Middletons, Chattertons and the Loughborough Agatha Christie connections

I have been so busy this weekend and in the week, leading guided walks for Heritage Open Days 2026 that I didn’t have a chance to blog on Sunday, and I’ve also missed the anniversary of Agatha Christie’s birth, which was on 15 September – she would have been 136. Earlier in the year, I also missed the 50th anniversary of her death, which was on 12 January 1976. Well, not to worry, for in today’s blogpost I can combine a bit about yesterday’s Heritage Open Days walk, with some Agatha Christie connections (as a result of my having read her output in 2024-5).

Our HSBC building

On our walk around Loughborough town centre, looking at some of its interesting buildings, we paused in the Market Place to view the former HSBC building. I was quite surprised at the weekend when I noticed the decorative cloth, which had recently hosted images of what I presume to be local people, had been removed, and the scaffolding on the front of the building exposed. Back in March 2023, the building caught fire, and restoration, renovation, and re-building work has been on-going for the past three years.

I’ve written quite a few articles, both for this blog and for other publications, about the history of the HSBC building, suffice to say here that it was designed by the architectural firm of, Goddard, Paget, and Goddard (Joseph Goddard 1840-1900, Alfred Henry Paget 1849-1909, and Henry Langton Goddard (son of Joseph) 1866-1944), and constructed in 1894. This Leicester-based practice also designed the HSBC building in Ashby-de-la-Zouch; the Atkins hosiery building in Hinckley (open for Heritage Open Days 2026); the Town Hall clock, Leicester, and the rebuilding of the Thomas Cook building on Gallowtree Gate, Leicester in 1894.

Our HSBC building was built to replace an earlier bank building, which had been constructed around 1830, and which comprised only two floors, with a wooden balcony, which was often bedecked with beautiful displays of flowers.

The Agatha Christie connection

Well, there are in fact two connections between our banks and Agatha Christie…

Lady Chatterton

We could go into a great deal of detail regarding the character of Lady Chatterton who appears in the short story (later expanded, with some character names changed, and some characters omitted, and even a change to the title of the work), ‘The Mystery of the Baghdad Chest’. The version I read was included in a selection of stories, under the title ‘While the Light Lasts’, (pg.209-232), which was published in this form in 1997, although the story originally appeared in ‘The Strand Magazine’ in 1932.

Lady Chatterton is a friend of one of the main characters, Marguerita, whose husband has been murdered. In one version of the story, Marguerita stays at her friend’s house after the murder, so she can avoid the intrusive paparazzi. In the version I read, Poirot and Captain Hastings are invited to a party held by Lady Chatterton, and it is here that they are invited to investigate the murder of Marguerita Clayton’s husband. Here’s a few extracts:

“…Poirot and I [Captain Hastings] were due at a party given by Lady Chatterton that night.”

“Lady Chatterton was one of Poirot’s most ardent admirers. Starting from the mysterious conduct of a Pekingese, he had unravelled a chain which led to a noted burglar and housebreaker. Lady Chatterton had been loud in his praises ever since.”

“It was about half-past eleven when Lady Chatterton, bearing down upon us, whisked Poirot neatly out of an admiring group, and carried him off – I need hardly say, with myself in tow.

‘I want you to go into my little room upstairs,’ said Lady Chatterton rather breathlessly as soon as she was out of earshot of her other guests. ‘You know where it is, M. Poirot. You’ll find someone there who needs your help very badly – and you will help her, I know. She’s one of my dearest friends – so don’t say no.’

Energetically leading the way as she talked, Lady Chatterton flung open a door, exclaiming as she did so, ‘I’ve got him, Marguerita darling. And he’ll do anything you want. You will help Mrs Clayton, won’t you, M. Poirot?’”

I won’t spoil the plot for you! Suffice to say, Poirot does indeed help, and the right person is arrested for the murder of Mr Clayton.   

Middleton’s Bank

‘Nemesis’ was first published in 1971, so fairly late in Agatha Christie’s career. It’s a Miss Marple story, in which she is the recipient of an inheritance from a friend who had recently died, but only if she can solve a crime - an unknown crime, which took place at an unknown time, in an unknown place, and the name of anyone involved was also unknown! What a challenge!! But, as you would expect, Miss Marple managed to solve it!!! It is on the penultimate page of my copy of the novel, that Middleton’s bank is mentioned, when Miss Marple, having completed her challenge visits Broadribb and Schuster, the firm of solicitors who were dealing with her late friend’s personal affair. After congratulations are expressed, and a short explanation of her modus operandi, the business begin, although it is not clear if it is Mr Broadribb, or Mr Schuster who initiates the discussion…

“’Now about the sum of money we are holding. It’s at your disposal any time now. I don’t know whether you would like us to pay it into your bank or whether you would like to consult us possibly as to the investment of it? It’s quite a large sum.’

