Christie and Cook

On the blog last week mention was made of Thomas Cook, and his first package tour from Leicester to Loughborough in 1841. If I remember rightly, the company was taken over by Hays, and it was around that time (2018??) that the Thomas Cook archive was deposited at the Record Office for Leicester, Leicestershire, and Rutland. I believe Thomas Cook is now part of eSky. Anyway, I think I also mentioned Agatha Christie last week? So now seems like a good time to combine Cook and Christie!!!

While I was reading all the Agatha Christie novels last year, I was struck by the number of times ‘Cook’s’ was mentioned – and I may have missed some of them! Seems to me, that throughout the appearance of Cook’s in the books, starting in 1924 in The Man in the Brown Suit, to Cat Among the Pigeons in 1959, the company must have been very well known, since in no instances does Christie expand upon what exactly the business was about. Admittedly, such information is usually obvious from the context in which the reference to Cook’s appears, so that makes it rather interesting, and not unlike passing references to shops of the period, maybe like Harrods, or Fortnum and Masons. The Mystery of the Blue Train contains the most references, while most of the others contain only one.

So, here are some extracts from the mentions I’ve found of Thomas Cook’s travel agency business in Agatha Christie’s novels. The page numbers are taken from the editions I read, which were published by Heron Books, c. 1976. 

Today, you can follow a heritage trail linked to places connected with Thomas Cook - e.g. Loughborough railway station; on the entrance to Southfields Park; his birthplace in Melbourne; Leicester railway station, and a building on King Street and Welford Place, Leicester. The Loughborough ones are on the plaque trail on this blog. A new plaque was unveiled at Loughborough railway station a few years ago, too.

Thomas Cook at Leicester Railway Station

 

New plaque at Loughborough Railway Station

The Man in the Brown Suit, 1924, Chapter 1, page 9

An anthropologist and his daughter are planning to travel to see a newly discovered antique skull:

“There is not time to be lost. We must be on the spot – there are doubtless incalculable finds to be found in the neighbourhood. I shall be interested to note whether the implements are typical of the Mousterian period – there will be the remains of the primitive ox. I should say, but not those of the woolly rhinoceros. Yes, a little army will be starting soon. We must get ahead of them. You will write to Cook’s today, Anne?’

‘What about money, Papa?’ I hinted delicately.

He turned a reproachful eye upon me.

‘Your point of view always depresses me, my child. We must not be sordid. No, no, in the cause of science one must not be sordid.’

‘I feel Cook’s might be sordid, Papa.’

Papa looked pained.

‘My dear Anne, you will pay them in ready money.’

‘I haven’t got any ready money.’

Papa looked thoroughly exasperated.

‘My child, I really cannot be bothered with these vulgar money details …’”

 

The Mystery of the Blue Train, 1928, Chapter 8, pg 59

Lady Tamplin has invited her cousin, Katherine Grey, to visit her:

“[Katherine] drew out from her handbag the letter she had received that morning from Lady Tamplin. Katherine was no fool. She understood the nuances of that letter as well as anybody and the reason of Lady Tamplin’s sudden show of affection towards a long-forgotten cousin was not lost upon her. It was for profit and not for pleasure that lady Tamplin was so anxious for the company of her dear cousin. Well, why not? There would be profit on both sides.

‘I will go,’ said Katherine.

She was walking down Piccadilly at the moment, and turned into Cook’s to clinch the matter then and there. She had to wait a few minutes, The man with whom the clerk was engaged was also going to the Riviera…”

Ditto, Chapter 9, page 60

“Derek Kettering … strolled along deep in thought … He walked up St James’s Street, across Picadilly, and strolled along it in the direction of Piccadilly Circus. As he passed the offices of Messrs. Thomas Cook & Sons his footsteps slackened. He walked on, however, still turning the matter over in his mind. Finally, he gave a brief nod of his head, turned sharply, so sharply as to collide with a couple of pedestrians who were following in his footsteps, and went back the way he had come. This time he did not pass Cook’s, but went in. The office was comparatively empty, and he got attended to at once.

‘I want to go to Nice next week. Will you give me particulars?’

‘What date, sir?’

‘The fourteenth. What is the best train?’

‘Well, of course, the best train is what they call ‘The Blue Train.’ You avoid the tiresome Customs business at Calais.’

Derek nodded. He knew all this, none better.

‘The fourteenth’ murmured the clerk; ‘that is rather soon. The Blue Train is nearly always all booked up.’

‘See if there is a berth left,’ said Derek. ‘If there is not –‘ He left the sentence unfinished, with a curious smile on his face.

The clerk disappeared for a few minutes and presently returned. ‘That is all right, sir; still three berths left. I will book you one of them. What name?’

‘Pavett,’ said Derek. He gave the address of his rooms in Jermyn Street.

The clerk nodded, finished writing it down, wished Derek good morning politely, and turned his attention to the next client.”

