wanted them, the Christie for Christmas.Rereading ChristieOLIVER: How many times have you read these books? Do you ever get bored?THOMPSON: No.OLIVER: Really?THOMPSON: Well, I have them on rotation, and I don't—as you know, I do interleave them with our beloved Elizabeth Bowen, who's my passion at the moment, and other people. But they are consolatory, I suppose. They are—there's bits of—there is this kind of—there's bits of them that I just know completely off by heart, like the gramophone record in And Then There Were None and all that.But there's something—and maybe I should have said this earlier, when I say—I've said it on Substack—that they're fairy tales for adults. There's something about that. There's an almost physical sensation of pleasure, really, when the resolution comes. It is a bit like act five of Shakespeare. I'm not going to say she's quite on that level. Not even I am going to say that.But there is—and it is like being a child again and reading the end toward the happy-ever-after, even though her happy-ever-afters are sometimes compromised. And there is something almost primal in that pleasure. And it almost sounds borderline mad, me saying it like that, but I do think there's something in it because the resolution is so—because it's character based, and at her best, she's character and plot as one, as in Five Little Pigs or The Hollow or Murder on the Orient Express or blah, blah, blah.Her resolutions do tell you something about human nature. You do think, “Oh, yes, that is what that would be. Yes, it would be all about money. Yes. Yes, doctors are untrustworthy,” or something on a more profound level than that. There's something that is a satisfaction, both childlike and I'm experiencing it as an adult. In my defense, P. G. Wodehouse said you can never read them too many times. [laughs] It doesn't matter if you know who did it. There's so much pleasure in them.Thompson's CareerOLIVER: Now, I want to ask a little bit about your career.THOMPSON: Mm-hmm.OLIVER: You were at a sort of stage school, then you studied at Merton, and then you worked at The Times.THOMPSON: Yes. Very briefly. Yes.OLIVER: How does one therefore go from all of this to being the biographer?THOMPSON: Well, I did always think I would have a career in—I wanted to direct plays. I directed Hamlet after university, which is probably the thing I'm still proudest of. But what it was, was that I wrote a couple of books. I won an award when I was quite young.And then I had an agent who—I said to him, “I want to write a biography of Nancy Mitford.” And he wasn't very keen on the idea, but I must have written an okay proposal. Again, because I thought Nancy Mitford was a little bit undervalued, that she's a lot more than just a posh girl. And at the time her reputation was quite low. And so somebody bought into that idea, and it sort of went from there, really.But it's a bit—I sometimes look back at the books I've written, including a memoir of my publican grandmother, and I think, gosh, this is all quite scatter-gun, but maybe that's okay. Maybe you should just write the books you really want to write. But it was a passion for Nancy Mitford that sort of started that particular ball rolling.And then I had the idea of—oh, no. I was down in Devon with a boyfriend, and he said, “You never stop talking about Agatha Christie. Why don't you try and write her biography?” And that was just a luck of timing because her daughter was still alive. So I met her, and she liked me because I knew the Mary Westmacotts so well, and that sort of happened. I mean, quite often these things are very fortuitous, don't you think? Did you not find that with your book?OLIVER: Yes, yes. No, I did. I did. I think some writers, as you say—I don't think of it as scatter-gun. I think of it, it's sort of an emergent thing, and you happen to have these different interests, and you just follow your nose, and that's fine.THOMPSON: Yes, exactly.OLIVER: Tell us about this production of Hamlet.THOMPSON: Oh. Do you know, I think it was not bad. I had a very good Hamlet. I think if you've—well, you're in trouble without—who is now quite a successful actor. And we were all really young, but he was—I saw him in something and said, “Do you want to play Hamlet for me?” And he said, “Okay then.” And it was a room above a pub in Chelsea, and it was very spare and very quick.And it was about—I can't bear when people overanalyze the character of Hamlet, and why does he delay? He delays because Shakespeare wants him to, so that he can write all those incredible speeches. That's a bit simplified, but it was—he was so, he so understood the translucent power of those soliloquies, this actor. So it just sort of worked because we didn't do too much to it. And it was, yes, it was good. I think it was good. But then I did Macbeth, and that was much less good.Secretly Reading ChristieOLIVER: And you've said here, and I think you said it in your book, that when you were at Merton, you were reading Agatha Christie between the covers of what you were supposed to be reading.THOMPSON: Yes, yes, I was.OLIVER: That can't be—is that a slight exaggeration, or did you really not get on with the syllabus?THOMPSON: Well, hang on. I was a bit stuck in the first term. Can you imagine coming from a performing arts school—OLIVER: Yes.THOMPSON: —and then being told, “Read that bloody, you know.OLIVER: Yes, yes. No, it's intense.THOMPSON: All I knew was French. How I got in is a minor mystery, but there it was. I've tried to do it honor ever since by writing as best books I possibly can. But I was okay once I got over that bit. Once I got into my beloved Tennyson and all the people we've been talking about, Hardy and blah, blah, blah. Larkin, about whom the best thing I've ever read—the best thing I've ever read about Larkin is your Substack about him, without a shadow of a doubt.OLIVER: Oh, thank you.THOMPSON: Just wonderful. So I sort of winged it a bit, but I had a very nice don. And the autodidact side of me, which is very like Agatha Christie, who barely went to school, and Nancy Mitford—I think it can be a good thing in a way, because you have such a respect for learning and truth. I always try to be truthful in my biographies, which as we know, not everybody is. [laughter]And I think you carry on wanting to learn and carry on wanting to fill all the gaps because I only had half an education, because in the morning you would do ballet and drama and all that kind of thing. So it is a bit odd, but in some ways I think it's been a good thing.OLIVER: Now, the new book is about the 1926 disappearance. When can we expect it to be published?THOMPSON: It's only a short book—OLIVER: Yes.THOMPSON: —because obviously I covered it a lot in the biography, and it doesn't—but I have found out a couple of new things. And that will be out in August here and in November in America. And I have come up with a slightly different slant on it, but mainly—and I treat it a little bit like a cold case. And it was—I had to write—I wrote it in five weeks, but it was incredibly good fun. Oh, and I reenacted her journey, which was very interesting, to Harrogate.But mainly it's such a pleasure because I, you know, on Substack, and I think, “Oh, you can't write about Agatha Christie again.” There always seems to be quite a lot to say. I'm intrigued by how you, who I think of as a true intellectual, how you have clear regard for her.Henry on Agatha ChristieOLIVER: I started reading her when I was about 12, and I just thought she was great, and I went through most of them. But I read them at intervals. So I was reading her into my twenties, thirties. And before this interview I tried to—I thought, “Laura's always saying Five Little Pigs is the best one. I'm going to read it.” And I just sort of found that I've lost the taste, in a way.THOMPSON: Okay.OLIVER: Which I was quite, I don't know, just maybe—I feel like this is my failing. Maybe I should take a week off and sit by the pool and read it properly. But I've always thought she's really, really great, and very few people can do that many very compelling stories without you sort of thinking, “Oh, I've read this one. I know. Yes. It's the same as the other one, isn't it? Yes. Yes, it was the”—as you say, it's not Cluedo. Even Dorothy L. Sayers, I don't think I could read much more by her, frankly. Great, she's great, but it's enough. [laughs]THOMPSON: Well, I quite like her. The whole—most girls who went to Oxford are quite keen on Gaudy Night, and the character of Harriet Vane is quite satisfying, I think.OLIVER: Indeed, indeed. And Strong Poison is great. And there—but I just mean if she'd written as many books as Agatha, you can't imagine it would've sustained the level of quality.THOMPSON: No, no. There is that lightness in Agatha and that terrible cliché of, “I wrote a long book because it was too—I didn't have enough time to write a short book,” and all that kind of thing. The brevity amazes me. When I said at the start, most writers would take twice as many pages to get all that in.She has style—I don't know if you can call it a style, but there is something blindingly effective about it that nobody can imitate. And it does—there's something so fathomless about her, and that's what continues to compel me. But I think it's very lovely of you to do this if you are no longer an admirer because you've let me sort of—OLIVER: Well, it's not that I'm not an admirer. It's just that I don't—I had this with P. G. Wodehouse. I read quite a lot of it, and now, I don't know, somehow I've reached a point where it's—I sort of get it, but it's just not that funny anymore. I don't know, just need some time away.THOMPSON: Well, maybe. Maybe, but you know, I'm a bit—she's part of my life now. It's like if somebody said, “You can't read her anymore,” it would be like, “You can't listen to the Rolling Stones anymore.” I mean, it'd be like a kind of death. She's part of my life the same way they're part of my life. She's now inseparable from just the way I go on, as is Shakespeare. And if I had to lose one of them, trust me, it would be her, you'll be reassured to know. [laughter]OLIVER: Very good. Laura, this has been a lot of fun. Thank you very much.THOMPSON: Oh, I've really enjoyed it. I really have. And I was really looking forward to it, and it's been even nicer than I thought it would be. So thank you.OLIVER: Oh, it's been delightful.THOMPSON: Thank you so much, Henry.OLIVER: Thank you. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.commonreader.co.uk