‘Twenty thousand pounds,‘ said Miss Marple. ‘Yes, it is a very large sum by my way of thinking. Quite extraordinary,’ she added.

‘If you would like an introduction to our brokers, they could give you possibly some ideas about investing.’

‘Oh, I don’t want to invest any of it.’

‘But surely it would be –‘

‘There’s no point saving at my age,’ said Miss Marple. ‘I mean the point of this money – I’m sure Mr Rafiel [her deceased friend] meant it that way – is to enjoy a few things that one thought one never would have the money to enjoy.’

‘Well, I see your point of view,’ said Mr Broadribb. ‘Then your instructions would be that we pay this sum of money into your bank?’

‘Middleton’s Bank, 132 High Street, St Mary Mead,’ said Miss Marple.

‘You have a deposit account, I expect. We will place it to your deposit account.’

‘Certainly not,’ said Miss Marple. ‘Put it into my current account.’

‘You don’t think –‘

‘I do think,’ said Miss Marple, ‘I want it in my current account.’”

And the connection is …

Loughborough’s 1894 HSBC building initially opened as The Leicestershire Banking Co., and went through several amalgamations and name changes, like The Midland Bank to become today’s HSBC (Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation). As mentioned above, this building replaced an earlier bank, called Middleton’s Bank, which had been started by William Middleton, around 1790 at Loughborough Wharf, and had moved to the Market Place around 1828. When William Middleton died in 1843, his son became the senior partner, and was later joined by his own son.

William’s son was named Edward Chatterton Middleton!  

There are many posts on this blog about Edward Chatterton Middleton, who once lived at The Grove, and after whom a street in Loughborough is named.

I wonder where our Agatha Christie connections will take us to next?!

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Posted by lynneaboutloughborough

With apologies for typos which are all mine!

_______________________________________________

Thank you for reading this blog.

Copyright:

The copyright © of all content on this blog rests with me, however, you are welcome to quote passages from any of my posts, with appropriate credit. The correct citation for this looks as follows:

Dyer, Lynne (2026). Middletons, Chattertons and the Loughborough Agatha Christie connections. Available from: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2026/09/middletons-chattertons-and-loughborough.html 

Take down policy:

I post no pictures that are not my own, unless I have express permission so to do. All text is my own, and not copied from any other information sources, printed or electronic, unless identified and credited as such. If you find I have posted something in contravention of these statements, or if there are photographs of you which you would prefer not to be here, please contact me at the address listed on the About Me page, and I will remove these.

External Links:

By including links to external sources I am not endorsing the websites, the authors, nor the information contained therein, and will not check back to update out-of-date links. Using these links to access external information is entirely the responsibility of the reader of the blog.

Blog archive and tags:

If you are viewing this blog in mobile format, you will not be able to easily access the blog archive, or the clickable links to various topics. These can be accessed if you scroll to the bottom of the page, and click 'View Web Version'. Alternatively, there is also a complete list of posts, which when clicked will take you to the page you are interested in.

Searching the blog:

You can search the blog using the dedicated search box that appears near the top of the blog when viewed in the web version. Alternatively, you can search using your usual search engine (e.g. Bing, Google, DuckDuckGo etc.) by following this example:

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NOTE – the words you’re actually looking for must be in “” and the first of these must be preceded by a space

Thank you for reading this blog.

Lynne

Agatha Christie and the Loughborough Connection

Well, would you believe it?! I was sitting quietly reading a book a friend had lent to me when you could have blowed me down with a feather when something with a local connection was mentioned, in a novel that was essentially about farming on the borders of Monmouthshire and Herefordshire. This, of course, reminded me about those Agatha Christie connections I came across when I was reading all her detective novels, and which I said I’d tell you about …

According to my copy of ‘Passenger to Frankfurt’, it was published in 1930, but according to all the other sources I’ve checked, it seems to have been published in 1970, being her 80th book, and being published to coincide with her 80th birthday. It’s a stand alone book, which doesn’t feature any of her regular sleuths, like Poirot, Miss Marple, or Tommy and Tuppence, etc..

The story is essentially a spy novel, and has been compared with novels by John le Carré, and Helen MacInnes. Just over 200 pages in, and towards the end of the novel, Lady Matilda Cleckheaton, the aunt of Sir Stafford Nye, who is one of the main male characters, meets with her old friend, Admiral Philip Blunt, and the two of them try to remember the name of a project being undertaken by scientist, Professor Robert Shoreham. This project went by the name of ‘Project B’, mostly because they couldn’t remember what it was actually called! The conversation went like this:

Matilda: “Well, I don’t know what [the project] was exactly. I mean, I don’t think it was sleeping or laughing [gas], At any rate, it was something. It wasn’t really Project B. It had another name.

