She is one of the best-known crime writers of all time, but few know the extent of Agatha Christie’s archaeological pedigree. What can we discover if we dig into her past?

Married in 1930 to Max Mallowan, an eminent archaeologist, Christie spent two decades living on excavation sites in the Middle East, writing her crime novels and helping out with her husband’s work. Travel by boat and on the Orient Express to Cairo, Damascus and Baghdad provided ideas for some of Christie’s best-known works of detective fiction, including “Murder on the Orient Express”, “Death on the Nile”, and “Murder in Mesopotamia”.

Now, 3,000-year-old ivory artifacts recovered by Mallowan between 1949 and 1963 from the ancient city of Nimrud, in what is now Iraq, and likely cleaned by his famous wife using cotton wool buds and face cream, are currently on display at the British Museum in London. “Face cream in fact is quite a good thing to clean (artifacts) with. Obviously conservators now wouldn’t use that, but I don’t think it has done (the pieces) any harm,” he claimed, adding that in fact it was quite resourceful of Christie to think of applying her Innoxa face cream to the fragile, dirty pieces. “Agatha, who was very conscious of being fifteen years older than her husband, travelled everywhere with her moisturiser and it was just the right consistency for cleaning artifacts,” said Henrietta McCall, the author of “The Life of Max Mallowan: Archaeology and Agatha Christie.”

Christie’s interest in archaeology, according to McCall, went deeper than support for her husband’s work and even formed the backdrop to works such as “Murder in Mesopotamia”, in which the culprit turns out to be an archaeologist. Several of the characters in the book can be traced to the people Christie knew from a dig in Ur in what is modern Iraq, including the murder victim, which McCall believes is based on the wife of archaeologist Leonard Woolley. “She made a wonderful quote on archaeology and crime detection, that they are very similar because you have to clear away the debris to reveal the shining truth,” said McCall. And Christie’s elaborate plotting and clue building came in handy when

piecing together broken artifacts.

According to the archaeologist Charlotte Trumpler, “Christie was of course fascinated by puzzles, using little archaeological fragments, and she had a gift for piecing them together very patiently.” Trumpler co-curated a 2001-2 travelling exhibition “Agatha Christie and Archaeology: Mystery in Mesopotamia” alongside Henrietta McCall.

Although Christie played an important role in her husband’s work, even financing many of his expeditions, she was, according to McCall, very modest about her contributions. She was fiercely proud of Mallowan, who is often referred to as one of the best-known archaeologists of the post-WWII period. However,Trumpler believes that though Christie never publically mentioned it, her contribution to archaeology was larger than she imagined. Her notes and black and white photographs of excavation sites are used by archaeologists and researchers even today, she said.

Christie’s readiness to muck in and help her husband, says Trumpler, stemmed from her desire to be a devoted wife but also from a fascination with the Middle East that stayed with her for many years. “Everyone thinks Agatha Christie was a bit like the character Miss Marple, that she lived in England and was into knitting and looking after the garden,” said Trumpler. “Actually, she wasn’t … she

had such a fascinating life apart from being an author.”

She is one of the best-known crime writers of all time, but few know the extent of Agatha Christie’s archaeological pedigree. What can we discover if we dig into her past?

Married in 1930 to Max Mallowan, an eminent archaeologist, Christie spent two decades living on excavation sites in the Middle East, writing her crime novels and helping out with her husband’s work. Travel by boat and on the Orient Express to Cairo, Damascus and Baghdad provided ideas for some of Christie’s best-known works of detective fiction, including “Murder on the Orient Express”, “Death on the Nile”, and “Murder in Mesopotamia”.

Now, 3,000-year-old ivory artifacts recovered by Mallowan between 1949 and 1963 from the ancient city of Nimrud, in what is now Iraq, and likely cleaned by his famous wife using cotton wool buds and face cream, are currently on display at the British Museum in London. “Face cream in fact is quite a good thing to clean (artifacts) with. Obviously conservators now wouldn’t use that, but I don’t think it has done (the pieces) any harm,” he claimed, adding that in fact it was quite resourceful of Christie to think of applying her Innoxa face cream to the fragile, dirty pieces. “Agatha, who was very conscious of being fifteen years older than her husband, travelled everywhere with her moisturiser and it was just the right consistency for cleaning artifacts,” said Henrietta McCall, the author of “The Life of Max Mallowan: Archaeology and Agatha Christie.”

