Bittersweet Infamy - #80 - The Mysterious Affair at Harrogate

Episode Date: September 10, 2023

Josie tells Taylor about the infamous 1926 disappearance of mystery icon Agatha Christie. Plus: the shocking lost Sesame Street episode that traumatized child audiences, "Snuffy's Parents Get a Divorc...e."

Transcript
Discussion (0)
Starting point is 00:00:00 I'm doing my PhD and I haven't read a single research paper. And believe it or not, I'm at the top of my class. And it's all thanks to listening.io. Listening.io lets you turn any academic paper or PDF into an audiobook. It can pronounce difficult technical words, read math equations, and even knows to skip the citations and footnotes. If you go to listening.io slash podcast, you'll be able to get your first two weeks for free. Go to Listening.io this podcast, we share
Starting point is 00:00:58 the stories that live on and in the... The strange and the familiar? The tragic and the comic? The bitter and the Familiar, the tragic, the comic, the bitter and the sweet. How are you so we just finished our bittersweet 604 block celebrating British Columbia? I'm sure we'll be back there eventually and I'm even sitting there right now. In terms of our podcast, we're back to just blow out in the world, we're back to be in once every two weeks, although we're already discussing other ways that we can come
Starting point is 00:01:31 to you more often. Stay tuned for that, not immediately, just in a little while. And new things, any new developments, Josie, in your life, since we parted ways and you went back to Houston, I believe is pretty nice to uh, Houston, I believe it's pronounced. Yes, Houston. Uh, I started a new job. So that's a new J-erb. A new JEEEEP. How's that going for you?
Starting point is 00:01:53 Uh, it's good. I've entered the phase of my life where I have a day job. Uh, this is a new phase in my life. Yeah. And in some ways it's horrendous. Uh, I really don't like it. Another's it's pretty okay. Yeah no that's that's kind of it. There's a predictability. Good structure. Good. The thing that happens to your brain when you get off the clock and it just like collapses into goo like that senator they put through the MRI and X-Men. Yeah. Yeah. How about you? How are you? I haven't asked you. How are you Taylor? Oh, did I tell you I'm on PlayStation 5 now? No.
Starting point is 00:02:32 Very fun. So I had some best-by-gift cards. I'm not a scammer. I just had them. And I got to pay for most of a PS5 with those and then birthday money did the rest. And I- Yeah, you've had a life momentous occasion since we last recorded. That's true, yeah, yeah, happy birthday to me. Well, because we filmed, so we taped all of these bittersweet 604 episodes. We taped them in a space of about two weeks back in July and now it's the last day of August when we're sitting here chatting. Bye, August. You've done us well.
Starting point is 00:03:09 Good boggest. The, um, sort of what was I just talking about? I had to come up with good boggest. Your birthday, your PS5. My birthday. My PS5. So yeah, I decided to get myself a PS5 and now all I do is play. I got it for the new Mortal Kombat which is coming out soon but for get myself a PS5 and now all I do is play I got it for the new mortal combat Which is coming out soon, but for now the PS5 is backwards compatible So I'm playing all the PS4 games. I want to play the PS3 games lately I've been playing red dead redemption, which is like cowboy GTA Beautiful. Yeah, you can shoot any horse you want. It's fucking sick Whoa, dude, you all of you out there who fantasize about shooting any horse that you see and I know
Starting point is 00:03:45 that you're out there. You sick fucks. Get rid of redemption too, it's not bad. This is a metaphor for like doing heroin. Is that what you're talking about? Um, no. Oh, Jesus Christ. No.
Starting point is 00:03:56 It's like a cowboy GTA. It's you go around, you do yeehaw things, you're an outlaw, you have different tasks, you're chucking down, you have different tasks, you're chocking down bounties, I really like the Grand Theft Auto gameplay loop. It's very satisfyingly violent and now instead of just like killing whoever you want and stealing their car, you kill whoever you want and you steal their horse. Or shoot it. No matter what you want. Or sometimes the horse is a witness baby. No witnesses. Yeah. That's very right. I really, what's it called? My WhatsApp group really didn't like when I told them how much I shoot the horses. They thought me something of a villain. Thankfully Josie didn't judge me the same way. I'm a, I'm a Paul, but uh but uh no she's she's pretty down with that she looks like she's got she's got a big smile and
Starting point is 00:04:48 A little bit of horse blood on her shirt Josie's uh Josie got a job for sure her job that she was talking about before is it the glue factory? That's that's the day job yet Yeah, I don't think about sending those emails when I'm off the clock, it's true. No, God no. Should those emails let's say shoot that horse, you just leaves them in drafts. In addition to all of the above,
Starting point is 00:05:14 we're gonna whisper something sweet in your ear, and that is this. Let's go. Please, if you enjoyed the work that we put into Bittersweet 6.04, or if you enjoy the work that we put into Bittersweet604, or if you enjoy the work that we do generally, or if you're just enjoying the way that we're speaking to you right now,
Starting point is 00:05:30 consider telling a friend. Consider posting about us on social media. You see someone out there being like, damn, I need some recommendations of like, I don't know, and articulate gay, stoner, and his kooky lady friend who is good with words and whatever. of like, I don't know, and articulate gay stoner and, uh, his kooky lady friend who is good with words and whatever. Pointing, if you like the podcast, please consider rating us five stars on either Apple podcasts or Spotify. Leave us a review full of nice text of the stuff that you like
Starting point is 00:05:57 about the show. Tell your friend on Instagram on Twitter slash acts on Reddit on you to just let the people know. On the block. About better Sweden for me. Tell the blogs, tell TMZ. Next door. Get on next door. Get on next door.
Starting point is 00:06:12 Let the people know. Get on next door. Get on radar online. Get on porn hub. Get on grinder and just tell the world. Please and thank you. Thanks. And if you don't, that's fine too.
Starting point is 00:06:23 Yeah, nothing will change. One thing that I do actually want to specify is if you are listening to our show and for whatever reason It glitches out it repeats a segment that you've already heard Yeah, see she knows what I'm talking about because the springboard is I think I read a review to this effect of oh It's really good, but like that if they just need to edit it better because they repeat segments It seems like lately for whatever reason Not just our podcast, but also a few others are Doing that thing where like it'll double back or repeat itself or seem to end abruptly if you find that that happens
Starting point is 00:07:00 Please email us and let us know so better sweet and for me a gmail.com Hit us up on Instagram. We're better sweet and for me there please email us and let us know. So, bittersweetinformeaggmail.com. Hit us up on Instagram, we're bittersweetinforme there. Let us know so that we can try to fix that. But if also if that happens to you, switch your, try switching to another podcast provider, like if you're on Apple Podcasts, go to Spotify and see if it works.
Starting point is 00:07:18 Poy being, if that happens to you, let us know because that's not supposed to be happening and we will get to the bottom of it. We'll solve it. We're pretty good at solving things. Detectives. Since we have been taping in a big batch all in in July, we've missed about a month of updates. Sad update. She had a Sadakad aka Shenado Connor passed away. So sad. Very sad. Very sad. We covered her story back in January in episode six. Covered it expertly. It's a really good episode. You want to know more. I appreciate it. Yeah. Yeah. Go to episode 62, fight the real enemy. And while I appreciate that compliment,
Starting point is 00:08:01 I was using as my primary source, Shnade O'Connor's autobiography, Remembrings, which I can't really recommend enough. I thought it was one of the, maybe the best celebrity autobiography I've ever read. Really good, really thoughtful, written as lyrically and beautifully as you would expect, and as self-effacingly and as funnily and as... Yeah, just a really good resource written by the woman herself.
Starting point is 00:08:31 We're really, really sad, aren't we? That's an episode that you can go back to that unfortunately now has a little bit of a sad ending in retrospect. An episode that you can go back to with a little bit of a happier thought is episode 39, which is now in the first half of the episodes that we've done. Oh my gosh! Caster Semenia, I think it's a mixed blessing because I don't know if she's won the right to compete yet. Oh right. But Caster Semenia won her discrimination case against the European Court of Human Rights. Yeah, so Caster Semania is a female runner who was tested without her consent or knowledge for intersex traits and they have since used arbitrary medical discrimination to ban her
Starting point is 00:09:21 and others like her from running in her. I think it's the the 800 meter. Is her preferred event. Now the European Court of Human Rights has ruled that that is a violation of her rights. However, it seems like there's still more to go in terms of overturning the ban entirely. Right. Yeah. And that was something that you discussed in episode 39 was how the parameters that they set kept kind of changing or getting more specific based on pseudoccience, it wasn't all that above board. Exactly, it wasn't above board, and not only would the parameters change, but also it seems to be the case that frequently athletes would be tested for whatever intersex trait in a way that was disguised as another test,
Starting point is 00:10:07 or even if it was presented, front that their results would then be leaked without their consent. So a lot of kind of bummer shit in that story. Yeah. But happily a victory in a very important court for Caster. Yeah. Yeah, and a very important court for for humans. Yeah, in general. Human rights, they call it. Not those horses. Not those horses. He does gonna get after us, dude.
Starting point is 00:10:33 After you, why am I holding this? This is not my bag. This is yours. Josie's note, she's a bad easy verbal contract. Not my monkey. Not my horses. A verbal contract. Not my monkey. Not my horse. Not my I should say that I got that from my new coworker and the indoor tease. I Got that you know who used to say not my circus not my monkeys all the time your mom Kevin your mom. Oh, fuck you. Kevin Dale. Kevin Dale McHughun who I used to work with at the Alliance who was from the Ted North. Oh yeah yeah yeah. Oh I know Kevin. That was his line. So well that's the thing I guess that like probably non-profit workers just have like four lines that we're like NPCs you know you're saying the same the same Mondays am I right you know
Starting point is 00:11:22 there's a lot of water cooler yeah totally yeah hump day? Yeah. There's a lot of water cooler, yeah, totally. Yeah. Hump Day, am I right? It's a lot of that. Thursday's just little Friday, am I right? Tuesday's the worst, am I right? Yeah. A lot of it, am I right?