Admiral: What sort of a name?

Matilda rather thoughtfully: Well, he did mention it once I think, or twice. The name he’d given it. Rather like Benger’s Food.

Admiral: Some soothing agent for the digestion?

Matilda: I don’t think [the project name] had anything to do with the digestion. I rather think it was something you sniffed, or something, perhaps it was a gland. You know we talked of so many things that you never quite knew what he was talking about at the moment. Benger’s Food. Ben – Ben – it did begin Ben. And there was a pleasant word associated with it.”

What Matilda was trying to remember was Project Benvo, which was a drug that made people altruistic, possibly on a long-term basis - all made up, of course.

The other Agatha Christie novel I read was ‘After the funeral’, published in 1953. Following the death of Richard Abernethie, his sister is then murdered. Poirot questions family members, including Richard’s wife, Maude:

“Poirot had talked with Maude Abernethie – also about paint (the smell of) and how fortunate it had been that Timothy [Richard’s brother] had been able to come to Enderby [Hall, not Enderby in Leicestershire!], and how kind it had been of Helen [Richard’s widowed sister-in-law] to extend an invitation to Miss Gilchrist [Cora’s paid companion], also.

For really she is most useful. Timothy so often feels like a snack – and one cannot ask too much of other people’s servants, but there is a gas ring in a little room off the pantry, so that Miss Gilchrist can warm up Ovaltine or Benger’s there without disturbing anybody. And she’s so willing about fetching things, she’s quite willing to run up and down stairs a dozen times a day. Oh yes, I feel that it was really quite Providential that she should have lost her nerve about staying alone in the house as she did, though I admit it vexed me at the time.”

Finally, a novel by Bruce Chatwin, called ‘On the Black Hill’, which, according to the novel’s cover, was ‘Now a Sensational Film’, was published in 1982. It follows the life story of the Jones family, particularly the twins, Lewis and Benjamin. It was initially thought that old Mrs Arkwright, a neighbour, died from nephritis and the effects of insanity, but when doubts were expressed, and her body exhumed for examination:

“Dr Galbraith professed himself shocked by the result of the forensic tests: ‘I knew she was a martyr to indigestion’ he said, ‘but I never expected this.’

To avail himself of her capital, Mr Arkwright had laced his wife’s Benger’s Food with arsenic purchased for the persecution of dandelions. He was convicted in Hereford and hanged in Gloucester.”

So, I’m sure many of us have heard of Benger’s, but what was it?

A blogger writing about products that no longer exist, refers to it as a bit of a pick-me-up, a cross between baby milk and invalid food. It was actually a mixture of wheat-flour and an extract that contained ‘digestive ferments of the pancreatic juice’ which when mixed with warm milk, could convert starch in food into sugar. Apparently, Horlicks or Benger’s might be sent to soldiers fighting in the Second World War.

The company that originally made Benger’s was created in 1790 at the Otter Works, in Strangeways, although the food supplement wasn’t produced until the mid-19th century. Frederick Benger and Standen Paine, two chemists, took over the company in 1870, and it became a limited company in 1903, eventually changing its name to Benger’s in 1939, following a move to purpose-built premises in Holmes Chapel – a name which will be familiar to people from Loughborough who used to work at Fisons, as Fisons, at the time described as a £5m chemical firm, took over Benger’s ‘the baby-food makers’ in 1947. The rest, as they say, is history!! And the Art Deco factory in Holmes Chapel was demolished in 2015.

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Posted by lynneaboutloughborough

With apologies for typos which are all mine!

_______________________________________________

Thank you for reading this blog.

Copyright:

The copyright © of all content on this blog rests with me, however, you are welcome to quote passages from any of my posts, with appropriate credit. The correct citation for this looks as follows:

Dyer, Lynne (2026). Agatha Christie and the Loughborough Connection. Available from: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2026/06/agatha-christie-and-loughborough.html [Accessed 30 June 2026]

Take down policy:

I post no pictures that are not my own, unless I have express permission so to do. All text is my own, and not copied from any other information sources, printed or electronic, unless identified and credited as such. If you find I have posted something in contravention of these statements, or if there are photographs of you which you would prefer not to be here, please contact me at the address listed on the About Me page, and I will remove these.

External Links:

By including links to external sources I am not endorsing the websites, the authors, nor the information contained therein, and will not check back to update out-of-date links. Using these links to access external information is entirely the responsibility of the reader of the blog.