Egypt 1937. Master detective Hercule Poirot embarks on a luxurious Nile cruise and uses his incomparable powers of observation and combination to solve the ice-cold murder of the rich heiress Linnet Ridgeway. The classic film is a feast for the senses thanks to the star cast, the setting in Egypt, the clever dialogue and the Oscar-winning costumes. - Ägypten 1937. Meisterdetektiv Hercule Poirot begibt sich auf eine luxuriöse Nilkreuzfahrt und setzt dort seine unvergleichliche Beobachtungs- und Kombniergabe ein, um den eiskalten Mord an der reichen Erbin Linnet Ridgeway aufzuklären. Der Filmklassiker ist ein Fest für die Sinne durch die Starbesetzung, das Setting in Ägypten, die cleveren Dialoge und die Oscar-prämierten Kostüme.

Now for a roundup of accessible arts events as RNIB Connect Radio's Toby Davey catches up with Jess Beal from VocalEyes, the national audio description charity providing access to the arts for blind and partially sighted people to share some of the accessible events that are featured in their regular email newsletter.Audio described shows and events included:The Devil Wears Prada, Tuesday 10 March, 7.30pm, touch tour 5.15pm, Dominion Theatre, London,Fawlty Towers The Play, Thursday 12 March, 7.30pm, Ipswich Regent Theatre,The Mesmerist, Saturday 21 March, 3pm, touch tour 2pm Watford Palace Theatre,Agatha Christie's Death on the Nile, Wednesday 1 April, 7.30pm, Theatre Royal Brighton,Marie & Rosetta, Saturday 4 April, 7.30pm, touch tour 6pm, @Soho Theatre, London.To find out more about these and other up-coming described arts events as well as details on how to sign up to the regular VocalEyes What's On email newsletter do visit -https://vocaleyes.co.uk

Ваш любимый канал «ВОТ ЭТО английский» — теперь в аудиоформате!Попробуйте и научитесь понимать английский на слух с удовольствием

Connect with the Podcast: @FilthyRaine Connect with Gafiltha: @Gafiltha Connect with Raine: @RaineShadow Ko-Fi Raine's YouTube Channel Etsy Shop Link (Use Code Podcast for 20% off) MakerPlace Shop Link (Use Code Podcast for 20% off) Raine's Discord bot Raine's Twitch Sources: Games to PlayDeath on the NileThief VR: Legacy of ShadowStoriesVR3D Printed VRFluxPose VR  Tracking SystemNews ArticleYouTube VideoKickstarterPimax VR Dream Air HeadsetYouTube VideoOfficial SiteSteam Frame VR HeadsetNews ArticleOfficial SiteThe Biggest Video Games to Look for in 2026

Another week in physical media with Erik Childress and Peter Sobczynski and it is a loaded one. Criterion offers up some classic Errol Flynn and the final film of legend John Huston. You can also check out the first directorial effort of John Milius and one of the many men-in-a-car films of David Ayer. Speaking of vehicles, you can hear about one of the great chase sequences of the 1980s or the one that has some MF snakes in it. There's a history lesson in Ma and Pa Kettle plus the great Woody Woodpecker, a trio of Agatha Christie mysteries and a punk rock gem still worthy of discovery.Criterion (Captain Blood (4K), The Dead (4K))MGM (A Matter of Time, Dillinger)Universal (Woody Woodpecker and Friends Golden Age Collection (1941-1972), Ma and Pa Kettle: Complete Comedy Collection)Fun City (Ladies and Gentlemen, The Fabulous Stains (4K))Arrow (Snakes on a Plane (4K))Shout (End of Watch (4K))Kino (Man in a Cocked Hat, The Flesh and Blood Show, Diva (4K), Death on the Nile (1978) (4K), The Mirror Crack'd (4K), Evil Under the Sun (4K))TV (Doctor Who: Tom Baker (Season 2), Lucifer: The Complete Series)NEW (One Battle After Another (4K), Wicked: For Good (4K), Roofman (4K), Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere, Fackham Hall, Hunting Season, Keeper (4K))CLICK ON THE FILMS TO RENT OR PURCHASE AND HELP OUT THE MOVIE MADNESS PODCASTUSE COUPON “MOVIEMADNESS” TO GET 10% OFF ALL DUBBY PRODUCTSSIGN UP FOR AUDIBLEBe sure to check outErik's Weekly Box Office Column – At Rotten TomatoesCritics' Classics Series – At Elk Grove Cinema in Elk Grove Village, ILChicago Screening Schedule - All the films coming to theaters and streamingPhysical Media Schedule - Click & Buy upcoming titles for your library.(Direct purchases help the Movie Madness podcast with a few pennies.)Erik's Linktree - Where you can follow Erik and his work anywhere and everywhere.The Movie Madness Podcast has been recognized by Million Podcasts as one of the Top 100 Best Movie Review Podcasts as well as in the Top 60 Film Festival Podcasts and Top 100 Cinephile Podcasts. MillionPodcasts is an intelligently curated, all-in-one podcast database for discovering and contacting podcast hosts and producers in your niche perfect for PR pitches and collaborations. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit erikthemovieman.substack.com

It's the traditional post-holiday cultural committee and we let Rob pick again, so strap in and prepare for a load of old guff with a lot of big names as we watch Death on the Nile (2022) Subscribe for two whole bonus episodes a month: https://www.patreon.com/praxiscast Watch streams: https://www.twitch.tv/praxiscast Buy shirts: https://praxiscast.teemill.com/ Follow us: https://bsky.app/profile/praxiscast.bsky.social Cast: Rob - https://bsky.app/profile/trufflehog.bsky.social Jamie - https://bsky.app/profile/wizardcubes.bsky.social Alasdair - https://bsky.app/profile/ballistari.bsky.social 

Tom Bateman has delivered wonderful performances in "Thirteen Lives," "Death on the Nile," "Murder on the Orient Express," and Peacock's dark comedic thriller series "Based on a True Story," alongside Kaley Cuoco and Chris Messina, to name a few. For his latest, "Hedda," he got to work opposite Tessa Thompson and Nina Hoss. On this episode, he explains what made that production special, starting with the 2 weeks of rehearsal that director Nia DeCosta insisted on. He takes us through his beginnings in the theater, how Shakespeare is the gift that keeps on giving, gives examples of direction that ignited discoveries, hard lessons learned in younger days, the curious phenomena of finding similarities in his characters the further he gets away from himself, and much more! Back To One is the in-depth, no-nonsense, actors-on-acting podcast from  Filmmaker Magazine. In each episode, host Peter Rinaldi invites one working actor to do a deep dive into their unique process, psychology, and approach to the craft.  Follow Back To One on Instagram

Rey and Glenn discuss new 1st details of new console features, Borderlands 4 issues, Reach for PSVR2 and Meta Quest, Battlefield 6, Ghost of Yotei and MUCH more! 1:42:16 Time Codes: 5:25 - XBOX Next Gen 13:53 - Threads of Time 17:40 - PlayStation 6 20:02 - Borderlands 4 22:06 - No Man's Sky 32:04 - The Angry Videogame Nerd Game 34:47 - Reach (PSVR2 and Meta Quest) 46:09 - Agatha Christie's Death on The Nile 52:10 - Absolum 1:02:41 - Battlefield 6 1:10:29 - Twilight Monk 1:16:20 - Mariachi Legends 1:17:58 - Hades II 1:32:40 - Ghost of Yotei 1:40:32 - Bounty Star

