Iconic English crime writer Agatha Christie’s grandson Mathew Prichard has launched a strong attack on Wikipedia, the online encyclopaedia, for revealing the ending of her play The Mousetrap, which the world’s longest-running play.
The Mousetrap, which premiered in London in 1952, has never stopped running since and has more than 24,000 performances to its credit.
Christie, famous for creating detectives Hercule Poirot and Miss Jane Marple, has sold an estimated one billion copies of her novels in English and another billion in 103 other languages. Born at Torquay in Devon on September 15, 1890, Christie spent much of her life in the seaside town and died in 1976. She wrote 80 detective novels and short story collections, along with numerous plays and romantic novels.
With her 120th birth anniversary celebrations under way in Britain, the Wikipedia leak on the ending of the play has come as a nasty affront for her family. Christie’s fans and family have petitioned Wikipedia to remove the spoiler, or include a warning.
“My grandmother always got upset if the plots of her books or plays were revealed in reviews — and I don’t think this is any different. I think it is a pity if a publication, if I can call it that, potentially spoils the enjoyment for those people who go to see the play. It’s not a question of money or anything like that. It’s just a pity,” Mr Prichard, who was given the rights to The Mousetrap by Christie on his ninth birthday, told London’s Independent newspaper. He said he would raise the matter with the play’s producer for the past 23 of its 58-year West End run, Sir Stephen Waley-Cohen.
“I don’t pretend to be an expert on Wikipedia or modern technology. All I can tell you is that from the point of view of the theatre-going public, I think it does spoil the enjoyment of those going to have an entertaining evening at the theatre — one part of which is to guess who the murderer is,” Mr Pritchard added.
However, Wikipedia, which is compiled by members of the public approved to contribute to the website, defended its decision to reveal the ending of the play. “Our purpose is to collect and report notable knowledge. It’s exceedingly easy to avoid knowing the identity of the murderer: just don’t read it. Asking Wikipedia not to reveal the identity of the murderer is like asking a library to remove copies of The Mousetrap book from shelves because someone could just go and read the end,” a Wikipedia spokesperson told the newspaper.