Christie’s interest in archaeology, according to McCall, went deeper than support for her husband’s work and even formed the backdrop to works such as “Murder in Mesopotamia”, in which the culprit turns out to be an archaeologist. Several of the characters in the book can be traced to the people Christie knew from a dig in Ur in what is modern Iraq, including the murder victim, which McCall believes is based on the wife of archaeologist Leonard Woolley. “She made a wonderful quote on archaeology and crime detection, that they are very similar because you have to clear away the debris to reveal the shining truth,” said McCall. And Christie’s elaborate plotting and clue building came in handy when

piecing together broken artifacts.

According to the archaeologist Charlotte Trumpler, “Christie was of course fascinated by puzzles, using little archaeological fragments, and she had a gift for piecing them together very patiently.” Trumpler co-curated a 2001-2 travelling exhibition “Agatha Christie and Archaeology: Mystery in Mesopotamia” alongside Henrietta McCall.

Although Christie played an important role in her husband’s work, even financing many of his expeditions, she was, according to McCall, very modest about her contributions. She was fiercely proud of Mallowan, who is often referred to as one of the best-known archaeologists of the post-WWII period. However,Trumpler believes that though Christie never publically mentioned it, her contribution to archaeology was larger than she imagined. Her notes and black and white photographs of excavation sites are used by archaeologists and researchers even today, she said.

Christie’s readiness to muck in and help her husband, says Trumpler, stemmed from her desire to be a devoted wife but also from a fascination with the Middle East that stayed with her for many years. “Everyone thinks Agatha Christie was a bit like the character Miss Marple, that she lived in England and was into knitting and looking after the garden,” said Trumpler. “Actually, she wasn’t … she

had such a fascinating life apart from being an author.”

She is one of the best-known crime writers of all time, but few know the extent of Agatha Christie’s archaeological pedigree. What can we discover if we dig into her past?

Married in 1930 to Max Mallowan, an eminent archaeologist, Christie spent two decades living on excavation sites in the Middle East, writing her crime novels and helping out with her husband’s work. Travel by boat and on the Orient Express to Cairo, Damascus and Baghdad provided ideas for some of Christie’s best-known works of detective fiction, including “Murder on the Orient Express”, “Death on the Nile”, and “Murder in Mesopotamia”.

Now, 3,000-year-old ivory artifacts recovered by Mallowan between 1949 and 1963 from the ancient city of Nimrud, in what is now Iraq, and likely cleaned by his famous wife using cotton wool buds and face cream, are currently on display at the British Museum in London. “Face cream in fact is quite a good thing to clean (artifacts) with. Obviously conservators now wouldn’t use that, but I don’t think it has done (the pieces) any harm,” he claimed, adding that in fact it was quite resourceful of Christie to think of applying her Innoxa face cream to the fragile, dirty pieces. “Agatha, who was very conscious of being fifteen years older than her husband, travelled everywhere with her moisturiser and it was just the right consistency for cleaning artifacts,” said Henrietta McCall, the author of “The Life of Max Mallowan: Archaeology and Agatha Christie.”

Christie’s interest in archaeology, according to McCall, went deeper than support for her husband’s work and even formed the backdrop to works such as “Murder in Mesopotamia”, in which the culprit turns out to be an archaeologist. Several of the characters in the book can be traced to the people Christie knew from a dig in Ur in what is modern Iraq, including the murder victim, which McCall believes is based on the wife of archaeologist Leonard Woolley. “She made a wonderful quote on archaeology and crime detection, that they are very similar because you have to clear away the debris to reveal the shining truth,” said McCall. And Christie’s elaborate plotting and clue building came in handy when

piecing together broken artifacts.