TurdOrTreasure is ThisWeekInGeek's dedicated review show covering everything from games to movies to tv to electronics and everything between!Show Links:https://www.microids.com/agatha-christie-death-on-the-nile-is-now-available/https://atelier.games/resleriana_rw/us/https://blippo.plus/https://nisamerica.com/disgaea/d7-complete/https://www.nintendo.com/en-ca/store/products/wander-stars-switchhttps://final-fantasy-tactics-the-ivalice-chronicles.square-enix-games.com/en-ushttps://www.hasbropulse.com/product/transformers-studio-series-deluxe-class-the-transformers-the-movie-constructicon-scavenger/G05705X00https://www.hasbropulse.com/product/transformers-studio-series-voyager-class-the-transformers-the-movie-constructicon-mixmaster/G05635X00https://www.sharkninja.ca/ninja-frostvault-45qt-wheeled-cooler-with-dry-zone-cloud-white/FB245CWH.html?dwvar_FB245CWH_color=ffffffYour Geekmaster:Alex "The Producer" - https://bsky.app/profile/dethphasetwig.bsky.socialFeedback for the show?:Email: feedback@thisweekingeek.netTwitter: https://twitter.com/thisweekingeekBluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/thisweekingeek.bsky.socialYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCc1BfUrFWqEYha8IYiluMyAiTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/this-week-in-geek/id215643675Spotify: spotify:show:0BHP4gkzubuCsJBhU3oNWXCastbox: https://castbox.fm/channel/id2162049Website: https://www.thisweekingeek.netOctober 3, 2025

80.1 Speed Awareness CourseOne of our cameras detected a violation of the speed limit. You can either accept 3 points on your driving license, or take the Speed Awareness Course. What is your choice?Written by Joanne Askew (www.jaskewauthor.com)Narrated by Alexandra Elroy (social media link)Edited by Duncan Muggleton (http://soundcloud.com/duncanmuggleton)With music by Duncan Muggleton (http://soundcloud.com/duncanmuggleton)And Thom Robson (https://www.thomrobsonmusic.com/)The episode illustration was provided by Luke Spooner of Carrion House (https://carrionhouse.com/)And sound effects provided by Freesound.orgA quick thanks to our community managers, Joshua Boucher and Jasmine ArchAnd Carolyn O'Brien for helping with our submission reading.And to Ben Errington for drawing social media cards from his neverending content deck… deck, I said.Deck.Science Fiction and Horror writer, Joanne Askew, explores mental health, sexual identity and diversity through her fiction. The deepness and darkness of space is her second home. As an LGBTQIA+ activist, she aims to use her fiction to make the world a better place for the next generation to come out in. Her sci-fi horror novella, Sloth, is out now. www.jaskewauthor.comAlexandra is a bilingual voice actress and writer who lives in the Netherlands. She loves everything to do with stories, especially creative and playful horror. Her favourite voices to do are witches, goblins and crazy computers. When she is not voicing, writing or mummy-ing (which is all the time, really) she directs plays that she adapted from classic novels such as Pride and Prejudice, Death on the Nile and One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest.The Other Stories is a production of the story studio, Hawk & Cleaver, and is brought to you with a Creative Commons – Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives license. Don't change it. Don't sell it. But by all means… share the hell out of it. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Librarians Sarah and Brynne discuss the Secrets of the Nile duology featuring What the River Knows and Where the Library Hides by Isabel Ibañez. The historical fantasy novels follow Inez from Argentina to Egypt, where she seeks answers about her parents' deaths. Along the way she discovers magical objects, adventure and romance.Also mentioned: Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie and the movie adaptation from 2022, Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, Cleopatra by Stacy Schiff, Dinner with King Tut by Sam Kean, An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir, Hotel Magnifique by Emily J. Taylor, and The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern.Check out books, TV shows and movies at countycat.mcfls.org, wplc.overdrive.com, hoopladigital.com and kanopy.com/en/westallis. For more about WAPL, visit westallislibrary.org.Music: Tim Moor via Pixabay

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In this mini episode we re-cap the Agatha Christie Novel “Death on the Nile”. Note, we will spoil the plot of this book in this mini episode. The Back of the book:“The tranquility of a cruise along the Nile is shattered by the discovery that Linnet Ridgeway has been shot through the head. She was young, stylish and beautiful, a girl who had everything – until she lost her life.Hercule Poirot recalls an earlier outburst by a fellow passenger: ‘I'd like to put my dear little pistol against her head and just press the trigger.' Yet in this exotic setting' nothing is ever quite what it seems…”Support the showRecommend us a Book!If there's a book you want to recommend to us to read, just send us a message/email and we'll pop it on our long list (but please read our review policy on our website first for the books we accept).Social MediaWebsite: https://teachingmycattoread.wordpress.com/Email: teachingmycattoread@gmail.comInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/teachmycat2read/Tumblr: https://teachingmycattoread.tumblr.comYoutube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFXi9LNQv8SBQt8ilgTZXtQListener Surveyhttps://forms.gle/TBZUBH4SK8dez8RP9

106.3 Blind CastTwo space engineers just finished repairing an old satellite in low orbit when they see a very unexpected item floating just outside of their space ships.Written by Alexandra ElroyNarrated by Alexandra ElroyAnd Tycho FrancisAnd Nick HermanProduced by Karl Hughes (https://bsky.app/profile/karlhughes.bsky.social)With music by Chris Zabriskie (https://chriszabriskie.com/)And Thom Robson (https://www.thomrobsonmusic.com/)And sound effects provided by Freesound.orgThe episode illustration was provided by Luke Spooner of Carrion House (https://carrionhouse.com/)Joshua Boucher is our story programmer, and along with Jasmine Arch and the eyeless ones, Mary Pastrano and Cody Czarzasty, he helps manage our community.And to Ben Errington the ongoing explosion of content being fired out of his Social Media canon.Alexandra is a bilingual voice actress and writer who lives in the Netherlands. She loves everything to do with stories, especially creative and playful horror. Her favourite voices to do are witches, goblins and crazy computers. When she is not voicing, writing or mummy-ing (which is all the time, really) she directs plays that she adapted from classic novels such as Pride and Prejudice, Death on the Nile and One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest.Francis is an actor, narrator, and storyteller with a background in theatre and voice work. He loves the drama — but even more so, the quiet pull of darker tales. Walk with him: @lonely_midnight_artistNick is a performer from Portland, Oregon, USA. He trained at the University of Oregon and worked professionally in London, UK for 3 years. His roles include Mr. Tinsworthy in The Confidential Musical Theater Project (The Cauldron), King Sextimus in Once Upon a Mattress (Happily Ever After), and Carrot in Guards! Guards! (English Theater Utrecht). He loves improvisation and is currently training at Boom Chicago in Amsterdam Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Earlier in the year, I met the terrific & very prolific author Erica Ruth Neubauer at Poisoned Pen Bookstore when she was in town to promote her newest Jane Wunderly mystery series novel HOMICIDE IN THE INDIAN HILLS. From the moment that I discovered that she had a very cool, intricate tattoo of the game board & weapons from CLUE, I knew she'd be a great guest on Watch With Jen & I was delighted that she said yes. Delving not only into her background falling in love with old movies & books as a child, but also the path that led her to publishing & her creative process, in this lively, fast-paced conversation, we move back & forth from writing to discussing a trio of great ensemble mysteries that we both love including THE THIN MAN, DEATH ON THE NILE (1978), & CLUE. It's a whole lot of fun! Guest Bio: Erica Ruth Neubauer is the Agatha Award winning author of the Jane Wunderly Mysteries. She spent eleven years in the military, nearly two as a Maryland police officer, & one as a high school English teacher, before finding her way as a writer. She has been a reviewer of mysteries & crime fiction for publications such as Publishers Weekly & Mystery Scene magazine for several years, & she's a member of Sisters in Crime & Mystery Writers of America.Originally Posted on Patreon (5/17/25) here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/129202166Shop Watch With Jen logo Merchandise in Logo Designer Kate Gabrielle's Threadless ShopDonate to the Pod via Ko-fi Theme Music: Solo Acoustic Guitar by Jason Shaw, Free Music Archive