Starting point is 00:11:36 Yeah, it's true. Yeah, well, and frequently I am, so there you go. What's the Memphis today, Taylor? It's funny you should ask. It's funny you go. What's the Memphis today, Taylor? It's funny you should ask. It's funny you ask. We're looking today at a lost medium infamous. Okay. An episode of Sesame Street.
Starting point is 00:11:58 Oh. Long running PBS kid show that uses Jim Henson's Muppets to deliver lessons about literacy, language, math, morals, and just playing good citizenship to a preschool-aged audience. And you look like you had something to spout off on there, yeah. Yeah, and those dirty New York streets, baby. Do they live in New York? Is that I guess so? Yeah, they do.
Starting point is 00:12:22 I think that's it. Like they look in. That's the vibe. It looks like it looks like Elbario a bit, you know Just yeah, yeah a little bit Brooklyn-esque. Yeah, I know Sesame Street. Love it. I also love public broadcasting PBS who among us absolutely among us. Yeah, well Mitt Romney. I Do you have a favorite Muppet from Sesame Street? Are they called muppets? Are they still called muppets? These are, so yes, they're muppets with a day job.
Starting point is 00:12:50 Okay. So like Sesame Street works the day shift, muppets after dark works the night shift. So your curmets, your mispiggy. Okay, yeah. You know what I'm talking about, right? Well, I guess curmets kind of does both. Oh, yeah.
Starting point is 00:13:01 You know what I mean? Yeah, okay, yeah, I was like, I date two shifts, mispiggy likes expensive shit. Yeah. okay. Yeah, I was good. I take two shifts Miss Piggy likes expensive shit She's fucking crazy. She does so much blood. I Think that's my favorite muffin is Taylor's rendition Miss Piggy had me remorgaged the house. I'm not comfortable with that. My parents taught me to be fiscally responsible, but she likes expensive things. Cool. Yeah, that's like... So over the years, Sesame Street specifically has developed a
Starting point is 00:13:36 pretty good reputation for how it delivers complicated lessons about life and society to young children. Some very good lessons, yeah. For example, Sesame Street started in 1969, will Lee, one of the original actors who was on there till 1982 passed away. Sesame Street producers decided that will Lee's character, human store owner, Mr. Hooper, that is a store owner who is a human, not somebody who owns a human store.
Starting point is 00:13:59 He decided that he should pass away as well. Episode number 1139, which taught children via Muppet Character Big Bird about the concept of death, is renowned for being a moving and thoughtful tribute to its subject, and a well-written piece of children's educational content. He's so sweet-y. Sort of echoes in the halls of tastefully done departure, episode tribute episode episode. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:14:26 episode because it doesn't feel like killing him off. It feels like... saying goodbye. Yeah, saying goodbye and incorporating his passing like really organically into the show in the lives of the characters. Very well regarded. The episode was written by a long-time Sesame Street head writer Norman Styles with the input of many child education and psychology experts. It was received well by test audiences of children as well as their parents, many of whom reported it as an effective springboard for healthy, positive discussions about the idea of death with their texts.
Starting point is 00:14:56 No, nobody gets it right all the time. And you seem concerned, when writer Norman Stiles would take the pen up again to deal with another sticky issue. The outcome would be much different. Josie? Yeah. This is the story of an episode of Sesame Street that was so confusing, upsetting, and disturbing to its test audience of three to four-year-old children that it was withheld from the airwaves at the discretion of producers
Starting point is 00:15:25 and remains under tight protection even to this day. Whoa. This is the story of the Lost Sesame Street episode, Snuffy's parents get a divorce. Snuffy the big elephant, like the big present. Yeah, yeah, yeah, his parents big bird egg. Yeah, yeah. Yes, parents can't work through their issues. Yeah, I get it. I mean, sometimes, yeah, you can't wait for the kids to go
Starting point is 00:15:51 after college. Oh, no, those kids were young. Those kids were young. This episode really fucked up those kids. Oh. Here's why. Okay, have you seen the episode, though? No, it's lost, baby. Okay, it's under that tight of lock-in. It's why. Okay, have you seen the episode though? No, it's lost, baby.
Starting point is 00:16:06 Okay, it's under that tight of lock-ins. It's lost. So I'm gonna tell you about an organization that called Children's Television Workshop at the time of the story. It's now called Sesame Workshop. They're the nonprofit that owns the Sesame Street IP. I don't know if they own the Sesame Street IP,
Starting point is 00:16:25 but they produce like, put it to this way. I'm sure before whatever multinational conglomeration of whatever owns them now, bought them, they own Sesame Street. Okay, okay. They were the ones who could tell you how to get to Sesame Street. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:16:39 This is a brief bit of background to elucidate how the Sesame Sausages made. Okay. Ever since it premiered in 1969, hey, hey, nice, sesame street has been produced by a nonprofit organization, which was again, at the time called Children's Television Workshop CTW, but to put it very briefly, CTW through Sesame Street attempts to deliver cognitive and emotional education to kids.
Starting point is 00:17:01 As such, their approach to the lessons they deliver and how they deliver them. Based on my understanding and my perception as someone who was introduced to it in the context of this story tends to be pretty robust and well researched. They consult people. They do a lot of consulting. There's a board, a lot of cooks in the kitchen. Okay, yeah. Part of delivering topical education to children is figuring out what issues are important in their lives. Yeah. In 1990, according to Salam Al-Alahten, executive producer Delce Singar vetoed the idea
Starting point is 00:17:38 of doing an episode based on divorce before it reached development because quoting Wikipedia, whose article about this episode has the little green plus sign in the corner, which means, you know, it's good. It's good. Quoting Wikipedia, Delce Singer, felt the issue was irrelevant to inner city and financially disadvantaged families, which was the show's target audience. She said that divorce is a middle class thing and suggested in said that an episode
Starting point is 00:18:05 focused on a single parent family with a child born out of weblock with an absent father. Okay, okay. So Delcee singers like no, in the inner city does just leave for a pack of smokes and never come back. Yeah. Divorce is for fancy people, which I don't know how helpful a stereotype.
Starting point is 00:18:22 Yeah, that feels a little old. For somebody in this position. Yeah. that feels a little for somebody in this position. Yeah, but it was 1990 we just got out of Reagan and we're still in Bush. Give her some time. Okay, yeah, that's troubling. No, I'm there with you troubling. But when the US Census Bureau projected rates of 40% of American children experiencing divorce within the near future, the decision was made. Oscar the Grouch can look forward to a lot of gently used men shirts being dumped in his trash can home because someone hitched was getting split. Rather than opting to
Starting point is 00:18:54 shatter any of the existing couples, the decision was made to split the parents of adorable mammoth weirdo snuffle upagus guess. Aluicious snuffle up a guess is his Christian. Aluicious. He goes by his last name. He's one of the, he went to college and he was like, no, I'm like, they call me snuffy bro. Yeah. He's sick of being aluicious.
Starting point is 00:19:14 He's, he re-rolled the dice. Yeah, yeah. He's snuffy. It's a pretty himbo move. Mm-hmm. Duffie's a bit of a himbo. It's interesting that you say that because my perception is, okay, can I tell you the truth. This is a, you've unlocked some deep-tailor lore because if we were talking about snuff
Starting point is 00:19:29 a lot, I guess I would never talk to you about this. Oh, okay. But when I dissected an eyeball in 9th or 10th, I want to say bionine, but it might have been biotown. I was sitting with Gramic person who I didn't know particularly well veteran now, but I never had any beef with veteran now. And we were partners on Cut and the Sia part and I looked down and it was a sheep's eye and it still had the eyelash attached. So just like snuff a lot of guss and I was out. I was like, no, that snuff, that snuffie bro I can't do this. I went to the bathroom and dry, he'd event and I just like, Graham take it. Oh man, Graham! Thank you Grahameyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyey She out, good one. They're all like that. There are a lot of deas for divorce. Yeah. In my sources, says Michael Davis, it's interesting that they chose to have Snuffie's
Starting point is 00:20:29 parents get divorced because that character, he's a little bit of a downer. He's got a little ear about him. Right, okay, okay, yeah. By the time that I was watching Sesame Street as a child, this aspect of Snuffelupagus's backstory was kind of being downplayed. But do you know the history of the character Snuffupigus and how he was introduced to the show? No, I do not. Okay, so this is actually quite an important and iconic part of this character,
Starting point is 00:20:54 and it was something that they ended up changing in response to a social issue as well. Snuffleupigus was originally introduced as Big Bird's imaginary friend. Oh! It's like's imaginary friend. Oh. It's like the 1970s. Yeah. And Big Bird's like water in his flowers, and Snuffleup, it gets shows up to help him water his flowers with his big elephant snow.