According to the archaeologist Charlotte Trumpler, “Christie was of course fascinated by puzzles, using little archaeological fragments, and she had a gift for piecing them together very patiently.” Trumpler co-curated a 2001-2 travelling exhibition “Agatha Christie and Archaeology: Mystery in Mesopotamia” alongside Henrietta McCall.

Although Christie played an important role in her husband’s work, even financing many of his expeditions, she was, according to McCall, very modest about her contributions. She was fiercely proud of Mallowan, who is often referred to as one of the best-known archaeologists of the post-WWII period. However,Trumpler believes that though Christie never publically mentioned it, her contribution to archaeology was larger than she imagined. Her notes and black and white photographs of excavation sites are used by archaeologists and researchers even today, she said.

Christie’s readiness to muck in and help her husband, says Trumpler, stemmed from her desire to be a devoted wife but also from a fascination with the Middle East that stayed with her for many years. “Everyone thinks Agatha Christie was a bit like the character Miss Marple, that she lived in England and was into knitting and looking after the garden,” said Trumpler. “Actually, she wasn’t … she

had such a fascinating life apart from being an author.”

She is one of the best-known crime writers of all time, but few know the extent of Agatha Christie’s archaeological pedigree. What can we discover if we dig into her past?

Married in 1930 to Max Mallowan, an eminent archaeologist, Christie spent two decades living on excavation sites in the Middle East, writing her crime novels and helping out with her husband’s work. Travel by boat and on the Orient Express to Cairo, Damascus and Baghdad provided ideas for some of Christie’s best-known works of detective fiction, including “Murder on the Orient Express”, “Death on the Nile”, and “Murder in Mesopotamia”.

Now, 3,000-year-old ivory artifacts recovered by Mallowan between 1949 and 1963 from the ancient city of Nimrud, in what is now Iraq, and likely cleaned by his famous wife using cotton wool buds and face cream, are currently on display at the British Museum in London. “Face cream in fact is quite a good thing to clean (artifacts) with. Obviously conservators now wouldn’t use that, but I don’t think it has done (the pieces) any harm,” he claimed, adding that in fact it was quite resourceful of Christie to think of applying her Innoxa face cream to the fragile, dirty pieces. “Agatha, who was very conscious of being fifteen years older than her husband, travelled everywhere with her moisturiser and it was just the right consistency for cleaning artifacts,” said Henrietta McCall, the author of “The Life of Max Mallowan: Archaeology and Agatha Christie.”

Christie’s interest in archaeology, according to McCall, went deeper than support for her husband’s work and even formed the backdrop to works such as “Murder in Mesopotamia”, in which the culprit turns out to be an archaeologist. Several of the characters in the book can be traced to the people Christie knew from a dig in Ur in what is modern Iraq, including the murder victim, which McCall believes is based on the wife of archaeologist Leonard Woolley. “She made a wonderful quote on archaeology and crime detection, that they are very similar because you have to clear away the debris to reveal the shining truth,” said McCall. And Christie’s elaborate plotting and clue building came in handy when

piecing together broken artifacts.

According to the archaeologist Charlotte Trumpler, “Christie was of course fascinated by puzzles, using little archaeological fragments, and she had a gift for piecing them together very patiently.” Trumpler co-curated a 2001-2 travelling exhibition “Agatha Christie and Archaeology: Mystery in Mesopotamia” alongside Henrietta McCall.

Although Christie played an important role in her husband’s work, even financing many of his expeditions, she was, according to McCall, very modest about her contributions. She was fiercely proud of Mallowan, who is often referred to as one of the best-known archaeologists of the post-WWII period. However,Trumpler believes that though Christie never publically mentioned it, her contribution to archaeology was larger than she imagined. Her notes and black and white photographs of excavation sites are used by archaeologists and researchers even today, she said.

Christie’s readiness to muck in and help her husband, says Trumpler, stemmed from her desire to be a devoted wife but also from a fascination with the Middle East that stayed with her for many years. “Everyone thinks Agatha Christie was a bit like the character Miss Marple, that she lived in England and was into knitting and looking after the garden,” said Trumpler. “Actually, she wasn’t … she

had such a fascinating life apart from being an author.”