Book Vs. Movie: Death on the NileThe 1937 Agatha Christie Novel Vs the 2022 Kenneth Branagh film. Agatha Christie's Death on the Nile has long been a fan favorite, combining romance, betrayal, and murder aboard a glamorous steamer cruising the Nile River. In 2022, director Kenneth Branagh brought the classic mystery back to the big screen with an all-star cast and a modern flair. But how faithful is this adaptation to the original 1937 novel?Branagh (who returns as Belgian sleuth Hercule Poirot) updates the cast of characters from the source material and discusses the racial politics of the time more. The director also adds to Poirot's backstory, including his facial hair and past romances, which are not in the book.  Between the original novel and the film — did we prefer one over the other? Have a listen to find out!In this episode, the Margos discuss:Agatha Christie & her character of Poirot The differences between the book and the movieThe cast includes: Tom Bateman (Bouc,) Annette Bening (Euphemia Bouc,) Kenneth Branagh (Poirot,) Michael Rouse (Private Laurin,) Alaa Safi (Corporal) Letitia Wright (Rosalie Otterbourne,) Sophie Okonedo (Salome Otterbourne,) Gal Gadot (Linnet Ridgeway,) Jennifer Saunders (Marie Van Schuyler,) Dawn French (Bowers,) and Susannah Fielding as Katharine. Clips Featured:“Entrance of Jacqueline”Death on the Nile (2002 trailer)“Champagne Toast”“Hammer, Gadot & Branagh”“The last scene”Music by Patrick DoyleFollow us on the socials!Join our Patreon page “Book Vs. Movie podcast”You can find us on Facebook at Book Vs. Movie Podcast GroupInstagram: Book Versus Movie @bookversusmoviebookversusmoviepodcast@gmail.com Margo D's Blog: Brooklynfitchick.comMargo D's Instagram “Brooklyn Fit Chick”Margo D's TikTok Margo D's YouTube: @MargoDonohueMargo P's Instagram: @shesnachomama Margo P's Blog: coloniabook.comMargo P's YouTube Channel: @shesnachomamaOur logo was designed by Madeleine Gainey/Studio 39 Marketing Follow on Instagram @Studio39Marketing & @musicalmadeleine 

Book Vs. Movie: Death on the NileThe 1937 Agatha Christie Novel Vs the 2022 Kenneth Branagh film. Agatha Christie's Death on the Nile has long been a fan favorite, combining romance, betrayal, and murder aboard a glamorous steamer cruising the Nile River. In 2022, director Kenneth Branagh brought the classic mystery back to the big screen with an all-star cast and a modern flair. But how faithful is this adaptation to the original 1937 novel?Branagh (who returns as Belgian sleuth Hercule Poirot) updates the cast of characters from the source material and discusses the racial politics of the time more. The director also adds to Poirot's backstory, including his facial hair and past romances, which are not in the book.  Between the original novel and the film — did we prefer one over the other? Have a listen to find out!In this episode, the Margos discuss:Agatha Christie & her character of Poirot The differences between the book and the movieThe cast includes: Tom Bateman (Bouc,) Annette Bening (Euphemia Bouc,) Kenneth Branagh (Poirot,) Michael Rouse (Private Laurin,) Alaa Safi (Corporal) Letitia Wright (Rosalie Otterbourne,) Sophie Okonedo (Salome Otterbourne,) Gal Gadot (Linnet Ridgeway,) Jennifer Saunders (Marie Van Schuyler,) Dawn French (Bowers,) and Susannah Fielding as Katharine. Clips Featured:“Entrance of Jacqueline”Death on the Nile (2002 trailer)“Champagne Toast”“Hammer, Gadot & Branagh”“The last scene”Music by Patrick DoyleFollow us on the socials!Join our Patreon page “Book Vs. Movie podcast”You can find us on Facebook at Book Vs. Movie Podcast GroupInstagram: Book Versus Movie @bookversusmoviebookversusmoviepodcast@gmail.com Margo D's Blog: Brooklynfitchick.comMargo D's Instagram “Brooklyn Fit Chick”Margo D's TikTok Margo D's YouTube: @MargoDonohueMargo P's Instagram: @shesnachomama Margo P's Blog: coloniabook.comMargo P's YouTube Channel: @shesnachomamaOur logo was designed by Madeleine Gainey/Studio 39 Marketing Follow on Instagram @Studio39Marketing & @musicalmadeleine 

Movie reviews #49 coming in hot today.
Just 5 70's movies to review, sooooo let's review the review.
1. (The Andromeda Strain 1971) Epic movie Director Robert Wise is at the helm here, with a movie Based on a Michael Crichton novel way before it was a 90's standard thing to do. 
That statement is dead wrong though, there are 9 MC novels or short stories adapted into films in the 70's, 3 in the 80's, and 7 in the 90's. I think it's only because Jurassic Park had the hype of like 6 70's movies, shit, I dunno. This movie is about a deadly element from space, SCIENCE, and a real cool facility that gives you paper clothes.
2. (Boxcar Bertha 1972) Not to jump the shark but I think this one's easy, we all agree that we love Bertha, but not so much this early Martin Scorsese film. Barbara Hershey rules, also Bill of Kill Bill, and the history teacher of Bill and Ted are here. 
3. (In this house of Brede 1975) Don't yuk this bizarre recovering catholic's yum, but here we have Diana Ring as Nun, say no more!
ok just a bit more she is a woman who is sick of all the shitty men and bullshit and goes to the convent to get away from it all and do rad shit in peace, apparently I should read the book too.
4. (Death on the Nile 1978) I'm sorry but I do love me some Peter Ustinov, He is Agatha Christie's Poirot here, along with flippin every one else.
Mia Farrow, Bette Davis, Miss murder she done sat down and wrote, David Niven, Jack Warden, and Professor McGonagall, to name a few. 
This time they are on a boat not a train.
5. (Birth of the Beatles 1979) Waited for the encore tv airing of this so I could record it with a video cassette that I had bought. This one hugely influenced me to want to play music. Wonderful to finally see this again with friends and review. This movie is from the director of Return of the Jedi. 
we out, thanks for listening.

Medverkande i detta avsnitt är: Danny, Poki och Vickan.Detta avsnitt bjuder på samtal om spel, filmer och lite annat smått och gott - allt i ett trevligt sällskap!Spel som tas upp:Avowed,Indiana Jones and the Great Circle,Pillars of Eternity,Farmagia,He is Coming Demo,Film/TV som tas upp:Murder On The Orient Express (2017),Death On The Nile (2022),A Haunting In Venice (2023),Bungo Stray Dogs,BEASTARS,Övrigt som tas upp:Danny pratar om den Silent Hill Transmission som visades upp under veckan. Vickan ger oss tips på spelen: Botany War of the Posies och Artistry av Dux Somnium Games som finns på Kickstarter. Hon ger även lite info om att Nintendo tar bort sina Nintendo Gold Points. Vi tar även upp lite roliga Memes om podden som finns i vår Discord.Kom med i vår Discord här! - Nördliv på iTunes – Nördliv på Spotify

Elly Griffiths has always written short stories to experiment with different voices and genres as well as to explore what some of her fictional creations such as Ruth Galloway, Harbinder Kaur, and Max Mephisto might have done outside of the novels. The Man in Black gathers these bite-sized tales all together in one splendid volume. There are ghost stories, cozy mysteries, tales of psychological suspense, and poignant vignettes of love and loss. In the title story, Ruth Galloway crosses paths with a mysterious man in a bookstore, setting in motion a rescue mission that hinges on the legends and lore of Norfolk. Looking into the past, a young magician in 1920s Leeds wonders just what happened to his missing landlady in “Max Mephisto and the Disappearing Act.” In “Justice Jones and the Etherphone,” a witty girl detective investigates the dire prediction of a fortune teller in dreary postwar London. A flashback in time reveals Harbinder Kaur as a Detective Sergeant surviving her first day on the job at Shoreham DCI. To celebrate the holidays, Ruth gets her very first Christmas tree, and her beloved cat narrates his own seasonal story in “Flint's Fireside Tale.” And readers can armchair travel with stories set on the Amalfi Coast, in Capri, and in Egypt as Ruth and DCI Nelson experience their very own version of Death on the Nile. The Man in Black illustrates the breadth and variety of Elly Griffiths's talent for blood-chilling, page-turning stories all with her trademark humor and heart.    Elly Griffiths is the USA Today bestselling author of the Ruth Galloway and Brighton mystery series, as well as the standalone novels The Stranger Diaries, winner of the Edgar Award for Best Novel; The Postscript Murders; and Bleeding Heart Yard. She is the recipient of the CWA Dagger in the Library Award and the Mary Higgins Clark Award. She lives in Brighton, England.