Blog archive and tags:

If you are viewing this blog in mobile format, you will not be able to easily access the blog archive, or the clickable links to various topics. These can be accessed if you scroll to the bottom of the page, and click 'View Web Version'. Alternatively, there is also a complete list of posts, which when clicked will take you to the page you are interested in.

Searching the blog:

You can search the blog using the dedicated search box that appears near the top of the blog when viewed in the web version. Alternatively, you can search using your usual search engine (e.g. Bing, Google, DuckDuckGo etc.) by following this example:

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NOTE – the words you’re actually looking for must be in “” and the first of these must be preceded by a space

Thank you for reading this blog.

Lynne

Agatha Christie Connections

When I read all the Agatha Christie novels back in 2024-25, because I started with the first of her novels, ‘The Mysterious Affair at Styles’, which was written in 1916, and published in the UK in 1921, I always associate her with the 1920s and 1930s. As you already know, whilst I was reading the complete novels, I was struck by loads of connections I could make with our lovely town, and some I’ve written about on here (see list below).

Naturally, I made of note of all these connections, and looking back at them now, I had to wonder to myself why I had made this particular link? Why on earth would Agatha Christie be mentioning this, which was surely something that would not yet have existed. Of course, when I looked at the publication date of ‘At Bertram’s Hotel’, I realised that 1965 would have been about right for this connection. In fact, this shows just how up-to-date Christie was, and how she kept up with what was going on in the country!

Back in 1949, the government had passed the Special Roads Act, which pretty much gave the go-ahead to create some new roads, an idea that had been floating around since before the Second World War, and some attempt had been made in 1923 by a company set up by Lord Montagu of Beaulieu. The first of these ‘special roads’ was the Preston bypass which was built in 1958, and which later became part of the M6.

On pages 3-4 of ‘At Bertram’s Hotel’, the reader is introduced to the hotel, and some of its guests:

“Inside, if this was the first time you had visited Bertram’s, you felt, almost with alarm, that you had re-entered a vanished world. Time had gone back. You were in Edwardian England once more.

… the big entrance lounge was the favourite place for the afternoon tea drinking. The elderly ladies enjoyed seeing who came in and out, recognising old friends, and commenting unfavourably on how these had aged. There were also American visitors fascinated by seeing the titled English really getting down to their traditional afternoon tea. For afternoon tea was quite a feature of Bertam’s ...

On this particular day, November the 17th, Lady Selina Hazy, sixty-five , up from Leicestershire, was eating delicious well-buttered muffins with all an elderly lady’s relish.”

Later, on pages 170-2, Christie, describing people in the hotel’s lounge, wrote:

“There were not many people in the lounge this evening. [The Chief-Inspector] saw Miss Marple sitting in a chair near the fire and Miss Marple saw him … It was quiet in the lounge tonight.

An ascetic looking middle-aged man was reading through a badly typed thesis, occasionally writing a comment in the margin in such small crabbed handwriting as to be almost illegible. Every time he did this, he smiled in vinegary satisfaction.

There were one or two married couples of long standing who had little need to talk to each other. Occasionally two or three people were gathered together in the name of the weather conditions, discussing anxiously how they or their families were going to get where they wanted to be.

‘ – I rang up and begged Susan not to come by car … it means the M1 and always so dangerous in fog …’

‘They say it’s clearer in the Midlands …’

Chief Inspector Davy noted them as he passed.”

So, if the book was published in 1965, then Christie must have been writing about the M1 in the Midlands some time earlier! How absolutely abreast of current affairs was Christie?!

Mr lynneaboutloughborough recently did a park run on Greenham Common: in his sharing of this activity, he’s been interested to note that some people look blankly at him, and wonder why he chose to run there, while others gasp in amazement and ask what it’s like there since the women who arrived there to protest about nuclear weapons in 1981 had moved out about 19 years later?

The first part of the M1 opened in 1958, but, of course, detailed plans were made much earlier and certainly shared in 1956. There was an outcry in our area, as the original plan for the route was to take it through the ancient Charnwood Forest. A petition to stop this gathered 32,000 signatures! A revised route was devised, and the M1 through Leicestershire from Leicester Forest East, going in a northerly direction, and therefore passing Loughborough, opened in 1965. Apparently, incorporated in the hardcore was building material from Garendon Hall, which had been demolished in June 1964.

Since that time, Charnwood Forest has become an ‘aspiring UNESCO global geopark’ and has received Heritage Lottery Funding to help tell the story of Charnwood Forest, and look after it for future generations. There have also been many changes to the layout of the M1, with new lanes added, and new junctions, installed, linking more places. And the site of Garendon Hall is now being developed for housing. What more can I say?