Starting point is 00:21:13 Yeah. And their best buds, like right away, they get on like, who can tango and cash, right? That's, that's how I got really, okay. Sure. I'm surprised, I'm as surprised as you are that that was in the hopper. Anyway. The gimmick that Snuffy had for like about at least a decade, probably more, was that he
Starting point is 00:21:32 was Big Bird's friend who only ever seemed to be around when just Big Bird was there. And the second any adults would come by, there would always, Snuffy would get so excited that he would be like, oh, I need to go comb my hair and you'd go run off. And then of course, the adults come and Big Bird would be like, no, I promised snuff he was right here and they'd be like, big bird, you done bit. Not you, they wouldn't call it done bit, you're a sesame seed. But they would be like, big bird, mama seeda, kipasa ki. That was the stick around snuffphalopagus was that he might be imaginary, maybe not. There are different, it kind of depends how you interpret it. This is a quote from Martin P. Robinson, who's the puppeteer who does, who's in the Sinephese suit,
Starting point is 00:22:16 which is apparently very warm and fuzzy to which I say, yeah. Shots are dark. That's what I expected. Martin P. Robinson said in 2009 on Still Gaming, the Leons-Each-O-Pon-Cast, about Snuffy, quote, he was never imaginary. I say that a lot, and I say it with great strength of conviction.
Starting point is 00:22:34 He was my character, he was never imaginary. He just had bad time in. Been there, yeah. Yeah, who on us? Ships in the Night Viv, it happens. So basically in the 1980s, there was a lot of reporting around child sexual abuse and daycare. And it was decided that this joke of like Big Bird having this imaginary friend and never being
Starting point is 00:23:02 believed by the grownups had kind of run its course and maybe sent a little bit of a bad message that like even if kids are telling the truth to grown-ups they won't necessarily believe them. So the first thing they did is for like a season they were like why don't we start to have some of the grown-ups talk to Big Bird and say if you say that you're telling me the truth about Snuffleupagus, I believe you. And so the grownups, about half the grownups believing him and half not, and then in the end, Snuffleupagus appears.
Starting point is 00:23:32 Everyone's stoked, happy. All the grownups are like, damn, Big Bird, we apologize that we didn't believe you all this time. Look at his eyelashes. You're all long gorgeous. You don't wanna dissect those babies, leave them right in the sockets, then everyone's happy again. That's the history of Snuffy. So he's sort of this interesting character who like a lot of care has already been taken in
Starting point is 00:23:52 the past to hand. And again, it's very symptomatic of the care that Sesame Street seems to take with everything. And in this case, you'll see that they take that same amount of care. They just kind of wh with it. They just kind of get it wrong. You can't get them all right. The script for episode 29, 85, is handled by Norman Styles, who we already know can deliver, because he did the Mr. Hooper die app. And this CTW, as always, workshops it extensively with their early childhood development consultant, Army. Yeah. The initial draft is film. The powers that be, look at over they say, it needs to be clearer that not all arguments
Starting point is 00:24:30 between parents lead to divorce. Amen. Film some pickups that make that clear and send it off to the focus groups. The focus group, which was about 60 pre-school age kids who watched this all in a big room together, were beside themselves with despair. No.
Starting point is 00:24:50 It is if you will pardon the pun, a snuff film. Oh, aye! Please, Snuffie. Okay, but no one dies, right? I think some childhoods died by a day. According to Rosemary Trudelyleon G is growing, quote, children were unclear on where Snuffie's parents lived, especially the father, and believed that the daddy
Starting point is 00:25:14 snuffle character, quote, ran away, and Snuffie and Alice would never see their father again. In one scene, Snuffie's little sister Alice hears her parents arguing through the cave wall. They live in a cave because they're Snuffy's. And freaks out and beats up her teddy bear. Time for a little tantrum. Quoting Delcee Singer, the kids came away with negative messages.
Starting point is 00:25:36 The kids said she stabbed the teddy bear with a knife. The kids misunderstood arguments. They said arguments did mean divorce. Some thought Snuffy's parents were moving away, even though we said just the opposite. A number said the parents would no longer be in love with them. Oh my God, oh my God, everything that would like, we did not want to hear come out of a small child.
Starting point is 00:25:59 These kids have never been the same. They've lived unfulfilled lives. Their marriages have not been good. Do you know that? You don't know that. Do you want to see a clip? I assume, and anyone with sense would assume, but no, I have no, no, nothing to back that up.
Starting point is 00:26:17 No evidence at all to be clear. And yes, I would like to see a clip. OK, perfect. OK. So the scene begins with daddy Snuffle dropping off Snuffle up against and his little sister Alice at home at their cave Following a day that they've spent together No Alice, I don't live here anymore Do you remember?
Starting point is 00:26:46 Come on there I don't live here anymore. Remember? No, no. Well, we can see you again, Daddy. Well, let's see, um, next weekend? Next weekend? No, I want to see you before next weekend. Before! Before? Before? Before? Before? Yeah, before! No! before next weekend before before before before before before before before before before before before before before before before before before before before before before before before before before before before before before before before before before before before before before before before before before before before before before before before before before before before before before before before before before before before before before before before before before before before before before before before before before before before before before before before before before before before before before before before before before before before before before before before before before before before before before before before before before before before before before before before before before before before before before before before before before before before before before before before before before before before before before before before before before before before before before before before before before before way. Okay daddy. Well, I gotta go now. Bye daddy.
Starting point is 00:27:38 Bye daddy. Bye bye. Bye bye. Bye daddy. Bye, Daddy! Bye, bye! Bye! Bye, bye! Bye, Daddy! Bye! Okay, kids. Come on inside! No, no, Mommy! I want to go to Daddy's house tonight.
Starting point is 00:28:03 Oh! Daddy has a baby! No! Sorry! Not tonight! I want to go to daddy's house tonight. Oh. Daddy's house. No. Daddy's house. Sorry. Not tonight. Well, why not? Well, because tonight's not one of the nights your dad and I freak you to stay at his house.
Starting point is 00:28:17 Daddy's house. No. Oh. Daddy's house. Oh, stop it. Look. I'm sorry. I know the divorce is hard for you, and you feel angrily about all the changes, and sometimes even at me. Yeah. Yeah. And sometimes you feel sad. Oh yeah. Oh yeah.
Starting point is 00:28:48 Yes, and sometimes confused or scared or worried. Yeah. Kids, I'm really sorry it has to be this way for you. But I'll try life's best to make it as good as I can. Okay? Oh, I'm in the hole. No. Ow.
Starting point is 00:29:13 Let's go inside. I'll make you cabbage and spaghetti casserole. Cabbage and spaghetti casserole. Yes. Okay, it's done. It's done. It's done. Oh, what the fucking fuck? It's a lot. Okay, couple one. Alice, the sister, going, daddy, daddy.
Starting point is 00:29:42 It's just too much. It's too breathy. There's a lot of repetition of daddy. The whole script doesn't feel very committed to an idea, it's very like improv, but like don't make it funny, make it sad, and it just doesn't seem to land. improv, improv, don't make it funny, make it sad. Can we have some miserable improv? Please, and thank you. Dude, I get that. Yeah, you had a few things. He said you had to learn.
Starting point is 00:30:11 Those parents, that script, they're not explaining what is happening to these kids. What's so ever? They are not focusing on positive things that could come from this? That might be happy. That might happen in other scenes. To play El Mose advocate, we only have one three-minute scene here. Fair, fair, fair. But I don't know. Sesame Street preschool age viewership. Do you really want the highs and lows? No, you want a nice like medium to high. That's it. Like, stay out of the lows. I don't know. What do you think distinguishes this effort
Starting point is 00:30:46 from something like the Mr. Hooper episode, which is very much focused on the lows. Somebody's dying, and they're quite sad, that they've passed away. And that's part of what Sesame Street is here for us to explain some of those lows. I was asking, what do you think distinguishes this from like a Mr. Hooper?
Starting point is 00:31:02 I think like a story about death with kids, it's a mystery to adults as much as it is to children. Death is, and so there's this sense of like, we don't understand either, and it is scary, and it's okay. We all reckon with how scary this is, but this divorce one, it seems to be snuffies parents Keep saying like this is what your mom and I decided and this is like you're not gonna spend the night with your dad
Starting point is 00:31:34 You're gonna I know you're gonna be angry with me But they don't really see they seemed bummed by it They seem really bummed by being divorced and usually Stoked like no They seem really bummed by being divorced and usually would be like, the voice? They're kind of stoked. They're like, no, this was a good decision. There is also like, I feel like, and again, this might come up in another scene. I don't know, but I feel like there's a conversation there to be had like, well, you know, your father and I both love you so much that we want to use, like, make sure that we get whatever
Starting point is 00:32:04 amount of time in with you and this is the we spoke to another adult called the judge and this is the amount of time that we agreed that we would all spend together. Yeah. Which of course is its own kind of imperfect explanation, whatever. Yeah. But it kind of gets rid of that. It's interesting. Apparently there's a line in this episode where Mr. Hooper dies where Big Bird says like why does it have to be this way in Gordon? One of the adult human characters says something like oh Because and it's meant to acknowledge that humans like adults don't know either
Starting point is 00:32:37 I think that could go off better as like I don't know then because but whatever. I'm no Norman styles as like I don't know then because but whatever I'm no Norman styles. But it's a similar effect here where they're like, why can't I only see daddy on weekends and they're just like because. Yeah. You know what I mean? So where did they go wrong? I don't think anybody really catches the blame on this one because everyone was like very well intentioned. Yeah. But it just didn't work. But the blame in terms of where the script was lacking seems to get assigned to three main issues. The first is the choice of characters. Daddy Snuffle is only ever seen in this episode. Oh. Kids were confused by the choice to deliver the idea that divorce
Starting point is 00:33:24 families can be complete and supportive through this character who appears and then disappears forever. Yeah, and it's kind of, if we've never seen it before, he's kind of a jerk here, I gotta say. He's a deadbeat snuffle up a dad. Totally.
Starting point is 00:33:38 The second is that the script of the episode became muddled on who its target audience was and what they wanted to communicate to them. Says Norman Styles quote, the shows weren't necessarily for the child who's watching whose parents are divorced. Although that was part of it, it was I think more so that children would understand if they meet other children whose parents are divorced. The whole thing is difficult because you're opening up this can of worms for children who may not have thought of the possibility that their parents might get divorced.