A conversation with Hana S. Sharif, Artistic Director of Arena Stage since August 2023. Sharif discusses her transformative first year at the helm and her inaugural season as Arena's producing artistic director. She reflects on the vibrant theatrical community in Washington, D.C., and her commitment to amplifying dynamic voices in American theater. With an ambitious 2024/25 season featuring eight new works, including her directorial debut at Arena Stage with the world premiere of Death on the Nile, adapted by Ken Ludwig, Sharif shares the careful curation process behind creating a year-long conversation through theater, aiming to reflect the full spectrum of American voices.Sharif also opens up about her journey from running a scrappy theater company begun at Spelman College to leading one of the country's most prominent regional theaters. As the first Black artistic director of Arena Stage, she reflects on the significance of this milestone, her dedication to fostering inclusivity, and the critical role of theater in bridging divides and exploring our shared humanity. 

A conversation with Hana S. Sharif, Artistic Director of Arena Stage since August 2023. Sharif discusses her transformative first year at the helm and her inaugural season as Arena's producing artistic director. She reflects on the vibrant theatrical community in Washington, D.C., and her commitment to amplifying dynamic voices in American theater. With an ambitious 2024/25 season featuring eight new works, including her directorial debut at Arena Stage with the world premiere of Death on the Nile, adapted by Ken Ludwig, Sharif shares the careful curation process behind creating a year-long conversation through theater, aiming to reflect the full spectrum of American voices.Sharif also opens up about her journey from running a scrappy theater company begun at Spelman College to leading one of the country's most prominent regional theaters. As the first Black artistic director of Arena Stage, she reflects on the significance of this milestone, her dedication to fostering inclusivity, and the critical role of theater in bridging divides and exploring our shared humanity. 

100.7 Hope Without An ObjectA woman has hidden herself away from the cult that tricked her into birthing a cosmic abomination. Now, with the cult closing in, she must decide how to end things on her own terms.Written by D.C. Hill (https://www.instagram.com/dan_hill/)Narrated by Alexandra ElroyProduced by Karl Hughes (https://x.com/karlhughes)With music by Phat Phrog studio (https://twitter.com/PhatPhrogStudio)And Thom Robson (https://www.thomrobsonmusic.com/)And sound effects provided by Freesound.orgThe episode illustration was provided by Luke Spooner of Carrion House (https://carrionhouse.com/)A quick thanks to our community managers, Jasmine Arch, Joshua Boucher, and his eyeless ones Mary Pastrano and Cody CzarzastyAnd Joshua Boucher for helping with our submission reading.And to Ben Errington the ongoing explosion of content being fired out of his Social Media canon.D.C Hill is the author of several short stories, and the pseudonymous mask of Dan Hill, editor and writer of numerous comic book tales. You can find him online by chanting his name backwards whilst staring into a mirror.Alexandra is a bilingual voice actress and writer who lives in the Netherlands. She loves everything to do with stories, especially creative and playful horror. Her favourite voices to do are witches, goblins and crazy computers. When she is not voicing, writing or mummy-ing (which is all the time, really) she directs plays that she adapted from classic novels such as Pride and Prejudice, Death on the Nile and One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest.Join TOS+ to access over 90 exclusive episodes, get regular stories in higher quality audio, a week early, and ad-free, at https://theotherstories.net/plus/Support the show, get audiobooks, and more at https://www.patreon.com/hawkandcleaverJoin our communities for book clubs, movie clubs, writing exercises, and more at https://theotherstories.net/community/Leave a voicemail or get in touch at https://theotherstories.net/submissionsCheck out our writing courses at https://theotherstories.net/courses/Grab some merch at https://gumroad.com/hawkandcleaverThe Other Stories is a production of the story studio, Hawk & Cleaver, and is brought to you with a Creative Commons – Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives license. Don't change it. Don't sell it. But by all means… share the hell out of it. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to another Cinema Sounds & Secrets Tribute episode! This week Janet, John, (and Pen) explore the extensive career (spanning over seven decades) of the truly remarkable British actress Maggie Smith. Born on December 28, 1934, in Ilford Essex, England, despite never having gone to the theater and being considered "too common" to be onstage, Smith grew up with a love for Shakespeare and was encouraged to act by her English teacher. In 1952, at 17 years old, her career began as Viola in Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night.” Smith received international fame for her role as Violet Crawley in Downton Abbey (2010–2015) and is known for films including Othello (1965), The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1969), Travels with My Aunt (1972), California Suite (1978) A Room with a View (1985), Gosford Park (2001), the Harry Potter film series (2001–2011), Death on the Nile (1978), Hook (1991), Sister Act (1992), The Secret Garden (1993), The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2012), Quartet (2012) The Lady in the Van (2015) and more. To learn more about this episode and others, visit the Official Cinema Sounds & Secrets website. And check out our Instagram, @cinemasoundspod!

We're setting sail with one of Agatha Christie's most famous mysterious! Poirot's holiday to Egypt is derailed when a beautiful young heiress at the centre of a devastating love triangle is murdered on board their cruise ship. With a boat-load of curious suspects swimming in secrets around him, will Poirot be able to solve the murder before the body count rises even further? Want to send something in for our Christmas special? You can message us on here, email us at bonjour@thelaboursofhercule.com or submit an anonymous question HERE Our Patreon page is filled with all kinds of wonderful bonus materials, including videos of interviews, quizzes, bonus shows, and our deep dive into the Poirot movies! Find it at https://www.patreon.com/CosyAF We're on Instagram at @laboursofhercule On Threads at @laboursofhercule Or you can email us at bonjour@thelaboursofhercule.com Our amazing music was composed and produced by the fabulous Cev Moore Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this episode of Currently Reading, Kaytee and Meredith are discussing: Bookish Moments: following us on Instagram and new bookish lego sets Current Reads: all the great, interesting, and/or terrible stuff we've been reading lately Deep Dive: we are bossing more TBRs! The Fountain: we visit our perfect fountain to make wishes about our reading lives Show notes are time-stamped below for your convenience. Read the transcript of the episode (this link only works on the main site) .  .  .  .  1:24 - Ad For Ourselves 1:37 - Currently Reading Patreon 5:02 - Our Bookish Moments Of The Week 5:44 - @currentlyreadingpodcast on Instagram 9:40 - Books Are My Passion Lego 12:23 - Our Current Reads 12:39 - The Hollow by Agatha Christie (Meredith) 16:41 - Appointment with Death by Agatha Christie 16:43 - Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie 17:26 - A Pirate's Life for Tea by Rebecca Thorne (Kaytee) 18:52 - Can't Spell Treason without Tea by Rebecca Thorne 20:15 - @megs.tea.room on Instagram 20:21 - Legends and Lattes by Travis Baldree 21:09 - Daily Rituals by Mason Currey (Meredith) 26:27 - On Writing by Stephen King  27:07 - What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty (Kaytee) 27:14 - CR Season 7: Episode 7 31:40 - 17 Years Later by J.P. Pomare (Meredith) 36:53 - Sandwich by Catherine Newman (Kaytee) 40:00 - @thewilltoread on Instagram 41:40 - Boss My TBR From Morgan N. 42:35 - The Art Thief by Michael Finkle 42:37 - Hyde by Craig Russell 42:39 - Diavola by Jennifer Thorne 42:41 - The Bright Sword by Lev Grossman 42:43 - Slewfoot by Brom 42:50 - The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas 42:52 - The Examiner by Janice Hallett From Katie P. 46:42- Making It So by Patrick Stewart 46:50 - The Dry by Jane Harper 46:52 - Blood & Sugar by Laura Shepherd-Robinson (amazon link) 47:02 - The Calculating Stars by Mary Robinette Kowal 47:06 - The Whalebone Theatre by Joanna Quinn 47:24 - This Motherless Land by Nikki May 47:27 - Fang Fiction by Kate Stayman-London 50:55 - Meet Us At The Fountain 51:30 - I wish books would have shorter chapters. (Meredith) 51:03 - Shadow of Night by Deborah Harkness 51:11 - A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness 53:13 - @currentlyreadingpodcast on Instagram (Meredith's wish #2 is to follow us!!) 53:24 - I wish to press Taste by Stanley Tucci into everybody's hands. (Kaytee) 53:24 - Taste by Stanley Tucci Support Us: Become a Bookish Friend | Grab Some Merch Shop Bookshop dot org | Shop Amazon Bookish Friends Receive: The Indie Press List with a curated list of five books hand sold by the indie of the month. November's IPL comes to us from Charter Books in Newport, Rhode Island! Love and Chili Peppers with Kaytee and Rebekah - romance lovers get their due with this special episode focused entirely on the best selling genre fiction in the business.  All Things Murderful with Meredith and Elizabeth - special content for the scary-lovers, brought to you with the behind-the-scenes insights of an independent bookseller From the Editor's Desk with Kaytee and Bunmi Ishola - a quarterly peek behind the curtain at the publishing industry The Bookish Friends Facebook Group - where you can build community with bookish friends from around the globe as well as our hosts Connect With Us: The Show: Instagram | Website | Email | Threads The Hosts and Regulars: Meredith | Kaytee | Mary | Roxanna Production and Editing: Megan Phouthavong Evans Affiliate Disclosure: All affiliate links go to Bookshop unless otherwise noted. Shopping here helps keep the lights on and benefits indie bookstores. Thanks for your support!