Ditto, chapter 10, page 77

Katherine Grey awoke during the middle of the night on the train, so decided to walk along the carriage

“She looked down the long, dim line of the corridor and saw, to her surprise, that a man was standing with his hand on the door of the compartment occupied by the lady in the mink coat. That is to say, she thought it was the compartment. Probably, however, she was mistaken. He stood there for a moment or two with his back to her, seeming uncertain and hesitating in his attitude. Then he slowly turned, and with an odd feeling of fatality, Katherine recognised him as the same man whom she had noticed twice before – once in the corridor of the Savoy Hotel and once in Cook’s offices. Then he opened the door of the compartment and passed in, drawing it to behind him.”

Ditto, Chapter 12, page 96

Following the murder of one of the passengers, Katherine remembers her nocturnal wander:

“But suddenly Katherine remembered a small fact … She had certainly thought that she had seen a man going into that particular compartment, but she realised that she might easily have been mistaken. It might have been the compartment next door, and certainly the man in question could be no train robber. She recalled him very clearly as she had seen him on those two previous occasions – once at The Savoy and once at Cook’s office. No, doubtless she had been mistaken, He had not gone into the dead woman’s compartment, and it was perhaps as well that she had said nothing to the police. She might have done incalculable harm by doing so.”

 

Evil Under the Sun, 1941, Chapter 1, part 2, pg 3:

“Mrs Gardener was saying: … all I want now is to get to some quiet spot by the seaside and just relax. That’s what I said, wasn’t it Odell? Just relax. I feel I must relax, I said. That’s so, isn’t it Odell?

Mr Gardener, from behind his hat murmured:

“Yes darling.”

Mrs Gardener pursued the theme.

“And so when I mentioned it to Mr Kelso, at Cook’s – He’s arranged all our itinerary for us and been most helpful in every way. I don’t really know what we’d have done without him! – well, as I say when I mentioned it to him, Mr Kelso said that we couldn’t do better than come here [Leathercombe Bay]. A most picturesque spot, he said, quite out of the world, and at the same time very comfortable and most exclusive in every way.”

 

Destination Unknown, 1954, Chapter 2, page 46:

“[Hilary Craven, in disguise as Mrs Olive Betterton] had already inquired at the desk [in the hotel], but there had been no messages or letters for her there. The first steps in her new role had to be taken very much in the dark. Olive Betterton might perhaps have been told to ring a certain number or contact a certain person at Casablanca. As to that, there was no clue. All the knowledge she had to go on was Olive Betterton’s passport, her letter of credit, and her book of cooks’ tickets and reservations. These provided for two days in Casablanca, six days in Fez, and five days in Marrakesh. These reservations were now, of course, out of date, and would have to be dealt with accordingly. The passport, the Letter of Credit and the accompanying Letter of Identification had been suitably dealt with. The photograph on the passport was not that of Hilary, the signatures on the Letter of Credit was Olive Betterton in Hilary’s handwriting. Her credentials were all in order. Her task was to play her part adequately and to wait. Her master card must be the plane accident and its resultant loss of memory and general haziness.”  

Ditto page 48:

“The evening so far had been quite indecisive. The two women who had talked to [Hilary] had been such well-known travelling types that she could hardly believe that they were other than they seemed. Tomorrow, she decided, if she had received no word or communication of any kind, she would go to Cooks, and raise the question of fresh reservations at Fez and Marrakesh.”

 

4.50 from Paddington, 1957, Chapter 18, pt 2, page 177

Inspector Craddock is questioning Cedric Crackenthorpe about his arrival in England from Iviza:

“… ‘You told me, Mr Crackenthorpe, that you left Iviza on 21st December and arrived in England the same day?’

‘So I did. Em! Hi, Em!’

Emma Crackenthorpe came through the adjoining door from the small morning-room. She looked inquiringly from Cedric to the inspector.

‘Look here, Em. I arrived for Christmas on the Sunday before, didn’t I? Came straight from the airport?’

‘Yes,’ said Emma wonderingly. ‘You got here about lunch time.’

‘There you are,’ said Cedric to the inspector.

‘You must think us very foolish, Mr Crackenthorpe,’ said Craddock pleasantly. ’We can check on these things, you know. I think, if you’ll show me your passport –‘

He paused expectantly.

‘Can’t find the damned thing,’ said Cedric. ‘Was looking for it this morning. Wanted to send it to Cook’s.’”

 

Cat Among the Pigeons, 1959, Chapter 19, pt 2

Inspector Kelsey is trying to trace a woman called Mrs Upjohn.

“Easier said than done,’ said Kelsey. ‘We’ve been trying to get in contact with Mrs Upjohn, but the whole thing’s a headache! When the child said a bus, I thought she meant a proper coach tour, running to schedule, and a party all booked together. But that’s not it at all. Seems she’s just taking local buses to any place she happens to fancy! She’s not done it through Cook’s or a recognised travel agency. She’s all on her own, wandering about. What can you do with a woman like that? She might be anywhere!” 

 

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Posted by lynneaboutloughborough

With apologies for typos which are all mine!

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