THE programme for a festival to celebrate the Wallingford area’s connections with Agatha Christie has now been finalised.

The crime writer lived in Winterbrook House, Cholsey, from 1934 until her death in 1976 and there is now a commemorative blue plaque on the house.

Mrs Christie is buried in the churchyard at St Mary’s Church, Cholsey, and in September last year Wallingford staged its first festival dedicated to the popular writer, which included a talk by TV historian Lucy Worsley.

Now organisers, including Wallingford Museum curator Judy Dewey, have prepared a programme of events for this year’s festival, which runs from Friday, September 18, to Sunday, September 20.

Mrs Dewey said the festival was timed to mark the 125th anniversary of the author’s birth on September 15.

She hoped hundreds of visitors to Wallingford would gather for the weekend of events.

It will include guided Agatha Christie walks from Wallingford to Cholsey, an exhibition that will have some of the writer’s personal letters and a music concert at St Mary’s Church with a Christie theme.

Mrs Dewey will also give a talk, partly based on an interview with Agatha Christie conducted by 15-year-old schoolboy David Llewelyn in 1970.

She said: “David was at Wallingford School, which was then the old grammar school and he approached Agatha Christie for an interview and it was published in the Wallingfordian, the school magazine.

“It’s not a widely known interview and it does shed light on her attitude to writing and on the way she wrote her books.”

Christie, born in Torquay in 1890, was a prolific storyteller, writing 80 novels and two billion copies of her books have been sold worldwide.

Mrs Dewey said the current BBC TV drama series Partners in Crime, featuring David Walliams and Jessica Raine, which is based on Agatha Christie’s characters Tommy and Tuppence Beresford, could boost the number of people attending the festival.

Mrs Dewey’s talk takes place at 7.30pm at the Corn Exchange, Wallingford, on Friday, September 18.

For a full programme of events at different venues and further information including tickets visit wallingfordmuseum.org.uk

Meanwhile, an amateur dramatic group is celebrating the 125th anniversary of Christie’s birth by staging one of her works.

BreakaLeg Productions will be presenting Witness for the Prosecution next month at the Unicorn Theatre in Abingdon.

It was reportedly Christie’s favourite play of her works and was made into a film in 1957 starring Tyrone Power and Marlene Dietrich.

Witness for the Prosecution departs from the long-time Cholsey resident’s usual dramatic choices, yet demonstrates her special talent for storytelling with unexpected twists.

The plot centres on Leonard Vole, who stands in the dock accused of murder, but can he escape the hangman’s noose?

BreakaLegProductions will perform Witness for the Production at Unicorn Theatre, Checker Walk, Abingdon, from Wednesday, September 9, to Saturday, September 12, at 7.15pm.

Tickets cost £7 for the Wednesday and Thursday performances and £8.50 for the Friday and Saturday shows.

They are available from The Bookstore in Abingdon precinct, by post from BreakaLeg box office, 40 Castle Street, Steventon, OX13 6SR, or by calling 01235 821351 or 07836 776220.

See breakalegproductions.co.uk for more about the group.