01/12/1976 AD died

Christie died peacefully on 12 January 1976 at age 85 from natural causes at her home at Winterbrook House.

When her death was announced, two West End theaters – the St. Martin's, where The Mousetrap was playing, and the Savoy, which was home to a revival of Murder at the Vicarage – dimmed their outside lights in her honour.

She was buried in the nearby churchyard of St Mary's, Cholsey, in a plot she had chosen with her husband 10 years before. The simple funeral service was attended by about 20 newspaper and TV reporters, some having traveled from as far away as South America. 30 wreaths adorned Christie's grave, including one from the cast of her long-running play The Mousetrap and one sent "on behalf of the multitude of grateful readers" by the Ulverscroft Large Print Book Publishers.

Christie was unhappy about becoming "an employed wage slave",  and for tax reasons set up a private company in 1955, Agatha Christie Limited, to hold the rights to her works.

In about 1959 she transferred her 278-acre home, Greenway Estate, to her daughter, Rosalind Hicks.

In 1968, when Christie was almost 80, she sold a 51% stake in Agatha Christie Limited (and the works it owned) to Booker Books (better known as Booker Author's Division), which by 1977 had increased its stake to 64%.

Agatha Christie Limited still owns the worldwide rights for more than 80 of Christie's novels and short stories, 19 plays, and nearly 40 TV films.

Wallingford, England

Lattitude: 51.5989° N
Longitude: 1.125° W
Region: Europe

Modern Day United Kingdom

Events in 1976 MORE