The Outwoods, part of Charnwood Forest

Part of Garendon Park

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Previous Agatha Christie connections posts

Snowcrete - https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2025/03/christie-connections-snowcrete.html

Christie and Cook - https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2025/08/christie-and-cook.html

Paul Pry - https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2025/03/christie-connections-paul-pry.html (part of the A-Z Art Deco Challenge 2025)

Pirates in the Market Place - https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2026/06/spotlight-on-pirates-in-market-place.html

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Posted by lynneaboutloughborough

With apologies for typos which are all mine!

_______________________________________________

Thank you for reading this blog.

Copyright:

The copyright © of all content on this blog rests with me, however, you are welcome to quote passages from any of my posts, with appropriate credit. The correct citation for this looks as follows:

Dyer, Lynne (2026). Agatha Christie Connections. Available from: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2026/06/agatha-christie-connections.html [Accessed 25 June 2026]

Take down policy:

I post no pictures that are not my own, unless I have express permission so to do. All text is my own, and not copied from any other information sources, printed or electronic, unless identified and credited as such. If you find I have posted something in contravention of these statements, or if there are photographs of you which you would prefer not to be here, please contact me at the address listed on the About Me page, and I will remove these.

External Links:

By including links to external sources I am not endorsing the websites, the authors, nor the information contained therein, and will not check back to update out-of-date links. Using these links to access external information is entirely the responsibility of the reader of the blog.

Blog archive and tags:

If you are viewing this blog in mobile format, you will not be able to easily access the blog archive, or the clickable links to various topics. These can be accessed if you scroll to the bottom of the page, and click 'View Web Version'. Alternatively, there is also a complete list of posts, which when clicked will take you to the page you are interested in.

Searching the blog:

You can search the blog using the dedicated search box that appears near the top of the blog when viewed in the web version. Alternatively, you can search using your usual search engine (e.g. Bing, Google, DuckDuckGo etc.) by following this example:

site: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/ “Radmoor House”

NOTE – the words you’re actually looking for must be in “” and the first of these must be preceded by a space

Thank you for reading this blog.

Lynne

Spotlight on Pirates in the Market Place

Already we’re into June, and I must apologise for posting so few articles in May! I’ve had my head down, scribbling away at the next book, trying hard to reach a deadline!! That done, I’ve headed back here to do a bit of catching up with you.

I’ve spent quite a bit of time today trying to think what to write about, and then I remembered one of those connections to Loughborough I said I’d tell you about. This one is related to my reading of the entire output (novels, that is) of Agatha Christie, and connections I found that were either directly related to Loughborough or reminded me of Loughborough in some way. 

Having decided what to write about, I then spent a good amount of time looking for a book called ‘Thirteen for Lunch’. Odd. It didn’t seem to be on the right bookshelf. Hmmm, more searching. Back to the shelf it should be on, and lo and behold if I didn’t find a book called ‘Thirteen for Luck’! So much for my handwriting on the note I’d made for myself a couple of years ago!!

So, back to ‘Thirteen for Luck’, and what exactly is the connection with Loughborough …

Yesterday, I was buying some bread from the Belvoir Bakery market stall, when I noticed a couple of pirates walking past me. Now, I’m not one to not know what’s going on, but I really had no idea why there should be pirates in the Market Place of land-locked Loughborough, so far away from the sea. I even asked the ‘breadman’ as I’ve taken to calling him! He had no idea, either, and even said if I found out I should let him know!!

Well, it wasn’t actually that difficult to find out, as there were another couple of pirates huddled around the next occupied market stall. Naturally, I stopped to see what was going on …

‘Thirteen for Luck’ is actually a series of thirteen short stories, and the story which reminded me of a Loughborough connection is called ‘The Unbreakable Alibi’, and features Tommy and Tuppence as the detectives. A chap called Montgomery Jones has fallen in love with a woman, Una Drake, who challenges him to solve a puzzle of how she could be in two places at once. He’s hoping to solve this and as his prize, ask the woman to marry him, but he knows he can’t do it alone so enlists the help of Tommy and Tuppence.

The two places the woman is supposed to have been at the same time were at a hotel in Torquay, where she stayed overnight, and an evening in London, where she dined at a restaurant in Soho, caught a West End show, and had supper with a friend at the Savoy Hotel. When interviewed by Tommy and Tuppence in relation to the London evening, Mr le Marchant, a ‘breezy youth’ the following conversation took place:

“’I understand, Mr le Marchant,’ said Tommy, ‘that Miss Drake had supper with you at the Savoy last Tuesday evening.’ ‘That’s right,’ said Mr le Marchant. ‘I know it was Tuesday because Una impressed it on me at the time and, what’s more, she made me write it down in a little book.’”

I’m not going to tell you any more about the story, and thus spoil it for you if you intend to read it, but in the story, Mr le Marchant is called Jimmy. However, in a London Weekend Television production, Jimmy’s name was changed to Peter.