Today on Art of the Cut, Úna Ní Dhonghaíle, ACE discusses editing Disney's Young Woman and the Sea. Una was first nominated for an editing BAFTA 15 years ago. And again in 2013 and THREE TIMES in 2015. She won a BAFTA for Three Girls and was nominated for another BAFTA and an ACE Eddie for editing Kenneth Branagh's Belfast which we discussed right here on Art of the Cut. She was also on Art of the Cut previously for her work on The Crown and for Death on the Nile. Today we're going to be talking about the importance of taking time to build up character for big emotional payoffs later, jump-cutting for emotion, and discovering that collapsing or compressing scenes can reveal new things, dramatically. If you'd like to follow along with this interview and read the transcription as well as see clips, trailers and photos, check out the blog version of the podcast on Boris's site: borisfx.com/blog/aotc.

Today on the show we have Oscar® and two-time Emmy® Nominee Simon Kinberg.He has established himself as one of Hollywood's most prolific filmmakers, having written and produced projects for some of the most successful franchises in the modern era. His films have earned more than seven billion dollars worldwide. Kinberg graduated from Brown University and received his MFA from Columbia University Film School, where his thesis project was the original script, “Mr and Mrs Smith.” The film was released in 2005, starring Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie.Upcoming, Kinberg will premiere his action spy film “The 355”, which will be released theatrically by Universal on January 7, 2022. Directed, co-written and produced by Kinberg, the film was one of the biggest deals out of the 2018 Cannes Film Festival and stars an ensemble of A-list actresses including Jessica Chastain, Lupita Nyong'o, Penelope Cruz, Diane Kruger and Fan Bingbing.A dream team of formidable female stars come together in a hard-driving original approach to the globe-trotting espionage genre in The 355.When a top-secret weapon falls into mercenary hands, wild card CIA agent Mason “Mace” Brown (Oscar®-nominated actress Jessica Chastain) will need to join forces with rival badass German agent Marie (Diane Kruger, In the Fade), former MI6 ally and cutting-edge computer specialist Khadijah (Oscar® winner Lupita Nyong'o), and skilled Colombian psychologist Graciela (Oscar® winner Penélope Cruz) on a lethal, breakneck mission to retrieve it, while also staying one-step ahead of a mysterious woman, Lin Mi Sheng (Bingbing Fan, X-Men: Days of Future Past), who is tracking their every move.As the action rockets around the globe from the cafes of Paris to the markets of Morocco to the opulent auction houses of Shanghai, the quartet of women will forge a tenuous loyalty that could protect the world—or get them killed. The film also stars Édgar Ramirez (The Girl on the Train) and Sebastian Stan (Avengers: Endgame).The 355 is directed by genre-defying filmmaker Simon Kinberg (writer-director-producer of Dark Phoenix, producer of Deadpool and The Martian and writer-producer of the X-Men films). The screenplay is by Theresa Rebeck (NBC's Smash, Trouble) and Kinberg, from a story by Rebeck. The 355, presented by Universal Pictures in association with FilmNation Entertainment, is produced by Chastain and Kelly Carmichael for Chastain's Freckle Films and by Kinberg for his Kinberg Genre Films. The film is executive produced by Richard Hewitt (Bohemian Rhapsody), Esmond Ren (Chinese Zodiac) and Wang Rui Huan.His original series “Invasion” premiered on Apple TV+ on October 22nd. He co-created the show with David Weil, serves as Executive Producer, and wrote or co-wrote 9 of its first 10 episodes. It is considered one of Apple's most ambitious series to date as it was filmed on 4 different continents. The show has already been renewed for a second season, which Kinberg is show running and Executive Producing again. He is also the Executive Producer of the upcoming show “Moonfall” for Amazon. Also upcoming, Kinberg produced the sequel to "Murder on the Orient Express,” “Death on The Nile,” directed by Kenneth Branagh and starring Gal Gadot, Armie Hammer, Annette Bening and another all-star cast. Needless to say this is one heck of an episode. Enjoy my conversation with Simon Kinberg.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/indie-film-hustle-a-filmmaking-podcast--2664729/support.

This is a re-release of an episode that originally aired on October 31, 2023.Agatha Christie's work has long been a source of screen adaptations. In this week's episode, Brook and Sarah discuss some recent adaptations, and some they should check out with guest Teresa Peschel from Peschel Press. Teresa, along with her husband Bill, watched and reviewed 201 Agatha Christie adaptations for Agatha Christie, She Watched: One Woman's Plot to Watch 201 Agatha Christie Movies Without Murdering the Director, Screenwriter, Cast, or Her Husband.DiscussedMurder on the Orient Express (2017 film)Crooked House (2017 film)The Secret of Chimneys (1925) Agatha ChristieMiss Marple: The Secret of Chimneys (2010) ITVWhose Body (1923) Dorothy L. SayersClouds of Witness (1926) Dorothy L. SayersFather Brown (2013-2023) BBCPartners in Crime (1929) Agatha ChristiePeril at End House(1923) Agatha ChristieAnd Then There Were None (1939) Agatha ChristieThe Murder of Roger Ackroyd (1926) Agatha ChristieEndless Night (1967) Agatha ChristieMurder on the Orient Express (1934) Agatha ChristieHalloween Party (1969) Agatha ChristieA Haunting in Venice (2023 film)Murder on the Orient Express (2017 film)Death on the Nile (2022 film)Nemesis (1971) Agatha ChristiePoirot: Appointment with Death (2008)Appointment with Death (2021, Japan)Miss Marple: 4:50 From Paddington (2004)Murders, She Said (1961 film)Why Didn't They Ask Evans (1980 television adaptation)The Secret Adversary (1983 television adaptation)The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (2002, Russia)Agatha Christie's Hjerson (2021, Sweden)Ms. Ma, Nemesis (2018, Korea)More about TeresaAgatha Christie, She WatchedList of movie and TV reviewsForeign adaptations list (what Teresa and Bill have and what they're missing)Instagram @peschel_pressFor more informationInstagram: @cluedinmysteryContact us: hello@cluedinmystery.comMusic: Signs To Nowhere by Shane Ivers – www.silvermansound.comTranscript