She is one of the best-known crime writers of all time, but few know the extent of Agatha Christie’s archaeological pedigree. What can we discover if we dig into her past?

Married in 1930 to Max Mallowan, an eminent archaeologist, Christie spent two decades living on excavation sites in the Middle East, writing her crime novels and helping out with her husband’s work. Travel by boat and on the Orient Express to Cairo, Damascus and Baghdad provided ideas for some of Christie’s best-known works of detective fiction, including “Murder on the Orient Express”, “Death on the Nile”, and “Murder in Mesopotamia”.

Now, 3,000-year-old ivory artifacts recovered by Mallowan between 1949 and 1963 from the ancient city of Nimrud, in what is now Iraq, and likely cleaned by his famous wife using cotton wool buds and face cream, are currently on display at the British Museum in London. “Face cream in fact is quite a good thing to clean (artifacts) with. Obviously conservators now wouldn’t use that, but I don’t think it has done (the pieces) any harm,” he claimed, adding that in fact it was quite resourceful of Christie to think of applying her Innoxa face cream to the fragile, dirty pieces. “Agatha, who was very conscious of being fifteen years older than her husband, travelled everywhere with her moisturiser and it was just the right consistency for cleaning artifacts,” said Henrietta McCall, the author of “The Life of Max Mallowan: Archaeology and Agatha Christie.”

Christie’s interest in archaeology, according to McCall, went deeper than support for her husband’s work and even formed the backdrop to works such as “Murder in Mesopotamia”, in which the culprit turns out to be an archaeologist. Several of the characters in the book can be traced to the people Christie knew from a dig in Ur in what is modern Iraq, including the murder victim, which McCall believes is based on the wife of archaeologist Leonard Woolley. “She made a wonderful quote on archaeology and crime detection, that they are very similar because you have to clear away the debris to reveal the shining truth,” said McCall. And Christie’s elaborate plotting and clue building came in handy when

piecing together broken artifacts.

According to the archaeologist Charlotte Trumpler, “Christie was of course fascinated by puzzles, using little archaeological fragments, and she had a gift for piecing them together very patiently.” Trumpler co-curated a 2001-2 travelling exhibition “Agatha Christie and Archaeology: Mystery in Mesopotamia” alongside Henrietta McCall.

Although Christie played an important role in her husband’s work, even financing many of his expeditions, she was, according to McCall, very modest about her contributions. She was fiercely proud of Mallowan, who is often referred to as one of the best-known archaeologists of the post-WWII period. However,Trumpler believes that though Christie never publically mentioned it, her contribution to archaeology was larger than she imagined. Her notes and black and white photographs of excavation sites are used by archaeologists and researchers even today, she said.

Christie’s readiness to muck in and help her husband, says Trumpler, stemmed from her desire to be a devoted wife but also from a fascination with the Middle East that stayed with her for many years. “Everyone thinks Agatha Christie was a bit like the character Miss Marple, that she lived in England and was into knitting and looking after the garden,” said Trumpler. “Actually, she wasn’t … she

had such a fascinating life apart from being an author.”

She is one of the best-known crime writers of all time, but few know the extent of Agatha Christie’s archaeological pedigree. What can we discover if we dig into her past?

Married in 1930 to Max Mallowan, an eminent archaeologist, Christie spent two decades living on excavation sites in the Middle East, writing her crime novels and helping out with her husband’s work. Travel by boat and on the Orient Express to Cairo, Damascus and Baghdad provided ideas for some of Christie’s best-known works of detective fiction, including “Murder on the Orient Express”, “Death on the Nile”, and “Murder in Mesopotamia”.

Now, 3,000-year-old ivory artifacts recovered by Mallowan between 1949 and 1963 from the ancient city of Nimrud, in what is now Iraq, and likely cleaned by his famous wife using cotton wool buds and face cream, are currently on display at the British Museum in London. “Face cream in fact is quite a good thing to clean (artifacts) with. Obviously conservators now wouldn’t use that, but I don’t think it has done (the pieces) any harm,” he claimed, adding that in fact it was quite resourceful of Christie to think of applying her Innoxa face cream to the fragile, dirty pieces. “Agatha, who was very conscious of being fifteen years older than her husband, travelled everywhere with her moisturiser and it was just the right consistency for cleaning artifacts,” said Henrietta McCall, the author of “The Life of Max Mallowan: Archaeology and Agatha Christie.”