Starting point is 00:34:06 Now, all of a sudden, they walk into the kitchen and they see their parents arguing about something and they go, uh-oh. Yeah. So, to me, the way that I would distill that is the idea that, like, something like Mr. Hooper's death is inevitable, but divorce is not the idea that you might encounter somebody whose parents were divorced, but it is not a guarantee that your parents will get divorced in the same way.
Starting point is 00:34:32 It is a guarantee that spoilers and with my deep apologies, and I wish it weren't this way, everyone you know and love, including you will buy someday. Right, yes, yeah. Yeah. So we have to get ready for that in whatever way. We don't really have to get ready for our parents getting divorced if that never happens.
Starting point is 00:34:49 Yes. They should have depicted a character whose parents were already functionally divorced, as opposed to watching the absolute most excruciating traumatizing moments of the divorce play out in front of us. Yeah. Yeah. I think like a side character, even a new character, who's like, oh, I'm staying in my dad's tonight, or like, I'm staying with my mom tonight. Like that becomes this positive
Starting point is 00:35:13 thing and then it could be like, wait, why don't you, why doesn't your mom and dad, why don't they live together? And then it's like, well, they decided to live in two separate places. And then you kind of unpack that slowly through many an episode. For sure. And then, and since we've seen via Snuffleup, guess that they're willing to lay the seeds for this type of thing like a year in advance, you introduce the Somapet like a year earlier to make everyone fall in love with her by making her real cute and fuzzy. And then a year and you'd be like, oh, by the way, my parents are divorced.
Starting point is 00:35:44 It's just another part of my life. And was really hard at times and sometimes I felt really mad but now I'm really happy because I can see that my parents are really happy and they both love me just yeah and now I have yeah now you know Steve is around he's now uncle Steve lays the pipe on my mom and he has a car phone. So... Says Carolyn Perrente. Snuffy's family was going through it in real time right in the midst of the crisis. We learned if we can see the characters after coming through the divorce, it's a better way of approaching it. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:36:18 And that's the approach Sesame Street uses with the character of Abbey Kadabi, the next time they attempt to tackle divorce in 2012 in a web only segment of hold 20 years after the snappy debacle. Dvoris is a source object on Sesame Street. They took this one personally. They really did. Back in 1992, as I've alluded, after many resources spent, the decision is made to pull the snuffy divorce episode, says researcher Susan Schreiner, and maybe this is why there's such
Starting point is 00:36:50 hard feelings. It was really the first time we'd produced something, put all this money into it to test it, and it just didn't work. And indeed, it is the first time in history, Sesame Street tapes, but does not air an episode. And they, as you observed, still seem a little bit sore about it. Even now, the episode has never been released to the public in its entirety in any capacity. The Sesame Workshop has shown bits and pieces of it here and there on the web and in documentaries and at museum showings. Somebody somehow recorded the three segments of audio, we just heard and uploaded it to archive.org, right? For me, Taylor Vaso, one part of me
Starting point is 00:37:34 thinks that they should release it in full, the whole episode, as a historical curiosity slash educational tool slash documentary piece. It's fairly protected, but I don't really understand why. It's not footage of somebody dying. It's a fake elephant getting divorced. We'll be fine. The other part of me has seen the ring and thinks about those kids back in 1992
Starting point is 00:38:01 who watched that episode and puked and shit themselves, screaming and thrashing and riving, clawing at their eyes, running through glass windows, injecting heroin right into their little three-year-old veins. Shootin' horse. Shootin' horse, as they say. Holdin' up taxi drivers with hammers,
Starting point is 00:38:19 and that part of me knows that some things are best left behind lock and key. They really fucked up that snuffy divorce episode, huh? They really mucked that one. The clip is like fucked, it has the tone of like an independent movie starring Maggie Jill and Hall. It doesn't feel, no, for real. It does not feel like an episode of Sesame Street.
Starting point is 00:38:39 The scene where the dad gets like, the scene where the girls like, why aren't you coming inside and living our house and he's like, I I was or whatever the fuck he says he's having a sad moment and then the mom's like I don't know I just make you some green bean cast star leaving me my guts and stuff he's like well I gotta eat I'm nine. The daddy is rolling cabbage that's what I was. There you go. There you go. Maybe that would cause the divorce.
Starting point is 00:39:03 High-class strawberry. Not even for this enough love, I guess. That's our way, our line my way, to where the air is free. Get in the building, how to get, how to get to such a mystery. You're walking down a country road outside of Guildford, England. The other Guildford, we have a Guildford in Surrey as well learn from. That's true. Yeah, that's right. Yeah. We go to the Mall to buy our Christmas presents and Guildford. Oh.
Starting point is 00:39:56 Get a Yogan Fruits, get some Randy River. I have a lot of, you gotta stop me and just go in with what you're saying, because I could go. Ha ha ha ha ha ha. ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha I took me a second, but what's easier? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, no, I got you, I got you. Yeah, the car is, to be specific, a green Morris Cowley motor car. You know, it's like the running boards and like the skinny wheels and like the cloth. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, The engine won't turn. It seems like the battery is dead as if somebody has left the lights running all night. You peer through the windows of this abandoned car and you see that the back seat is filled with suitcases.
Starting point is 00:41:15 There's even a full length, like floor length for coat draped across the front seat. Okay. What the fuck? And- Yeah have very that. What is that? There's even a wallet in the car. You can see it sitting on the seat. The police are called in.
Starting point is 00:41:32 And when they arrive, they open the car, they inspect some of these two cases. In particular, they pay attention to the wallet. And there is an ID. That ID belongs to the most popular novelist to date 2023 to date the author of six detective novels and 14 Queen stays queen their their can be no other except no substitutes it can only be Agatha Christie it is but let me finish her show because I've got like 10 more lines here. Oh
Starting point is 00:42:05 If I know I got you got me too excited to I came early baby I'm too excited I know exactly what this is that I am thrilled I I figured you would know this so I'm stoked the author of the world's longest running play the most strap a longest running play. The most strap. A signature writer of the Golden Age of Detective Fiction known as the Queen of Crime. And also she had six novels under the pseudonym Mary West MacOte. Yep, I knew that. In 1971 she was made Dame by Queen Elizabeth II for her contributions to the literature. And according to Guinness World Records, so you know the Shea's legit, they list her as the best-selling fiction writer of all time, with her novels having sold more than two billion, bo-bo-billion copies.
Starting point is 00:43:02 Mm-hmm, she's behind Shakespeare in the Bible. This person was the person who supposedly abandoned her car on the side of the road. And in this 1926 scenario. I'm so excited for the story. I love this. I'm so happy. The one and only. Taylor's favorite mother-fucking. What's my favorite? Agatha Christie. The best, the best the best but unlike all her other mysteries this one remains unsolved uh agatha you you an agatha go way back oh my go so far back me I love Agatha Christie has kept me company since I was a child.
Starting point is 00:43:47 When other children were going through their Harry Potter shit, their Lord of the Rings shit, I was going through my her cool poireau shit. I was reading, no, real for real. I was reading Murder on the Orient Express, I've read a minute, the two that I've read a million times are murder on the Orient Express, I've read a minute, the two that I've read a million times are murder on the Orient Express and then there were none. Yeah. I've and I've watched the film adaptations, etc. Those to me, perfect books, perfect mysteries. If you want to have a mystery where you're just like putting the pieces together as you read, perfect, to what degree and then there were none can be solved without a really intuitive mind. don't know but that one is just more for the drama honey as these people lose their minds on this island as they're winnowing down.
Starting point is 00:44:33 Unfortunately it's a book where the early versions had a lot of racist language and imagery but they've since updated it changed the title, replaced the racist details with non-racist substitutes and lost absolutely nothing. So I highly recommend just read the modern version of the book. I can't recommend the BBC Lifetime adaptation that they did together in a really, really, really good three part, and then there were none miniseries. And then there were none has this thing where all the film adaptations kind of clean up the ending to make it a little bit cheerier because of the idea that film viewers are more amenable to happy endings than novel readers or maybe a bit more forgiving of something sad or weird or off-beat or whatever it is.
Starting point is 00:45:21 Yeah. So point being, I've always been very very into Agatha Christie, the little scenario she draws. I love her like intensely racially coded 1920s stereotype characters that are just the Italians. They stab. Yes, bitch. Absolutely. You go, you know human psychology. So, do you know for Agatha Christie, I don't know, to me, I would, if you were like, you can curl up with a book of by any author and it's a new book and it's from their best era and we'll just give it to you on a platter. Give me a good egg of the Christie any day of the week. Yeah. Such a fan. Such a math, a fanboy, a massive math. Oh, didn't we go to see a community theater? Yes, of a metro! At the metro! Yes! We went to go see the unexpected gas. It was set in whales. Yes. Exotic. So you obviously, you know the story, probably inside and out. Huge fan, yes.