In this episode, we sit down with Sophie Carmen-Jones to discuss her role in the Broadway production of Moulin Rouge! Please note that this episode may contain spoilers about the show. If you haven't seen the musical yet, you can catch Moulin Rouge! playing at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre.  Follow and connect with all things @HalfHourPodcast on Instagram, and YouTube. Share your thoughts with us on Moulin Rouge! on our podcast cover post. SOPHIE CARMEN-JONES (Nini). Broadway debut. West End: Nini in Moulin Rouge! (original cast), Francine in Jersey Boys, Viva Forever! (original cast), Wicked, We Will Rock You. UK Tour: Velma Kelly in Chicago. Television: “One Day” (Netflix), “Dark Money” (BBC), “Cleaning Up” (ITV), “White Gold” (BBC), “Unforgotten” (ITV). Film: The Little Mermaid, Death on the Nile, Cinderella, Rocketman, Cats, Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast. @sophiecarmenjones Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome back to The Literary Life podcast and our series on J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter: Book 1. After sharing some thoughts on detective fiction as it relates to Rowling, our hosts Angelina Stanford and Thomas Banks discuss chapters 8-12. Some of the ideas they share are the following: Homeric echos and classical allusions in this book, the identity quest, the significance of characters' names, the four houses and the bestiary, the three parts of the soul, the Christian influence on Rowling's stories. Angelina also seeks to teach something about symbolism and structure of literature and art as seen through the Harry Potter books. Visit HouseofHumaneLetters.com for updates on classes with Angelina, Thomas, and other members of their teaching team. Previous episodes mentioned in this podcast: The Importance of the Detective Novel (Episode 3/174) Series on Gaudy Night by Dorothy Sayers (Episodes 4-8) Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie (Episode 79) Commonplace Quotes: The wise man combines the pleasures of the senses and the pleasures of the spirit in such a way as to increase the satisfaction he gets from both. W. Somerset Maugham, from The Narrow Corner For it is through symbols that man finds his way out of his particular situation and “opens himself” to the general and the Universal. Symbols awaken individual experience and transmute it into a spiritual act, into metaphysical comprehension of the world. Mircea Eliade, from The Sacred and the Profane The Fairies By William Allingham Up the airy mountain, Down the rushy glen,We daren't go a-hunting For fear of little men;Wee folk, good folk, Trooping all together;Green jacket, red cap, And white owl's feather!Down along the rocky shore Some make their home,They live on crispy pancakes Of yellow tide-foam;Some in the reeds Of the black mountain lake,With frogs for their watch-dogs, All night awake.High on the hill-top The old King sits;He is now so old and gray He's nigh lost his wits.With a bridge of white mist Columbkill he crosses,On his stately journeys From Slieveleague to Rosses;Or going up with music On cold starry nightsTo sup with the Queen Of the gay Northern Lights.They stole little Bridget For seven years long;When she came down again Her friends were all gone.They took her lightly back, Between the night and morrow,They thought that she was fast asleep, But she was dead with sorrow.They have kept her ever since Deep within the lake,On a bed of flag-leaves, Watching till she wake.By the craggy hill-side, Through the mosses bare,They have planted thorn-trees For pleasure here and there.If any man so daring As dig them up in spite,He shall find their sharpest thorns In his bed at night.Up the airy mountain, Down the rushy glen,We daren't go a-hunting For fear of little men;Wee folk, good folk, Trooping all together;Green jacket, red cap, And white owl's feather! Book List: Cormoran Strike Series by Robert Galbraith Murder Must Advertise by Dorothy L. Sayers The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco Agatha Christie Margery Allingham Ngaio Marsh Fanny Burney Northrop Frye The Odyssey by Homer Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by J. K. Rowling The Book of Beasts trans. by T. H. White The Once and Future King by T. H. White Fabulous Tales and Mythical Beasts by Woody Allen Support The Literary Life: Become a patron of The Literary Life podcast as part of the “Friends and Fellows Community” on Patreon, and get some amazing bonus content! Thanks for your support! Connect with Us: You can find Angelina and Thomas at HouseofHumaneLetters.com, on Instagram @angelinastanford, and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/ANGStanford/ Follow The Literary Life on Instagram, and jump into our private Facebook group, The Literary Life Discussion Group, and let's get the book talk going! http://bit.ly/literarylifeFB

Send us a Text Message.How well do you know the world of Elden Ring? Brace yourself for a fun and challenging trivia segment where Mitch and Tom face off on some intricate details of the game.  You won't want to miss hearing about Mitch's surprisingly enjoyable punishment film "Dog City" and Tom's review of "Death on the Nile," featuring Kenneth Branagh's captivating performance as Hercule Poirot.Ever wondered about the practicality of the Wonder Twins' powers? We humorously critique the casting choices and debate their abilities, before diving into an exciting discussion about Kevin Hart and Woody Harrelson teaming up for "The Man from Toronto." We also delve into the shocking true story behind "The Dropout," starring Amanda Seyfried as Elizabeth Holmes. Learn how Holmes misled influential investors and used deceptive practices at Walgreens wellness stations, making the fall of Theranos a cautionary tale for all.From HBO's upcoming miniseries "We Own the City" to the latest updates in the gaming world, including potential new characters in Kingdom Hearts and a Godzilla event in Call of Duty, we cover it all. Get the lowdown on Halo Infinite's Season 2 updates, frustration with Cyberpunk 2077, and the buzz surrounding a possible Elden Ring expansion. Our thrilling trivia segment on Elden Ring will test your knowledge and keep you engaged. Tune in for an episode filled with entertaining discussions, insightful interviews, and plenty of laughs!The Gaming BlenderCould you design a video game?Listen on: Apple Podcasts SpotifySupport the Show.

We feel all the emotions of Inside Out 2 and observe The Watchers. Plus, we also talk Death on the Nile (1978), The Contestant, Suits and Under Paris. Follow the show on X: @thecinemaspeak Follow the show on Instagram: cinemaspeakpodcast Subscribe on Youtube: Cinema Speak Intro: 0:00 - 5:16 Review - Inside Out 2: 5:16 - 47:57 Review - The Watchers: 47:57 - 1:02:38 Movie Roulette - Death on the Nile: 1:02:38 - 1:15:10 Micro-Reviews - The Contestant, Suits, Under Paris: 1:15:10 - 1:31:01 This week in new releases/Outro: 1:31:01 - 1:36:28

Julia Balbilla is an accomplished poet and close friend of the wife of one of Rome's mightiest emperors. Hadrian loves to travel and takes Julia and an entourage of thousands on the ultimate elite tourist trip- a leisurely Nile cruise to the Great Pyramid of Giza and the Colossus of Memnon, a statue that will sing for anyone blessed by the gods. Julia inscribes her poems on the giant foot of the statue, praising the power of Hadrian and the beauty of his wife, Sabina. It's a charming scene, darkened only by the fact that Hadrian's male lover, Antinous has only just drowned in the Nile. Was he murdered by jealous rivals, killed in a lover's tiff or did he drunkenly slip from the deck? Hadrian is publicly bereft, founding a new city in the name of Antinous, but seems happy to continue his luxury cruise. Mary Beard hops aboard Ancient Rome's most intriguing cruise with historian T. Corey Brennan and archaeologist Elizabeth Fentress. Producer: Alasdair CrossExpert Contributors: Corey Brennan, Rutgers University and Lisa Fentress Cast: Julia Balbilla played by Juliana LiskSpecial thanks to Andrea Bruciati, Villa Adriana

Book Vs. Movie: Death on the Nile The1937 Novel Vs. the 1978 MovieFor “Mysteries in May,” the Margos start with the queen of the genre, Agatha Christie, and her 1937 novel Death on the Nile, which was adapted into a film in 1978. It features her famous detective, Hercule Poirot, and is set aboard a luxurious Nile steamer. The plot revolves around the Belgian detective embroiled in a murder mystery while on a luxurious cruise down the Nile River. The story begins with a group of wealthy passengers embarking on a steamer called the Karnak for a leisurely cruise in Egypt. Among them are Linnet Ridgeway, a wealthy heiress who recently married Simon Doyle, her former friend Jacqueline de Bellefort, and several other intriguing characters.As tensions simmer among the passengers, a murder occurs on board. Linnet Ridgeway is found shot dead in her cabin. Suspicion falls on Simon Doyle, as it is revealed that he was previously engaged to Jacqueline before breaking it off to marry Linnet. However, Simon claims innocence, and Hercule Poirot is called upon to investigate. Which did we (the Margos) prefer? Have a listen to find out.In this ep, the Margos discuss:The life of author Agatha Christie. The biggest differences between the book and the movie.The cast of the 1978  film includes Peter Ustinov (Hercule Poirot,) Lois Chiles (de Linnet,) Mia Farrow (Jacqueline del Bellefort,) Simon MacCorkindale (Simon Doyle,) David Niven (Colonel Race,) Bette Davis (Marie Van Schuyler,) Maggie Smith (Miss Bowers,) Angela Lansbury (Salome Otterbourne,) Olivia Hussey (Rosalie Otterbourne,) Jon Finch (James Ferguson,) Jack Warden (Dr. Ludwig Bessner,) Jane Birkin (Louise Bourget,) George Kennedy (Andrew Pennington,) and Sam Wanamaker as Rockford. Clips used:“Such a Briiliant Lack of Complication”Death on the Nile (1978 trailer)“Bette & Maggie” “Bette & Maggie 2”Mia FarrowPoirot deducesMusic by Nino RotaBook Vs. Movie is part of the Frolic Podcast Network. Find more podcasts you will love Frolic.Media/podcasts. Join our Patreon page “Book Vs. Movie podcast”You can find us on Facebook at Book Vs. Movie Podcast GroupFollow us on Twitter @bookversusmovieInstagram: Book Versus Movie https://www.instagram.com/bookversusmovie/Email us at bookversusmoviepodcast@gmail.com Margo D. Twitter @BrooklynMargo Margo D's Blog www.brooklynfitchick.com Margo D's Instagram “Brooklyn Fit Chick”Margo D's TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@margodonohuebrooklynfitchick@gmail.comYou can buy your copy of Filmed in Brooklyn here! Margo P. Twitter @ShesNachoMamaMargo P's Instagram https://www.instagram.com/shesnachomama/Margo P's Blog  https://coloniabook.weebly.com/ Our logo was designed by Madeleine Gainey/Studio 39 Marketing Follow on Instagram @Studio39Marketing & @musicalmadeleine 

