It was on this day in 1890 that famous crime novelist and playwright Agatha Christie was born. Listed as the best-selling novelist of all time in the Guiness Book of World Records, Christie has sold roughly 2 billion copies of her novels to date.

Born in Torquay, Devon Agatha Christie was home-schooled in her early years and taught herself how to read and write.

It was in her mid-twenties that Christie’s writing would start in earnest and she started to pen her now world-renowned detective stories with her debut; The Mysterious Affair at Styles.

Getting published was not an easy task for Agatha and she sent her work to a number of publishing houses before it was accepted by John Lane of The Bodley Head. She was then contracted to produce five more books.

It is believed that Christie sought inspiration for her most-famous character Hercule Poirot from the numerous Belgian refugees who were residing in the United Kingdom at the time. She then went on to create additional well-known characters Tommy and Tuppence and Miss Marple as well as changing to a new publishers, William Collins (now Harper Collins).

In the late 1920’s and early 1930’s Christie fulfilled her lifelong dream of travelling on board the Orient Express. It was whilst she was at an archaeological dig in Ur that she met her second husband, Max Mallowan. From here on, Christie penned two or three books a year. Her life and experiences in the Middle East had a strong influence on her writing during this time and is evident in some of her titles including Murder on the Orient Express and Death on the Nile.

It was during the Second World War years that Agatha became more productive, without the entertainment and distractions caused by the conflict she published such classics as Then There Were None and Five Little Pigs.