Monthly Archives: December 2017

1930s, Agatha Christie, Alfred Hitchcock, Books

Poirot the Traveller


Hercule Poirot (David Suchet) consults his travel guide book in Death on the Nile from the famed series Agatha Christie's Poirot. The guide book was published in  1907  The Nile. Notes for Travellers in Egypt . The author E. A. Wallis Budge (27 July 1857 – 23 November 1934) was an English Egyptologist, Orientalist, and philologist who worked for the British Museum and published numerous works on the ancient Near East. He made numerous expeditions to Egypt and the Sudan on behalf of the British Museum to buy antiquities, and helped it build its collection of cuneiform tablets, manuscripts, and papyri. He published many books on Egyptology, helping to bring the findings to larger audiences. He was knighted in 1920 for his service to Egyptology and the British Museum.

The Nile. Notes for Travellers in Egypt - Ernest Alfred Thompson Wallis Budge

Find it on eBay

Reference:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E._A._Wallis_Budge

1930s, Agatha Christie, Hercule Poirot

Poirot in the Kitchen: Jubilee Egg Cup

Hercule Poirot in the kitchen
Poirot washes his King George V & Queen Mary silver jubilee egg cup

Hercule Poirot can be seen in the kitchen of his flat in the screen capture from the ITV series Agatha Christie's Poirot. He is busy washing dishes, no doubt applying order and method. The egg cup in question is a King George V & Queen Mary silver jubilee Porcelain Egg cup that dates to 1935.

Seen on eBay: King George V & Queen Mary silver jubilee porcelain Egg cup - Click picture to go the the eBay listing

1930s, Agatha Christie, Hercule Poirot

A gift for Miss Lemon

Poirot reveals a gift from his trip to Egypt

In the episode The Adventure of the Egyptian Tomb, Poirot (David Suchet) presents Miss Lemon (Pauline Moran) with a statue of the goddess Bastet on his return from his trip to the Valley of the Kings. Miss Lemon was mourning the loss of her cat "Catherine the Grate" and Poirots gift was much appreciated.

Poirot tells the story of the cat from the Egytian Tomb
Miss Lemon is delighted with her gift

  An original statue of Bastet was presented to the British Museum in 1939.

Bastet Egyptian Cat Statue Gayer-Anderson Museum Replica

Reference:

1920s, 1930s, Art, Art Deco, Hercule Poirot, Props

Reworked Portraits by Tamara de Lempicka on Agatha Christie’s Poirot

Agatha Christie's Poirot: The Underdog with portrait adapted from a work by artist Tamara De Lempicka 1928

In Agatha Christie's Poirot, The Underdog, a portrait painted by the artist Tamara de Lempicka in 1928 has been copied and the face altered to resemble the actor who plays the character Reuben Astwell. Tamara de Lempicka was a famous female artist of the Art Deco era and her works typify the style of the period.

The original: Portrait of Dr Boucard (1928) by Tamara de Lempicka

Another example is a portrait from the episode One, Two, Buckle my Shoe that borrowed heavily from two different painting by Tamara de Lempicka.

The boardroom scene in one,Two Buckle my Shoe features a portrait of a couple which was based on two separate portraits by by Tamara de Lempicka as seen below.

Portrait of Mrs Boucard by Tamara de Lempicka

Reference:

  1. http://www.delempicka.org/artwork/1927-1929.html
  2. Tamara de Lempicka prints on Amazon.co.uk
      http://amzn.to/2BBBxcx