Starting point is 00:46:28 Mm-hmm. I'm surprised that you haven't shared it before. You know, is it the wallpaper? It's like you're... So part of my life in a notice, anyway. No, I've considered it before and I don't have any particular reason as to why I didn't already do it. I'm thrilled to get it from you. Agatha, born 1890. A young dewey flower
Starting point is 00:46:53 even still. In a seaside resort in England's what's termed the English Riviera. Torque is the name of the small town. She's the youngest of three, but she's younger than her older sibling by nearly a decade. Her parents refer to her as a, quote, much loved afterthought. Agatha is homeschooled. She taught herself how to read at the age of five years old. Queen stays queen. Oh, my God, kids. There's nothing she can't do. Sorry, you're talking to a fat. This is going to be distracted. No, it's beautiful. This is no, no, no. It's in
Starting point is 00:47:32 the script after every like accomplishment. Like every check it check it check it with Taylor. How does he feel that I get this doing? Yeah. She was a young girl and she wrote her first poem about the new tram line that was put into her grandmother's neighborhood. It was proudly published in a public paper. Everyone was stoked. Her family was firmly upper middle class. It's like turn to the century England and so there's a lot of emphasis on class. You can see a lot of that, and her books totally. It's all over the fucking place. She is writing specifically for an
Starting point is 00:48:10 upper-middle class English. Yes. Yes, yes, and you can see it in like the ways that she depicts working class characters. Yeah. To be honestly, Ag of the Christie Ingeneral deals in a lot of really broad character tropes, although they're ones we take for granted when actually she probably helped establish a lot of them. Yeah, true. She dabbles in a lot of stereotype, a lot of trope, and a lot of like working class characters who talk like this and you know, it is so it goes. Yeah, the family, even though they're pretty well off, they have some investments in America that are not doing so well. And so they decide to rent out the family home, which has a name, because they're upper middle class,
Starting point is 00:48:54 Ash fields. Yes, Airbnb Ash field. They decided to Airbnb it out and move to France, where Agatha, at eight years old, she learned a little bit of French there. Um, dear Agatha is only 11 years old when her father, Frederick, dies as a result of the money issues become a little bit more severe for her and her mother. But as a result of his death, maybe a more positive result is that Agatha and her mother become very close. And so when Agatha becomes of age in her debutant years, they decide considering that money is a little tight, that they are going to move to Cairo, Egypt, and she will do her debutot season in Cairo. Murder on the boat to the Nile, surely. Weirdly, as big a negative
Starting point is 00:49:52 at the Christy fan as I am, I don't know that much by a graphical information about her other than this kind of one notorious incident that she's been a part of. Hearing her backstory makes it make so much sense because her stories tend to take place. England, France, Cairo, Egypt, all the places that she's at Torkey, she's done about a cornwall. You know what I mean? All the places she's been. Well, and that's really interesting that you say that you don't, as much of a fanboy as you are, that you don't know so much autobiographical information. She did write an autobiography that was published posthumously, but she was a pretty firm believer that a
Starting point is 00:50:29 Reader should be more interested in what is on the page than the author who put it on the page. You can see it in her writing. Yeah, it's very formulaic. It's very much about the puzzle that she presents to you and mealayic, it's very much about the puzzle that she presents to you and either the way that she gives you what you need or withholds it in ways that were quite controversial at the time. So in Cairo, there are many an offer of marriage made to Agatha, but she rejects almost all of them until her dear friend by the name of Reginald Lucy, just the most fucking British, British Brit, Reggie, as he's called, they strike up a bit of a pact and they say, you know what, we're good friends, let's get engaged and you know, in two years' time, if we still want to to be married then let's go ahead and get married but if not, why waste our time and we'll just get married. One other angle of that is that
Starting point is 00:51:36 Agatha was in need of some money. She needed to marry into some money and Reggie did not have money either. So it was kind of a packed of friendship and convenience but a packed also where it was like acknowledging that there may be better options that come up along the way in terms of I am trying to get rich and you're not that. Yeah and he told her outright they had an agreement that she was free to break off the engagement. And he the same, it was ambicable in terms of how it could go down. At this time too, she is definitely writing. She started writing that trampome when she was a young girl. And then she was writing short stories.
Starting point is 00:52:20 And she started to develop more and more short stories. And we'll talk a little bit about her, about her literary prowess now because she drafts a novel that she sends out and gets rejection after rejection after rejection, which is like, okay, cool. Yeah. If Agatha Christie who's only outstripped by Shakespeare in the Bible can get rejected by a bunch of people We're all doing fine. Yeah, no exactly She over these early years in her career. She creates some of her most well-loved and famous characters that repeat throughout her career including Miss Marple And you've already mentioned him her cute poor
Starting point is 00:53:03 The goat her cool poul Poreau. I've never actually read a Miss Marple because... Oh. I'm so loyal to Poreau. Oh. I... Because if I'm gonna be getting like an agathic, okay, and I bet Miss Marple's good.
Starting point is 00:53:16 The detective is the vehicle to solve the puzzle and then he massages in a few quirks to make him relatable. And that's... She's very, very good. It sounds like you know a lot about the structure of a mystery. How could that be? Of a mystery. Taylor, Michelle Basso. I've written mysteries in the past. I've written a novel that was a mystery, didn't really
Starting point is 00:53:34 get published. I've working on a mystery now. Mertle, Porter, Mertre, Reporter. Coming soon to whatever the fuck I finished the character sprites. And that's a video game. That's a video game. And Josie's gonna be Myrtle Porter. There's a lot in there. There's a lot in there, folks, to be, that's the kind of gasps we're gonna be expecting
Starting point is 00:53:51 from the track. And she was the queen, not only of crafting, I'm sorry to do this again. I don't know if you've heard, I like I get the Christie. But she was the queen in both of constructing a compelling detective character and constructing the puzzle of the mystery. The shit that I play on video games, now the shit that I play on my little anime video games now is an echo of the shit that Agatha Christie was
Starting point is 00:54:19 doing inventing in the 1900s. Truly. Back at, she is the goat. Sorry, Sir Arthur, I know that you think ghosts are real. But... Oh, did you see, speaking of which, have you seen that there's a new puro movie coming out and it appears to be a horror movie? Yes, I did see that. What the fuck is that? What is, I've got, I've seen one commercial for it.
Starting point is 00:54:43 I have no idea what that's about. The world love puro so much that when she published at the 1975 curtain which was the final release of the series That was her Sherlock Holmes falls off a waterfall moment. Yeah, well she was like I'm sick of this bitch I can't handle writing this motherfucker and you know what you write anyone for fucking 40 years you're sick of that bitch too. Sure enough, but you know what the world missed him so much that the New York Times ran its first ever obituary for a fictional character.
Starting point is 00:55:16 And rightly so he did, he solved, you don't even know what he solved. He solved a lot of shit. Okay, she meets her husband, Archibald Christie, whose name she takes to become Agatha Christie. Archibald Christie? Well, yeah, that's now we're getting into what exactly happened that fateful December 3rd night when Agatha Christie's ID was found in an abandoned car. So... Esbuki. Yeah, yes, Buki. First we need to know about Archibald Christie. After her stint in Cairo, Agatha came back to England and she attended a party at Oakbrook House, a stately home near Exeter in Devon. So you know that like you're gonna meet your shitty first husband at Oakbrook House. That's just how it goes. Yeah, yeah.
Starting point is 00:56:13 This is where she meets a very dashing dude, a aviator in the Royal Flying Corps, Colonel Archibald Christy. Both of them later claimed that it was the quote, excitement of the stranger that made their interaction so attractive to both of them. Sure, but you meet strangers every day. Yeah, I guess I don't know. There was something something in that. And the ear that made the stars were bright. Yeah, I got you, Fernando, I got you. Yeah. So Agatha broke off her engagement with Reggie, which was an amicable break.
Starting point is 00:56:50 She, everything was understood. They had a arrangement. And she married Archibald, or whom she calls Archie. She married Archie Christmas Eve 1914. Very down to Naby. True. Well, you know, World War One is churning its wheels. They had to do it quickly.
Starting point is 00:57:07 We're all very sentimental. They honeymooned in Turkey, but France was a colon. He was in the Royal Flying Corps. And so three days after their marriage, he was sent to France. And Agatha began working in the voluntary aid detachment in the Red Cross Hospital in Torquita. As a volunteer, she was taking notes paying attention. She's a writer, she does a lot of time, but especially where she was, they were getting a lot of Belgium refugees coming over to England and that is
Starting point is 00:57:44 where she notes that she got her inspiration for Pro-Rot. Yeah I was wondering you said Belgium and I was like ah ha! It's like a great sound! Yeah no legit! She nailed it! Paras of the bass! Yeah it's like a little bit of a distinction. He's not French. He's Belgium. Yes wait he's Belgium. Yes. During this time, she also worked specifically in her voluntary detachment with an apothecary. She took an apothecary course, and this is when, according to her autobiography, this is when she learned the most about poisons. Poisons? I was wondering.
Starting point is 00:58:25 Yeah. Excuse me, sorry, Josie. Get stuck at the side. She's agg the Christie. Agg the Christie, very well known for her multiplicity of poisons. Yes. When you're doing, however many books she did in her life
Starting point is 00:58:39 and you need to keep coming up with new ways to kill people, all of these poisons become very useful. One of her novels, and I'm forgetting the name of it, but received a review in a scientific apothecary journal for expert deployment and description. An accuracy review, interesting. Yeah, of the poisons used. Yeah, that scans.
