Quiz day fun
Our Agatha Christie Quiz – which was held on Friday, October 20 – went with a swing. Every seat was occupied, and we were joined by Wokingham Town Mayor, Cllr Peter Lucey – who is also a friend of our Association.
We started in a manner appropriate to the Christie era – with cocktails from our wonderful bar – which now boasts a stock of 106 bottles of the best wines, spirits and liqueurs.
The Quality Care Commission recently completed an inspection of mental health facilities for the elderly mentally ill, and while finding many deficiencies in these services, praised those, who, like us, hold cocktail parties for residents and their visitors.
Even those of our service users who prefer tea to alcohol, comment that it is rare, but nice, to come to a place where tea is served with fine china cups – and saucers!
They say that in some mental health facilities, one is lucky to get a decent cup of tea – never mind a whisky and soda!
Strange, because I can’t say that I find providing the choice of either – particularly arduous!
We all participated in the quiz. Chris Hoskin scored most – as he always does – because, like me, he is a Christie aficionado.
But all participants came up with some answers, and the questions ranged through the entire Christie cannon – from her first detective story – ‘The Mysterious Affair at Styles’ [published in 1920] – through to her final work – ‘Postern of Fate’ [published in 1973], and also posthumous publications of earlier, previously unpublished, works.
After the quiz, I regaled participants with this true story. A child was admitted to hospital – very ill, and certain to die, if he did not get the right treatment – but the doctors were puzzled.
They could not understand what was
causing the symptoms.
Fortunately, a nurse happened to come on duty, who was an Agatha Christie fan. She recognised the symptoms as being caused by a rare poison – described accurately by Agatha
Christie in one of her detective stories – so the child was treated, and recovered!
Agatha Christie was a trained pharmacist – having passed the examination of the Society of Apothecaries – so the descriptions of poisons and their effects in her books – are always very accurate.
Now I shall make your Feminist readers’ hair stand on end!
Until the late 19th Century, women were not allowed into medical schools – to train as doctors, but, if they passed the Apothecaries’ Examination, they could get in the back door. Once the male medical establishment realised this, they closed the loophole!
Women were allowed to train as nurses – because this role was near enough to that of a servant to be acceptable. Indeed, the traditional nurses’ uniforms were identical to those worn by domestic servants! Women won in the end.
Men argued that it was not seemly for them to examine the bodies of the victims of sex crimes, but they argued that it was MORE seemly for gynaecology patients to be treated by female doctors, and that argument won the day. However, discrimination lingered well into the 20th Century.
In Agatha Christie’s book ‘The Moving Finger’, [published in 1943], Aimee Griffith explained to Jerry Burton – ‘I was anxious to study for a doctor.
They [her parents] would not hear of paying the fees, but they paid them readily for Owen. Yet I should have made a better doctor than my brother.’
We all enjoyed the ‘Agatha Christie’ Quiz, and got some good donations when we passed the collection box around at the end – so it was a successful fund-raiser as well. Pam Jenkinson, The Wokingham Crisis House