Christie’s interest in archaeology, according to McCall, went deeper than support for her husband’s work and even formed the backdrop to works such as “Murder in Mesopotamia”, in which the culprit turns out to be an archaeologist. Several of the characters in the book can be traced to the people Christie knew from a dig in Ur in what is modern Iraq, including the murder victim, which McCall believes is based on the wife of archaeologist Leonard Woolley. “She made a wonderful quote on archaeology and crime detection, that they are very similar because you have to clear away the debris to reveal the shining truth,” said McCall. And Christie’s elaborate plotting and clue building came in handy when

piecing together broken artifacts.

According to the archaeologist Charlotte Trumpler, “Christie was of course fascinated by puzzles, using little archaeological fragments, and she had a gift for piecing them together very patiently.” Trumpler co-curated a 2001-2 travelling exhibition “Agatha Christie and Archaeology: Mystery in Mesopotamia” alongside Henrietta McCall.

Although Christie played an important role in her husband’s work, even financing many of his expeditions, she was, according to McCall, very modest about her contributions. She was fiercely proud of Mallowan, who is often referred to as one of the best-known archaeologists of the post-WWII period. However,Trumpler believes that though Christie never publically mentioned it, her contribution to archaeology was larger than she imagined. Her notes and black and white photographs of excavation sites are used by archaeologists and researchers even today, she said.

Christie’s readiness to muck in and help her husband, says Trumpler, stemmed from her desire to be a devoted wife but also from a fascination with the Middle East that stayed with her for many years. “Everyone thinks Agatha Christie was a bit like the character Miss Marple, that she lived in England and was into knitting and looking after the garden,” said Trumpler. “Actually, she wasn’t … she

had such a fascinating life apart from being an author.”

She is one of the best-known crime writers of all time, but few know the extent of Agatha Christie’s archaeological pedigree. What can we discover if we dig into her past?

Married in 1930 to Max Mallowan, an eminent archaeologist, Christie spent two decades living on excavation sites in the Middle East, writing her crime novels and helping out with her husband’s work. Travel by boat and on the Orient Express to Cairo, Damascus and Baghdad provided ideas for some of Christie’s best-known works of detective fiction, including “Murder on the Orient Express”, “Death on the Nile”, and “Murder in Mesopotamia”.

Now, 3,000-year-old ivory artifacts recovered by Mallowan between 1949 and 1963 from the ancient city of Nimrud, in what is now Iraq, and likely cleaned by his famous wife using cotton wool buds and face cream, are currently on display at the British Museum in London. “Face cream in fact is quite a good thing to clean (artifacts) with. Obviously conservators now wouldn’t use that, but I don’t think it has done (the pieces) any harm,” he claimed, adding that in fact it was quite resourceful of Christie to think of applying her Innoxa face cream to the fragile, dirty pieces. “Agatha, who was very conscious of being fifteen years older than her husband, travelled everywhere with her moisturiser and it was just the right consistency for cleaning artifacts,” said Henrietta McCall, the author of “The Life of Max Mallowan: Archaeology and Agatha Christie.”

Christie’s interest in archaeology, according to McCall, went deeper than support for her husband’s work and even formed the backdrop to works such as “Murder in Mesopotamia”, in which the culprit turns out to be an archaeologist. Several of the characters in the book can be traced to the people Christie knew from a dig in Ur in what is modern Iraq, including the murder victim, which McCall believes is based on the wife of archaeologist Leonard Woolley. “She made a wonderful quote on archaeology and crime detection, that they are very similar because you have to clear away the debris to reveal the shining truth,” said McCall. And Christie’s elaborate plotting and clue building came in handy when

piecing together broken artifacts.