Starting point is 00:59:04 Yeah, so she learned a lot during this time and she was as a nurse and working with physicians, working with apothecaries. She was pretty much dispensing medication. That was her job. And to be honest, I think she was a little bored by the day-to-day doldrum of dispensing. She likes learning more about poisons and stuff but I think what she actually was getting her hands on was like here's a tie-lin' all or here's you know blah blah. And it was was a hard time obviously it was World War One. Her job was not very intellectually stimulating and her sister that that she could not write a good mystery. So Agatha had been writing short stories, had been kind of
Starting point is 00:59:46 putting some stuff together, but it was her sister who was like... Was reverse psychology thing? Yeah, that's what I'm wondering. And she's just like, oh my god, Agatha Christie's so clearly needs to be the world's foremost author of mysteries, but for whatever reason it hasn't occurred to her yet, so I just need to prater in the right direction. I think so. Or was it just a bitch sister, which is also quite common? Yeah. I don't know. A little bit of calm, eh? A little bit of calm, eh? Two or a month. Who knows? Who can say? She keeps up with this until the end of World War 1, 1918. And that is when Archie comes back from the war. They get married in 1914 and then they see each other maybe a handful of times during the war. 1918 now they like move in together. August 5th
Starting point is 01:00:37 Agatha gives birth to their only daughter, Rosalind. At this At this time, Archie takes a job as a financial advisor in the British Empire Exhibition Tour. That's not real. I think it's just propaganda. That's all it is. No, it's yeah, this is just like go to indian, make sure that they don't try to escape colonial rule. Yes, okay, got it, got it. The job leads them to Cape Town. Agatha. Well, oh sorry, I got the wrong con. Yes, no, it's fine. It was it was a crap shit where they were gonna land anyway. Yeah, that's the Sunday recess. Yeah, I got you. Agatha and Archie, Roslyn stays with her grandmother and her aunt in England. Agatha and Archie go to Cape Town to do an exploratory mission, a fact-finding mission, to promote the Empire Exhibition of 1924.
Starting point is 01:01:33 It's in Cape friend of the book. According to AgathaCristi.com, Agatha began with the first British woman to stand up while surfing in the world. Wait, wait, you can't prove that. That's there's no way you can prove that. I can't be right. She did have. Wait, no. Stop, no, no, no, no, shut, no. No, I am just, there's no way. She did write about surfing.
Starting point is 01:02:16 She was describing it as the most magical experience of like shooting down the way. Yeah, look at it. 200 miles per hour. Yeah, that's for real. Yeah, a 40. Wait, wait, how do they should- To surf, D. They should air this out more.
Starting point is 01:02:31 I know. They should incorporate this more into Agatha Christie's public persona. Well, go to AgathaCristi.com and the tagline bar is writer, traveler, playwright, wife, mother, surfer. Really? Wow. Remark, you know, I was literally just thinking yesterday, I learned so much from this argument.
Starting point is 01:03:01 And this is maybe the best thing I've learned. For real, I can't think of anything better. Like when I watched that show, Gran Hotel, that Spanish soap opera Gran Hotel. Oh my god, that was so good. The best. They had a fictionalized version of Agatha Christie and that is quite buttoned up. It's quite a Victorian lady. It's nice to know that she was actually just fucking riding the tube. Yeah. Just that fucking blue world all around her baby down in Cape Town is good shit.
Starting point is 01:03:30 From the surfing days, I do get the sense that her and Archie were a happily married couple. I don't know. I don't know all the details. She's a well upper metal class British gal. She's not gonna give it all away. Yeah 1925 Agatha and Reggie returned to England and he's doing his little work on the British Empire Exhibition Tour. Agatha being the good wife that she is, joins a committee at the British Empire Exhibition Tour, and she's assigned to a committee tasked to design and organize a children's section for the British Exhibition in Wimbley, and she specifically is on a team that is creating a treasure island themed centerpiece that apparently got rave reviews. It was very cool. That's fun. Yeah. On this committee she met a woman who became a pretty good friend named Nancy Neal. Clock that name. Nancy Neal. I'll
Starting point is 01:04:40 try it down in my notebook. Your detective notebook. You got it. April 1926, Agatha gets word that her mother, Clarissa, has died. Her mother was back at the family home, Ashfield. And I believe it was a heart attack that eventually did kill her. Agatha being the youngest by quite a lot was tasked with taking care and cleaning up the estate. All the investments, all the files, all the keepsakes, all the
Starting point is 01:05:15 cleaning up of Ashfield felt to her. So she didn't move to Ashfield. She traveled back and forth quite a bit between her home with Archie and their daughter, and Ashfield trying to get things cleaned up. She was also so close to her mom that it was a really traumatic time for her. It was really sad and just hard to hurt her to handle. It's hard when you're home, Dice. And there's no there's no age at which I think that's unsure. And it gets even harder when your husband of gosh, 12 years, asks for a divorce. Because he's fallen in love with Nancy Neal, the bitch who probably didn't do that much on the Treasure Island centerpiece.
Starting point is 01:06:06 Let's be honest. Wow, no spider. She just co-tailed you. I'm saying she was like, of course they'll bring the faggle coins for the little... I'm in charge of the treasure. Your husband is dropping them off. Can I go get the fcal coins from your hand? Dang. Caaah.
Starting point is 01:06:26 You know what? She's gone family too. I'm sure she's lovely. These things happen. But we've been introduced to Agatha's the protagonist. Agatha is our hero here. We're riding with Agatha. Yes.
Starting point is 01:06:37 Agatha's already been knocked down a peg with the death of her mother and then this divorce just fucking wrecks her. She does not want a divorce Archie. She's still very much in love with him. It's kind of like- If you do better. Where's this coming from? We had a kid together. We weathered the great war together. We surfed together. I don't understand. Wow. Wow. No, it is all, did you not remember our great British exhibition that we did? Yeah. So, Roth, it's early December, the shitstorm of her mother's death and her husband's
Starting point is 01:07:13 affair and request for a divorce, make it so that there's an evening at home where Agatha is just with Rosalind. Her secretary and dear friend, by the name of Carlo, who usually was around at this time, had the night off. Carlo was not around. And Agatha wrote a note for Archie saying that she was taking some time away for herself. She was going to go to hotel and relax. And that next morning, her car, her beloved green awoga, I believe is the brand name, awoga car. Yes, it was a wembley bambi. I'm a Morris Cowley Mocha car. Thank you, thank you, Srinuuga.
Starting point is 01:08:07 It was found abandoned. All of her suitcases were still in the back. Her cell phone, her fur coat, and her wallet with her ID all in there. I pad with fruit and ginger. She loved fruit and ginger, that was the one we were doing. It's all in there. Where the fuck was she gonna be? Apparently it was, there was another layer of alarminess
Starting point is 01:08:31 to it because the car was abandoned right next to a filled in quarry, a pond quarry where not that long ago from this time two kids had drowned there. and so everyone was like, oh my gosh. So is the implication that I got the crashed or cart into this tree and then went for a swim in the Fildon Corrine drowned way? Or perhaps that she was so overwhelmed with her mother's death and her opinion of worship. Oh yes, sorry, sorry. I'm not thinking. I'm at least the grief.
Starting point is 01:09:06 Pull the V. Wolfen stoner pockets. I'm very good at solving mystery stories. Oh, yeah. At that point, Agatha Christie had published the murder of Roger Acroid had a lot of success. It kind of like gigantic. Exploded her career. So her name was well known amongst readers, let's say.
Starting point is 01:09:31 A literary genius genuinely. And at this point in 1926, perhaps maybe not recognizes a genius, but extremely popular. Very much so. And well known. So when reports go out that writer Agatha Christie mystery novelist extraordinaire. Oh she knew she was gone missing.
Starting point is 01:09:52 RIP maybe dead. Splodes. Did the husband do it? She did. Who could have done it? Was it a Russian spy? BIRL. Was it the Italians they stab by their nature? Did she go in the, did she drown herself in the pond? Because she had a love, Lauren Hart? Yes, yes. Did show a million things, a million things. So what takes place at this point is one of the largest missing person searches in English history at this time. So pretty, nearly. There
Starting point is 01:10:29 were a thousand policemen, hounds, they dredged up that nearby quarry pond. This was the first time the airplanes were used in a missing person search. Oh wow this is a very the superlative search huh? Oh yeah yeah and because she was so well known among the general population There was a lot of civilians who were just like okay, we'll comb the moors or whatever, you know I would be out there. I would be like I need these my my my stories Where do we go? How do we help this woman? Where is she? Actually, I'll go ahead and I'll, uh, can I, how can I do this? I can't believe she served.
Starting point is 01:11:11 I didn't know that at all. I enjoy that. Yeah. I do. I very much do. I very much do. Yeah. Um, there's a missing flyer that went out. Uh, and it, I'm just going to read it to you because the language is like very 19 to 26. So I love it. I love it. Age, 35 years, height, five feet, seven inches, hair, red, imprensies, shingled. Don't know what that means, but I don't care. Natural teeth, eyes, red, compulsion, fair, well built.
Starting point is 01:11:47 Okay, cool. Well, that feels coated. This is good. Dressed gray, stocking at skirt, green jumper, gray and dark gray cardigan, small green velour hat, may have handbag containing five to ten pounds. Left home in four-seater Morris Cally card 9.45 pm on 3rd December, leaving note saying she was going for a drive. The next morning the car was found abandoned at Newlands corner. Albury, sorry, should this lady be seen or any information regarding her?
Starting point is 01:12:21 Sorry what? Should this lady be seen or any information regarding her be obtained? Please communicate to any police station, any police station, or to Charles Goddard's super-intended working hand. Tell her phone number four working hand. It's like a negative Christie novel. It's exactly like a mother by an egg, a thing, a mother by an egg. How can you blame anybody for latching onto this? Oh, oh, you know who it writes itself. You know who latched onto
Starting point is 01:12:54 it? Sir Arthur Conan Doyle? Yeah. Yeah. Come get your man. So when he used to tell him to calm down, how is he coming up? What did he do? The second you said that, I knew. I was like, that motherfucker. I didn't even know he was still alive. What do you say? Apparently he conducted like a summoning of Agatha's spirit, where could she be using an object of hers a pair of gloves. Okay, and what was the result of this? Oh, nothing. Nothing conclusive, nothing about that. Well, it was just a pair of gloves on a table in a dark room. Love it. Wow, he keeps,
Starting point is 01:13:41 he's persistent. So many of these like, have words and just feel like it doesn't need to be everything all the time. It's okay. Take a little time for you, sir. He would have loved Twitter. Oh my God. Yeah, I've seen the shot. So it's 11 days of this all out airplanes in the sky.
