An archaeologist is the best husband any woman can have; the older she gets, the more interested he is in her.
This quotation is widely attributed to mystery writer Agatha Christie, whose second husband was archaeologist Max Mallowan. Throughout their marriage, Christie spent much time with Mallowan's excavations at Ur, Nineveh, Tell Brak and other sites in Syria and Iraq. Several of Christie's popular mysteries have references to this sidelight of her life, including Murder on the Orient Express, Death on the Nile, Murder in Mesopotamia and Appointment with Death. She wrote a book about her adventures with Mallowan called Come Tell Me How You Live, which starts off with a reworked poem of Lewis Carroll's called 'A-Sitting on a Tell' that begins:
I'll tell you everything I can
If you will listen well:
I met an erudite young man
A-sitting on a Tell.
But did she say that famous quote? Well, not quite. Max Mallowan said it, to a reporter in 1954, claiming that Agatha had said it, a point she vigorously denied whenever she had the chance.
Must have been a fun marriage.
This quotation is widely attributed to mystery writer Agatha Christie, whose second husband was archaeologist Max Mallowan. Throughout their marriage, Christie spent much time with Mallowan's excavations at Ur, Nineveh, Tell Brak and other sites in Syria and Iraq. Several of Christie's popular mysteries have references to this sidelight of her life, including Murder on the Orient Express, Death on the Nile, Murder in Mesopotamia and Appointment with Death. She wrote a book about her adventures with Mallowan called Come Tell Me How You Live, which starts off with a reworked poem of Lewis Carroll's called 'A-Sitting on a Tell' that begins:
I'll tell you everything I can
If you will listen well:
I met an erudite young man
A-sitting on a Tell.
But did she say that famous quote? Well, not quite. Max Mallowan said it, to a reporter in 1954, claiming that Agatha had said it, a point she vigorously denied whenever she had the chance.
Must have been a fun marriage.
- More Archaeological Quotations
- Max Mallowan
- Agatha Christie at About
- Agatha Christie and Archaeology, from the British Museum
- Come Tell Me How You Live, by Agatha Christie Mallowan
Comments
Wrong!! “Come Tell Me How You Live” by Agatha Christie Mallowan starts with 10 verses, mostly 8 lines each, entitled “A-Sitting on a Tell” (with apologies to Lewis Carroll)
isbn 0553350498 Published Nov 1985 by Bantam copyright by author 1946 188 pg hc
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Come,_Tell_Me_How_You_Live