Meanwhile back in Loughborough …

The Peter le Marchant Trust (PLMT) was set up in 1976 by Clare le Marchant-Connell, following the death of her brother, Peter. The charity aims to make boat trips on the local canal and river a possibility for people of all ages, with physical disabilities, or with mental health concerns, as well as respite for carers.

During August 2026, the Trust is hosting a pirate day, with a week of events leading up to this. What better way to publicise this than by sending pirates to Loughborough market! I am now the proud owner of a PLMT mug and a keyring!

I’ve previously written about my canal boat trip with PLMT back in 2023. It’s a wonderful experience to be able to sit back and enjoy and take advantage of the benefits of a journey along the water, without having to do any of the hard work! A marvellous organisation, which I’m pleased to support in the small way that I can. There was another poster, specifically about the day itself, but I passed that on to someone else before thinking I might want to share it here! Never mind, you can follow PLMT on various social media channels and find out more information that way.

 

In addition to this specific pirate-related event, there are regular events like yoga, Tranquil Tuesdays, and art or photography opportunities. Oh, and the Trust now have a new boat, called Harmony!

____________________________________

Posted by lynneaboutloughborough

With apologies for typos which are all mine!

_______________________________________________

Thank you for reading this blog.

Copyright:

The copyright © of all content on this blog rests with me, however, you are welcome to quote passages from any of my posts, with appropriate credit. The correct citation for this looks as follows:

Dyer, Lynne (2026). Spotlight on Pirates in the Market Place: an exploration of Agatha Christie connections with Loughborough. Available from: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2026/06/spotlight-on-pirates-in-market-place.html [Accessed 7 June 2026]

Take down policy:

I post no pictures that are not my own, unless I have express permission so to do. All text is my own, and not copied from any other information sources, printed or electronic, unless identified and credited as such. If you find I have posted something in contravention of these statements, or if there are photographs of you which you would prefer not to be here, please contact me at the address listed on the About Me page, and I will remove these.

External Links:

By including links to external sources I am not endorsing the websites, the authors, nor the information contained therein, and will not check back to update out-of-date links. Using these links to access external information is entirely the responsibility of the reader of the blog.

Blog archive and tags:

If you are viewing this blog in mobile format, you will not be able to easily access the blog archive, or the clickable links to various topics. These can be accessed if you scroll to the bottom of the page, and click 'View Web Version'. Alternatively, there is also a complete list of posts, which when clicked will take you to the page you are interested in.

Searching the blog:

You can search the blog using the dedicated search box that appears near the top of the blog when viewed in the web version. Alternatively, you can search using your usual search engine (e.g. Bing, Google, DuckDuckGo etc.) by following this example:

site: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/ “Radmoor House”

NOTE – the words you’re actually looking for must be in “” and the first of these must be preceded by a space

Thank you for reading this blog.

Lynne

And so begins a new year

Before setting off on this, the first blog post of 2026, I'd like to wish you all a happy new year and I do hope you've had a wonderful break between the end of 2025 and the beginning of 2026!

The bell tower of All Saints with Holy Trinity just after the ringing in of the New Year!

In 2025 I managed to post 68 blogs, covering a variety of topics ranging from commemorations - like 300 years since the birth of Robert Bakewell, 120 years of the Carnegie Library, the annual commemoration of the Zeppelin raid of 1916, and an alphabetical celebration of 100 years of the exhibition in Paris which gave its name to Art Deco. Also, there have been the usual 'So Who Was' posts - like John Thomas Judges, and William Thomas Cartwright - posts about buildings - like Burleigh Hall, and the Old Rectory - posts about connections - mostly with Agatha Christie - and a serialisation of Goadby's 'History Of Loughborough'. And then there were the posts about various events I'd attended, and the Heritage Open Days events I took part in. 

In August I wrote that the viewing figures for the blog were nearing a staggering and unexpected 1million! Since then, they have surpassed that figure and today are standing at 1,122,023! I can't thank you enough for being part of my readers! If, like many of us these days, you view the blog on your mobile phone you won't get the full experience of the blog - the web view has a pinned post, a list of all the blog posts, and clickable keywords. So, in order to make sure you don't miss a post, there is a complete list of all the blog posts I've written available from here: 'Links to All the Blog Posts in lynneaboutloughborough'. 

As you probably know, as well as working on the blog, I also lead guided walks, give presentations, contribute to projects that further our knowledge of Loughborough's history, and write books, the latest of which, 'Loughborough At Work' was published in September 2025.

2026 looks as though it's going to be as busy as year as previous ones, so I'm looking forward to that!

Wishing you well in 2026!