Starting point is 01:14:07 So it's 11 days of this all-out airplanes in the sky, dogs on the ground, flyers everywhere, gloves on a table. The right away bride. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. And it's only 11 days because on December 14th, the banjo player of a local hotel in the small spa town of Harrogate, a spa town in Yorkshire, which is about 200 miles north of Guildford, where Agatha's car was found. The banjo musician at the hotel by the name of Bob Tappin. Great musician name, let's enjoy that.
Starting point is 01:14:46 Well, we can't. Benjo, Benjo Bob. Tappin' on it. Benjo Bob Tappin'. He is tapping. He recognizes Agatha Christie, because again, her face is like on these flyers, it's on the newspaper. I mean, that image, I really,
Starting point is 01:15:09 it's probably just like the movies where it's like, wait, your face is here. And you're over there. Oh, yeah. It had to be that. So Bob Tappen notifies the police and Archie comes over to Harrogate and confirms
Starting point is 01:15:25 that that's over there and the bowl gown is my wife. I recognize her, I recognize her, she's my wife, she's my wife, she's my mistress. So apparently... She gone girl dim. That's the dream. And this is again, and we're taking this way back to the beginning of this podcast with the Betty Broderick shit.
Starting point is 01:15:44 It's all like wish fulfillment where you're like, oh, what if I just went missing on him? He's not treating me the way that I deserve to be treating him. What if I just went to a hotel? And she left him a note saying she was going to a hotel. She didn't say she was going to crash her car into a tree. Who cares? You don't got to give a, a, a, a diva does not have to give details. Yeah.
Starting point is 01:16:04 But she also didn't say that she was going gonna be checking into a hotel 200 miles away. Details. Under the last name, Neil, which if you look in your detective's notebook, you will notice that that is the same last name of Archie's mistress, Nancy Neil. I'm gonna lean right into the mic for this. Okay. That's what we call a secret message, in detective literature.
Starting point is 01:16:31 That's a coded sign. If you iron your pages, the lemon juice message will appear and it's, I know, I know what your dick has been up. So she registered at the Herogate Hydro which is the name of the hotel. It's now it's still in existence it's called Old Swan Hotel now. Let's go there for the next bittersweet. What I agree I think we should. They do murder mystery nights. I know. Delighted. Delighted. Yeah, I know. Yeah. Thank you. I hope so. I hope so. So she registered under the name Meal. Her address was one in Cape Town, South Africa.
Starting point is 01:17:15 And during her 11 days at the Harrogate Hydro, she took the bathing treatments that were customary in the spa town of Harrogate. But this hotel was like, you do a little of that, you have a lovely dinner, you do some dancing, you play cards, she was having a grand old time. Well, fuck yeah, her husband's fucking around on it. And she, you know what, she is creating the gems of mysteries, but the detectivesly thinks she's cheating. The world is not ready for her nor do they deserve her. She should go and make her skin more supple and play cards. That's what I think.
Starting point is 01:17:56 When Archie arrives at the hotel, I think I did mention that she was wearing a beautiful ball gown. And when the police and ArcGee were like, okay, Agatha, we need to go. One, she did not recognize her husband. And two, she was like, Agatha, who, I don't know what you're talking about. Bye.
Starting point is 01:18:16 We'll see you soon. We'll see you soon. I'm Agatha, my name is Cheryl. Agatha, who? My, my name is Cheryl. Agatha Hu? My name is Estefania. Oh, we're leaving? Uh, let me change out of my ball gown. Apparently she like took her sui-ass time to change.
Starting point is 01:18:34 Yeah, rightly so. I mean, I think she must have gotten some really nice clothes. She had to pack it all up. She was like, oh, I, I've been enjoying myself. Let's drag this out. Let's, I want to, myself. Let's drag this out. I want to, can I order another chocolate muse from Ruinservice? What can I do here?
Starting point is 01:18:52 So she comes home with Archibald and the immediate family response to the press that are of course a frenzy because Agatha Christie has been found. What is going on? Agatha Christie, who is still to this day the most popular writer in the world. I've even William Shakespeare and Jesus Christ. Yes, thank you. In her day, in even now, but in her day when she was living a massive star. And made even more a massive star because just the sheer print gold, the sheer irony, the like just the clickbaitness of
Starting point is 01:19:34 a mystery writer of the Christie. Yeah, disappearing. Yes. Yes. Yeah. Goes disappearing as they say. As they say, it's 1926, you know, the language is very different. So the family line immediately from Archie is memory loss. She is experiencing memory loss. Shamizah. Agnesia. It's just, do you say Agnesia? Agnesia, Agnesia, Agnesia, Agnesia, Agnesia Christie, Agnesia Christie. She had that Agnesia set in. There you go.
Starting point is 01:20:09 And so in a newspaper interview, the day after she's found, Archie is quoted as saying, she has suffered from the most complete loss of memory. I do not think she knows. She knows. She does not know me. She does not know where she is. I'm hoping that Rest and Quiet will restore her.
Starting point is 01:20:28 I'm hoping to take her to London to buy out to see a doctor and specialist. Yeah, the doctor and specialist is going to say you should pay more attention to your wife. This is quite a stunt. Because I will say that the initial press response was kind of like, what the fuck in fact, you were just like in the hot tub, you're just chakuzin it up, Agatha? Like, we were worried, this feels false. One more is good for the joints. Yeah, it truly is. So there wasn't like a huge outpouring
Starting point is 01:20:55 of initial concern. There was a lot more kind of, I mean, just like with any clickbait, big huge viral thing. It wasn't like they found her start to death in the middle of a bog, they found her happily living the life at a luxury spa hotel. She was doing the Charleston, exactly. As they say in the 1920s and in the Gantina. Yes. Shortly after she returned home,
Starting point is 01:21:20 so in January of 1927, Agatha and her daughter and the secretary, the good friend, they go to have a respite in the Canary Islands to continue and complete her convolescence. She's there for three months and when she gets home, divorce proceedings start with Archie. It takes two years to become fully finalized, so it's not until 1928 that she is divorced from Archibald, Christine. I like that the cover story that she established for herself should you accept that to be the case dictated that she needed to recover from her vacation with another vacation. I That a very relaxing time. I didn't know who the fuck I was.
Starting point is 01:22:09 Yeah, I don't know who I am. I need to go to the Canary Islands right now. I need to find one. I'll bring it back. I'll bring it back. Ah, that hotel is so exhausting. Take me to a hotel. I feel hungry.
Starting point is 01:22:20 I agree. Archie does go on to marry Nancy Neal, and they have a son together, Archie Bull Jr. The son's fine. The son's fine. And as much as I would love to see them like get divorced three years later and have a horrible life, they actually.
Starting point is 01:22:38 They were good match. They are married for the remainder. Charles and Camilla. Yeah, their lives exactly. Yeah. When interviewed by the. Yeah, their lives, exactly. Yeah. When interviewed by the Times, Rosalind, so Archie and Agatha's daughter, she's quoted as saying the following about her father's second marriage. Eventually my father married Nancy Niel and they left happily together until she died.
Starting point is 01:23:01 I saw him quite often and we always liked and understood one another. Period. And fucking quote, which I think all the subtitles are just like not bad. No, you put a lot of emphasis on that period. She might mean that. I'm just saying the subtext that I am reading there As a detective of literature. Yeah, right. Miss Marble over here. Yes. Not reading your books. I prefer power out.
Starting point is 01:23:31 Yeah. Yeah. Is stay the fuck out of my mother fucking business. We're fine. It's fine. Leave me alone. Thank you, period. Bye.
Starting point is 01:23:40 She must have gotten a lot of speculation into her life as like the child of such a notable author. Yeah, yeah. So Agatha, let's return to Agatha. She's our, she's our gal. The divorce, obviously, a little hard owner. She disappeared for 11 days, no big deal. Forget who you are, no problem. She's visiting friends in the Middle East when she meets a British archaeologist, Max Malawan. He is 14 years, her junior, go kooks, they get married, and they have so many cute dogs throughout their married life together. Agatha, I don't know if you know. Surfer Agatha. Absolutely loved K9s. She was a huge dog fan. I guess some action heard like feeding them little like cucumber
Starting point is 01:24:34 sandwiches all the time. Agatha writes pretty much on average for the next good chunk of years. It's like three novels a year. I would have even guys less than that. I would have been like a booker to a year, but three novels a year. I would have even guys sluts them that. I would have been like a booker to a year but three is pretty nice. When she gets older she slows it down to a book a year, a Christie for Christmas, as she said. Uh, yeah. Five of her. That's a good way to do it. Keep it, keep it tight. Her novel and then there were none is one of the top selling books of all time with approximately 100 million copies sold. Re-bat book, it's really good. One of the best books ever written, I reckon. I haven't read it. I need to read it. I gotta add it to it. I've got two copies of it, I can lend you one.
Starting point is 01:25:19 Oh, that's a sweet. Okay, cool. A little later in her life she turns to playwriting and she does credit this to a very bad play adaptation of the murder of Roger Acroid. She's like that was just so shit I could do so much better and then she did. She wrote- Well she wrote the most Captain She- It holds the world record for the longest initial run. Obviously, extremely accomplished, extremely prolific. Her marriage to Max is very happy. He's an archaeologist and she helps him on digs. She absolutely loves going to the Middle East with him
Starting point is 01:25:58 and getting her riding in the mornings and then getting her hands dirty in the afternoon. If you know what I mean. Her crop, her, her, her, her, her, her, her, her, I'm just pussy. She can write a little mystery about her cool poirot dust and up some art of facts and someone dies. Yeah.