Book Vs. Movie: Death on the Nile The1937 Novel Vs. the 1978 MovieFor “Mysteries in May,” the Margos start with the queen of the genre, Agatha Christie, and her 1937 novel Death on the Nile, which was adapted into a film in 1978. It features her famous detective, Hercule Poirot, and is set aboard a luxurious Nile steamer. The plot revolves around the Belgian detective embroiled in a murder mystery while on a luxurious cruise down the Nile River. The story begins with a group of wealthy passengers embarking on a steamer called the Karnak for a leisurely cruise in Egypt. Among them are Linnet Ridgeway, a wealthy heiress who recently married Simon Doyle, her former friend Jacqueline de Bellefort, and several other intriguing characters.As tensions simmer among the passengers, a murder occurs on board. Linnet Ridgeway is found shot dead in her cabin. Suspicion falls on Simon Doyle, as it is revealed that he was previously engaged to Jacqueline before breaking it off to marry Linnet. However, Simon claims innocence, and Hercule Poirot is called upon to investigate. Which did we (the Margos) prefer? Have a listen to find out.In this ep, the Margos discuss:The life of author Agatha Christie. The biggest differences between the book and the movie.The cast of the 1978  film includes Peter Ustinov (Hercule Poirot,) Lois Chiles (de Linnet,) Mia Farrow (Jacqueline del Bellefort,) Simon MacCorkindale (Simon Doyle,) David Niven (Colonel Race,) Bette Davis (Marie Van Schuyler,) Maggie Smith (Miss Bowers,) Angela Lansbury (Salome Otterbourne,) Olivia Hussey (Rosalie Otterbourne,) Jon Finch (James Ferguson,) Jack Warden (Dr. Ludwig Bessner,) Jane Birkin (Louise Bourget,) George Kennedy (Andrew Pennington,) and Sam Wanamaker as Rockford. Clips used:“Such a Briiliant Lack of Complication”Death on the Nile (1978 trailer)“Bette & Maggie” “Bette & Maggie 2”Mia FarrowPoirot deducesMusic by Nino RotaBook Vs. Movie is part of the Frolic Podcast Network. Find more podcasts you will love Frolic.Media/podcasts. Join our Patreon page “Book Vs. Movie podcast”You can find us on Facebook at Book Vs. Movie Podcast GroupFollow us on Twitter @bookversusmovieInstagram: Book Versus Movie https://www.instagram.com/bookversusmovie/Email us at bookversusmoviepodcast@gmail.com Margo D. Twitter @BrooklynMargo Margo D's Blog www.brooklynfitchick.com Margo D's Instagram “Brooklyn Fit Chick”Margo D's TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@margodonohuebrooklynfitchick@gmail.comYou can buy your copy of Filmed in Brooklyn here! Margo P. Twitter @ShesNachoMamaMargo P's Instagram https://www.instagram.com/shesnachomama/Margo P's Blog  https://coloniabook.weebly.com/ Our logo was designed by Madeleine Gainey/Studio 39 Marketing Follow on Instagram @Studio39Marketing & @musicalmadeleine 

DJ has been collecting pallets. Is it legal? Is it unsavory? Do we care? He tills us what he's up to building stuff out of pallets and then we discuss whether it matters if you look cool when you smoke, or drink, or ... well ... do harder stuff. Make sure you're watching on our new YouTube channel, @gravybabypod.  Gravy Baby has a Discord server! The community is growing and active. We also have Book Club and Film Club meetings every month. Join the Discord: https://discord.gg/5BdM9BUdmmBook and Film Club are combining this month to discuss Death on the Nile. Ready the book and/or watch the film, and we'll discuss both versions in the afternoon of January 21st   1 Pacific/2 Mountain/3 Central/4 Eastern

“I love antiheroes,” says screenwriter Amber Noizumi. “As a woman, this idea of the goody two shoes girl next door has always annoyed me. The girl who looks and acts perfect. I don't relate or find it interesting unless I'm rooting for her and against her at the same time.” “I'm more selfish about it,” added Michael Green. “Any character that has a degree of specificity that's so unique to them that you can put them in situations and know how they'll behave. It creates story.” In their current project, Blue Eye Samurai, which was just greenlit for Season 2, we see this anti-perfect, anti-goody two shoes, anti-hero in full color. The young warrior, Mizu (Maya Erskine) is driven by revenge against those who made her an outcast in Edo-period Japan.  But this certainly isn't the first character Michael Green has crafted from the anti-hero psyche. His mind-boggling credits include Logan, Alien: Covenant, Blade Runner 2049, Murder on the Orient Express, The Call of the Wild, American Gods, Death on the Nile, and A Haunting in Venice to name a few.  Want more? Steal my first book, Ink by the Barrel - Secrets From Prolific Writers right now for free. Simply head over to www.brockswinson.com to get your free digital download and audiobook. If you find value in the book, please share it with a friend as we're giving away 100,000 copies this year. It's based on over 400 interviews here at Creative Principles. If you enjoy the podcast, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts? It only takes about 60-seconds and it really helps convince some of the hard-to-get guests to sit down and have a chat (simply scroll to the bottom on your iTunes Podcast app and click “Write Review"). Enjoy the show!

It's getting spooky (and even a little sad) in the world of Branagh Poirot, but don't worry it's still cozy! Cozier than ever, perhaps. We've got Gillian Walters, Poirot fan and arbitress of all things cozy (which is the name of her podcast), here to help us tell you all about this mystery movie with as few spoilers as possible.What's Good Alonso - Historically Black PhrasesGillian - Morro Bay's seaweed-wrapped sea ottersDrea - Free COVID tests are backITIDICWGA and Studios Reach a Tentative DealAmazon is Pivoting to an Ad-Supported Model60% of Stop Making Sense's IMAX Opening Weekend was Under 35Staff PicksAlonso - Invisible BeautyGillian - You Are So Not Invited to My Bat MitzvahDrea - Juan of the DeadLeave a message for the Hotline!With:Drea ClarkAlonso DuraldeGillian WaltersIfy NwadiweProducer Marissa FlaxbartSr. Producer Laura Swisher

It's a murder mystery double feature! Ashley Coffin, Hayley Hobbs, and Bill Bria are here to enter Kenneth Branagh's Hercule Poirot as he takes a train in 2017's Murder on the Orient Express then hops on a boat for 2019's Death on the Nile. Catch them covering A Haunting in Venice on Bill and Ashley's Terror Theater next week!Check out all of our podcasts!https://www.strandedpanda.comThis show is part of the Spreaker Prime Network, if you are interested in advertising on this podcast, contact us at https://www.spreaker.com/show/4242999/advertisement

For this week's main podcast review, I am joined by Giovanni Lago & Brendan Hodges to discuss the latest film from Kenneth Branagh, his third Agatha Christie adaptation, "A Haunting In Venice" starring Branagh, Tina Fey, Michelle Yeoh, Jamie Dornan, Kelly Reilly, Camille Cotton, Jude Hill & Riccardo Scmarcio. With a gothic horror twist on the whodunnit genre, Branagh reprises his role as Hercule Poirot for a third time, but after the mixed to negative reactions to "Murder On The Orient Express" and "Death On The Nile," what did we think of this latest one from the Academy Award-winning filmmaker? Tune in as we discuss the themes, ensemble, visual aesthetics, and more in our SPOILER-FILLED review. Thank you, and enjoy! Check out more on NextBestPicture.com For more about Regal Unlimited - https://regmovies.onelink.me/4207629222/937isfrg New subscribers can use code REGALNBP23 for 10% off of Regal Unlimited for the first 3 months Please subscribe on... SoundCloud - https://soundcloud.com/nextbestpicturepodcast Apple Podcasts - https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/negs-best-film-podcast/id1087678387?mt=2 Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/7IMIzpYehTqeUa1d9EC4jT YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWA7KiotcWmHiYYy6wJqwOw And be sure to help support us on Patreon for as little as $1 a month at https://www.patreon.com/NextBestPicture