____________________________________

Posted by lynneaboutloughborough

With apologies for typos which are all mine!

_______________________________________________

Thank you for reading this blog.

Copyright:

The copyright © of all content on this blog rests with me, however, you are welcome to quote passages from any of my posts, with appropriate credit. The correct citation for this looks as follows:

Dyer, Lynne (2026). And so begins a new year. Available from: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2026/01/and-so-begins-new-year.html  [Accessed 5 January 2026]

Take down policy:

I post no pictures that are not my own, unless I have express permission so to do. All text is my own, and not copied from any other information sources, printed or electronic, unless identified and credited as such. If you find I have posted something in contravention of these statements, or if there are photographs of you which you would prefer not to be here, please contact me at the address listed on the About Me page, and I will remove these.

External Links:

By including links to external sources I am not endorsing the websites, the authors, nor the information contained therein, and will not check back to update out-of-date links. Using these links to access external information is entirely the responsibility of the reader of the blog.

Blog archive and tags:

If you are viewing this blog in mobile format, you will not be able to easily access the blog archive, or the clickable links to various topics. These can be accessed if you scroll to the bottom of the page, and click 'View Web Version'. Alternatively, there is also a complete list of posts, which when clicked will take you to the page you are interested in.

Searching the blog:

You can search the blog using the dedicated search box that appears near the top of the blog when viewed in the web version. Alternatively, you can search using your usual search engine (e.g. Bing, Google, DuckDuckGo etc.) by following this example:

site: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/ “Radmoor House”

NOTE – the words you’re actually looking for must be in “” and the first of these must be preceded by a space

Thank you for reading this blog.

Lynne

      

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!” 

 

____________________________________

Posted by lynneaboutloughborough

With apologies for typos which are all mine!

_______________________________________________

Thank you for reading this blog.

Copyright:

The copyright © of all content on this blog rests with me, however, you are welcome to quote passages from any of my posts, with appropriate credit. The correct citation for this looks as follows:

Dyer, Lynne (2025). Christie and Cook. Available from: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2025/08/christie-and-cook.html  [Accessed 24 August 2025]

Take down policy:

I post no pictures that are not my own, unless I have express permission so to do. All text is my own, and not copied from any other information sources, printed or electronic, unless identified and credited as such. If you find I have posted something in contravention of these statements, or if there are photographs of you which you would prefer not to be here, please contact me at the address listed on the About Me page, and I will remove these.

External Links:

By including links to external sources I am not endorsing the websites, the authors, nor the information contained therein, and will not check back to update out-of-date links. Using these links to access external information is entirely the responsibility of the reader of the blog.

Blog archive and tags:

If you are viewing this blog in mobile format, you will not be able to easily access the blog archive, or the clickable links to various topics. These can be accessed if you scroll to the bottom of the page, and click 'View Web Version'. Alternatively, there is also a complete list of posts, which when clicked will take you to the page you are interested in.

Searching the blog:

You can search the blog using the dedicated search box that appears near the top of the blog when viewed in the web version. Alternatively, you can search using your usual search engine (e.g. Bing, Google, DuckDuckGo etc.) by following this example:

site: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/ “Radmoor House”

NOTE – the words you’re actually looking for must be in “” and the first of these must be preceded by a space

Thank you for reading this blog.

Lynne

Christie Connections – Paul Pry

Introduction – Christie Connections with Loughborough

As you know from last a recent post, I recently finished the challenge of reading all the Agatha Christie novels, and had been surprised at how many references there were within her books to Loughborough-related things, or, at least, things that connected in some way with Loughborough.      

“Hickory Dickory Dock”

Today’s post is prompted by something I read in Hickory Dickory Dock, on p300.

Written in 1955, unlike Sleeping Murder which featured Miss Marple, HDD is a Poirot affair, a synopsis of which can be found elsewhere. In short, a number of items go missing from a student hostel, then come the murders …

One of the characters in the novel, Mrs Christina Nicoletis, is the eccentric and volatile owner of the student accommodation, and in the reference we’re interested in, she is in conversation with Mrs Hubbard, who is the warden of the accommodation, and incidentally just happens to be the sister of Poirot’s secretary, Miss Lemon. Here’s what’s said, when Mrs Nicoletis flew into one of her tempers:

“Ah, you do not think I have cause for anxiety? You know best as usual! You know everything! You are so wonderful: you cater, you manage, you spend money like water on food so that the students are fond of you, and now you want to manage my affairs! But that, no! I keep my affairs to myself and nobody shall pry into them, do you hear? No, Mrs What-do-you-call-it Paul Pry.”

The Loughborough Connection

Back in March 2022 I posted an article entitled ‘So Who Was Paul Pry?’