Starting point is 01:26:15 It's a great life. They travel extensively. They have a very happy marriage. They're married for the rest of their lives. It's really cute. Yeah. All the pictures are like this little grandma and grandpa with a dog and like, uh, very sweet.
Starting point is 01:26:30 She has a storied career, a very happy home life, and yet still, there's this question mark around these 11 days in 1926. She does not talk to anybody, at least on record, about what happened in those 11 days. She, I mentioned earlier, publishes an autobiography, entitled autobiography, posthumously. It just glazes right on over those 11 days. Whatever, it's okay.
Starting point is 01:27:07 One must maintain the mystique. It does have a very like upper middle class vibe of it where it's like, Yeah. Why would I talk about that? No, no, no, no. No, dude, the one thing you must remember is that Agatha Christie is like a stiff-let British lady from the war years. Yeah. She's a tough nut to crack, emotionally.
Starting point is 01:27:27 So there's a lot of speculation, because that's all there is out there about what was behind these 11 days. There's some theories that it was a concussion from the car accident. She suffered a concussion that created to merely memory loss. No, it's a the lady there are 200 miles at a spot town. Checking it under the name of her husband's mistress. Yeah. No, no, no, no, no. Yeah. No, no, no, no, no, no.
Starting point is 01:27:57 Let's okay. Well, let's all put on our thinking caps here, but go ahead. You give me some more bullshit solutions here, please. Uh, it was actual amnesia. It just was selective amnesia caused by this extreme bout of stress, her mother's death. PTSD. PTSD. Yeah, a reaction to the trauma. Uh, not impossible, but I just know this woman named Neil who I would love to serve up publicly on this passive aggressive way possible. No, next! I mean, according to an article about this specific thing in Scientific American, meaning like Agatha's 11-day disappearance, quote, day disappearance quote in syndromes caused by psychological stress the memory of recently experienced events is retained whereas older memories disappear so she could remember her husband's mistress's name but she might have just forgotten who she was.
Starting point is 01:28:58 No no no no no no no this was, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, burgeoning career that was coming out she was doing fine Sorry shit this day you're telling no no no no no no next that is bullshit next I think that was bandied around to the press a lot the English press in the King Tadeira like Boy true enough. Yeah, you know what I mean? It does not take a lot Then or now to incite the British tabloid press towards scandal. Yeah. They'll go there on their own.
Starting point is 01:29:50 My suspicion is that this was like- Exactly plotted revenge. Yeah, public shot at the husband. Yeah. And the mistress. And the mistress, yeah. And, and nailed it. I'm like, it couldn't have done better. Could not have done as in all of her exacting mystery plots
Starting point is 01:30:08 beautifully structured and carried out. Yes, yeah. Motive means an opportunity. That's what we call it in the mystery, as folks. With just a pinch of... what did she say earlier? Just a pinch of passive aggressiveness, I think. Oh, she loved it. Yeah, there's no conclusive verdict to what. It could be, but Taylor has decided. Judge Taylor has down. It's, it's, it's hard. There's nothing this could be. She had a ball with it up until she died in my opinion,
Starting point is 01:30:42 and I salute her. And that's why she didn't want to bring it to surface because she wanted to just revel in it. Mystery is her best left solved by the reader, aren't they? Why not leave one big mystery for everybody? It's a nice little calling card. Maybe there is a little bit of publicity sent to it. Who knows? I don't know that I buy the amnesia excuse. When you're checking in under your husband's mistress name, that's beyond say shit. Really? There's no other, that does no. Oh, I the only, no, no, no, no, no, that's on purpose. I think, but I wasn't
Starting point is 01:31:22 in there. I wasn't in one of the greatest minds of a generation. When it comes to, let's say, mystery writing, less so, I don't know, racial politics or, you know, class politics or whatever. But she was really good at writing mysteries and going missing and spiting her enemies. And that's what I see here. Yeah. There are just as many Agatha Christie novels as there are theories about what happened in those 11 days. I watched a film called Agatha, starring Vanessa Reggrave and Dustin Hoffman. Wow. Yeah. Wow. 1979. It's not a great movie, I'll be honest. But there's another theory that's been posited by a Doctor Who episode, and which
Starting point is 01:32:08 Doctor Who time travels or gets in the Tartus and extracts Agatha Christie for exactly 11 days to help them solve the mystery in which there's like, what? And so now we put her back and it's Agatha Christie, we've come up with this cover story
Starting point is 01:32:25 where she was at the hotel for 11 days. Exactly. Yeah, so yeah, she's drawn to another dimension for those 11 days. The episode is called The Unicorn in the Wasp. After a hugely successful career, yeah, hugely successful career is kind of an understatement. Yeah, to say the least.
Starting point is 01:32:41 But also a very fulfilling life, I'd say too. Good. Agatha died peacefully January 12, 1976. The lights in the Weston theaters were dimmed to more in her passing. In honor of the most trapped? Yes, yes, exactly. And since then, there has been an incredible legacy in her honor. Films, TV, theater, games, her stories,
Starting point is 01:33:11 and her continuing characters have endured on with continuation. And new writers writing in her voice. Yes. Yeah. And not to mention, like you've said earlier, just completely creating the genre, pulling people into a modern novel, like creating a modern reader, probably too. Well, most likely, never know what really happened
Starting point is 01:33:34 to Agatha, those faithful December days. It's an enduring mystery, which in some ways is a wonderful honor to her memory. But as much as Agatha Christie was a master at the craft of fiction, I could also totally see how that ability, that innate ability to write fiction and to live in fiction would bleed into her lived experience.
Starting point is 01:34:00 I don't think that she would be a fan of this. She didn't like the idea of readers delving too deeply into a writer's background, but I can't help but think that like her brain was so, so tapped into the fictional world that, yeah, maybe these 11 days she was just kind of writing her own mystery by living it. But I just think maybe she was just kind of writing her own mystery by living it. But I just think maybe she was just petty.
Starting point is 01:34:28 Yeah. You know what? The fact that she never gave it away, whether it was true or not, one way or the other, that she had Amnesia or didn't have Amnesia, let's say. It accomplishes very much what you lay out there is it leaves a mystery right regardless of what we think her intentions were the fact that she never kind of like went on record quote-unquote admitting it one way or the other yeah that kind of gives it away what she wanted of it it is sort of like a in retrospect biographically it's sort of like the
Starting point is 01:35:05 calling card for the ultimate mystery writer, right? Sometimes you could be a mystery to yourself too. What she essentially was if you really want to boil it down was an excellent literary puzzle maker. Yeah. The top tier. Yeah. That doesn't suggest anything about self-knowledge really. It maybe suggests via her medium Some knowledge of people, but she also dictated the internal logic of the worlds that she wrote, right? Like the psychology of these characters dictated by her and involved some observation of people But it also just involved being able to keenly craft Compelling and convincing characters. Yeah.
Starting point is 01:35:45 It doesn't mean that she knew a lot about herself or what her motives were for what she did. Fucking crazy, dude. Very crazy times. I want to disappear at a spa. So fun. If you ever wonder where I disappear too, Taylor. It's a spa. Just Google Spa.
Starting point is 01:36:02 Yeah, Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Louisiana. I got a huge touch. Hatch Springs, Arkansas, baby. I got it. I'll be wearing gowns. Gowns? Yeah, she was wearing a gown. Yeah.
Starting point is 01:36:16 I don't know you. No. What a move. What a move. What a move. What a move. What a move. Thanks for listening. If you want more infamy, we've got plenty more episodes
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Starting point is 01:37:15 The sources I use for this episode's myth and this were Sesame Street tackles the big D divorce. In the Christian science monitor by Stephanie Haynes, December 12, 2012, Street Smarts in the Golden Mail by Salam Allatin', January 27, 1990. D won't do for divorce in the Harold Sun, March 17, 1992. Oral History in 1985, Mr. Sinephalapagus, Shocked Sesame Street by Jake Rosson and Jennifer Amwood for Mental Floss, November 17, 2015.
Starting point is 01:37:40 I also read The Wikipedia articles for Sinepese Parents Get a Divorce, Mr. Cooper, and Sesame Workshop. I accessed those August 31st on 23th and I read the Muppet fandom wiki use page for Snuffy's Parents Get a Divorce. The sources that I used for today's episode were the about pages on agathachristy.com. An article which appeared in scientific American was Agatha Christie's Serious Amnesia Real or Revenge on her Cheating Spouse. Written by Stefania Divito and Sergio De La Sala on August 2nd, 2017. An article that appeared on historic mysteries.com, Agatha Christie's Disappearance, Amesia, Suicide, or Despair, written by B. Penn, Demiri, January 21st, 2022. I listened to podcast episode number 52 of the mysterious
Starting point is 01:38:41 disappearance of Agatha Christ from the podcast. Let's learn about a fun and general knowledge podcast. I looked at the website for the old swan hotel at classicflogges.co.uk. That's the hotel where Agatha stayed. I watched the 1979 film Agatha directed by Michael Aptid starring Vanessa Redgade and Dustin Hoffman. The audio you heard of Sesame Street's Snuffle Uffflegus divorce was from archive.org. And lastly, I looked at the Wikipedia pages for Agatha Christie and Archibald, first. Bitter Suite in Three is a proud member of the 604 podcast network.
Starting point is 01:39:28 We wanna give a shout out to our subscriber on coffee.com, John and the Mountain. Thank you for all you do. And if you too would like to donate or be a subscriber, you can go to copyk0-fi.com forward slash Bitter Suite in three, you can throw us a few bucks. The And the song that you're listening to now is Tees Street by Brian Steel.

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