This post gave a detailed description of the character of ‘Paul Pry’ – a do-gooding, nosey busybody – as he appeared in a play written in 1825 by the writer John Poole (1786-1872). And it is this character that is referenced in Hickory Dickory Dock, in which, essentially, Mrs Nicoletis is telling Mrs Hubbard to mind her own business!

Apparently, according to a report in the Leicestershire Mercury of October 1839, we had a Paul Pry in Church Gate, one John Hollingsworth, who knocked over William Smith, who he accused of catching him “playing the part of Paul Pry, by listening under [someone's] window, a practice of which he was frequently guilty.”  

However, in my earlier post about Paul Pry, I focussed on the name as the name of a local beer-off premises, that according to a newspaper report (Leicester Evening Mail of 5th March 1930), was on Leicester Road, and was once the home of the Clemerson family, when it was known as the White House, and later was Maher’s Off-Licence. Since then, research has revealed that the George Moore referred to in that article, who was of the Paul Pry and who had been in court in 1832 for not looking after his apprentice, was listed in a trade directory of 1835 as a beer retailer on Wood Gate. Later, in 1841, a report of a gun being shot up the chimney of the Paul Pry gives no indication of who was running the business, nor where it was situated, although we are told that the perpetrator lives close to the Roman Catholic Chapel – presumably on Ashby Road.

A similar situation arises in 1846 when two shoemakers – Mr Rozzell and Mr Barker – have a bit of an argument. They were drinking in the Paul Pry – but where, is not stated!

Could the Paul Pry have been in Ward’s End?

By 1851 we find that there is a publican listed in Ward’s End, called Matthew Ward. On the 1841 census return he was in Ward’s End but listed as either a farrier or a farmer. I suspect the latter, as he also appears in a polling book as owning property in Ward’s End. In 1858, Matthew Ward of the Paul Pry beerhouse (no address given) was convicted of keeping his house open on Sunday 17 th January, for the sale of beer, and was fined £1 and costs. Matthew Ward died in 1859, aged 75, and is buried in Emmanuel churchyard.

In October 1923, a letter which appeared in the Leicester Daily Mercury mentioned that a farmer stopped off at “the tavern known as the Paul Pry, in Bedford Square”, I don’t know about you, but I can never quite work out where Bedford Square ends, and Ward’s End begins, but this could well be the same premises as mention in 1851.

In 1952, the Loughborough Echo published a piece quoting extracts from an account book that was about 100 years old. This account book belonged to Mr John Cooper, a maltster from Hathern and in it is recorded the sales he made, many of which were to Loughborough folk. The first entry in the book is for 1843, but the one of more interest here is an entry for 1852, which named the Paul Pry on Ward’s End as one of the customers.

So, was there a Paul Pry on Leicester Road, and on Ward’s End / Bedford Square? I can honestly say I really have no idea!!

But, just one more thing before I leave you in peace, in September 1891, the Loughborough cyclers indulged in a lantern parade, and the participants were decked out in gorgeous array, representing historical characters like "Ally Soper", "Paul Pry", and others!

____________________________________

Posted by lynneaboutloughborough

With apologies for typos which are all mine!

_______________________________________________

Thank you for reading this blog.

Copyright:

The copyright © of all content on this blog rests with me, however, you are welcome to quote passages from any of my posts, with appropriate credit. The correct citation for this looks as follows:

Dyer, Lynne (2025). Christie Connections – Paul Pry. Available from: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2025/03/christie-connections-paul-pry.html  [Accessed 6 April 2025]

Take down policy:

I post no pictures that are not my own, unless I have express permission so to do. All text is my own, and not copied from any other information sources, printed or electronic, unless identified and credited as such. If you find I have posted something in contravention of these statements, or if there are photographs of you which you would prefer not to be here, please contact me at the address listed on the About Me page, and I will remove these.

External Links:

By including links to external sources I am not endorsing the websites, the authors, nor the information contained therein, and will not check back to update out-of-date links. Using these links to access external information is entirely the responsibility of the reader of the blog.

Blog archive and tags:

If you are viewing this blog in mobile format, you will not be able to easily access the blog archive, or the clickable links to various topics. These can be accessed if you scroll to the bottom of the page, and click 'View Web Version'. Alternatively, there is also a complete list of posts, which when clicked will take you to the page you are interested in.

Searching the blog:

You can search the blog using the dedicated search box that appears near the top of the blog when viewed in the web version. Alternatively, you can search using your usual search engine (e.g. Bing, Google, DuckDuckGo etc.) by following this example:

site: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/ “Radmoor House”

NOTE – the words you’re actually looking for must be in “” and the first of these must be preceded by a space

Thank you for reading this blog.

Lynne