According to the archaeologist Charlotte Trumpler, “Christie was of course fascinated by puzzles, using little archaeological fragments, and she had a gift for piecing them together very patiently.” Trumpler co-curated a 2001-2 travelling exhibition “Agatha Christie and Archaeology: Mystery in Mesopotamia” alongside Henrietta McCall.

Although Christie played an important role in her husband’s work, even financing many of his expeditions, she was, according to McCall, very modest about her contributions. She was fiercely proud of Mallowan, who is often referred to as one of the best-known archaeologists of the post-WWII period. However,Trumpler believes that though Christie never publically mentioned it, her contribution to archaeology was larger than she imagined. Her notes and black and white photographs of excavation sites are used by archaeologists and researchers even today, she said.

Christie’s readiness to muck in and help her husband, says Trumpler, stemmed from her desire to be a devoted wife but also from a fascination with the Middle East that stayed with her for many years. “Everyone thinks Agatha Christie was a bit like the character Miss Marple, that she lived in England and was into knitting and looking after the garden,” said Trumpler. “Actually, she wasn’t … she

had such a fascinating life apart from being an author.”

It was Friday, the thirty-first of May, and it was Shirley’s birthday, her twentieth birthday. Shirley could 32 ______ believe it, but it was true. And she suddenly, and wonderfully, felt quite grown up, very grown up, in fact. Last night her father had 33 ______ her a lovely young lady, and she had beamed at him, hugged him, and told him she was so happy to have him and Alice, have them as her parents. There was no one luckier than she was; Shirley believed that with all her 34 ______.

Last night, over dinner, Alice and Victor praised her and were talking much about how proud they were of her and what she had become, and she had experienced an enormous rush of love and gratitude toward them. Her father had added that she had a wonderful life ahead of her, and she believed him. He always 35 ______ her the truth.

Her dream of going to Cambridge had come true and for the past year she had been living her childhood dream, 36 ______ lectures. She 37 ______ every moment of living in that ancient city of shining spires, gracious quadrangles, and beautiful architecture. It was an extraordinary experience to be in that place of great learning, and she would 38 ______ it with love long after she had left. She was reading English and French history, her favourite subjects, and one day she hoped to be a historian and give lectures herself and write books.

It was Friday, the thirty-first of May, and it was Shirley’s birthday, her twentieth birthday. Shirley could 32 ______ believe it, but it was true. And she suddenly, and wonderfully, felt quite grown up, very grown up, in fact. Last night her father had 33 ______ her a lovely young lady, and she had beamed at him, hugged him, and told him she was so happy to have him and Alice, have them as her parents. There was no one luckier than she was; Shirley believed that with all her 34 ______.

Last night, over dinner, Alice and Victor praised her and were talking much about how proud they were of her and what she had become, and she had experienced an enormous rush of love and gratitude toward them. Her father had added that she had a wonderful life ahead of her, and she believed him. He always 35 ______ her the truth.

Her dream of going to Cambridge had come true and for the past year she had been living her childhood dream, 36 ______ lectures. She 37 ______ every moment of living in that ancient city of shining spires, gracious quadrangles, and beautiful architecture. It was an extraordinary experience to be in that place of great learning, and she would 38 ______ it with love long after she had left. She was reading English and French history, her favourite subjects, and one day she hoped to be a historian and give lectures herself and write books.

It was Friday, the thirty-first of May, and it was Shirley’s birthday, her twentieth birthday. Shirley could 32 ______ believe it, but it was true. And she suddenly, and wonderfully, felt quite grown up, very grown up, in fact. Last night her father had 33 ______ her a lovely young lady, and she had beamed at him, hugged him, and told him she was so happy to have him and Alice, have them as her parents. There was no one luckier than she was; Shirley believed that with all her 34 ______.

Last night, over dinner, Alice and Victor praised her and were talking much about how proud they were of her and what she had become, and she had experienced an enormous rush of love and gratitude toward them. Her father had added that she had a wonderful life ahead of her, and she believed him. He always 35 ______ her the truth.

Her dream of going to Cambridge had come true and for the past year she had been living her childhood dream, 36 ______ lectures. She 37 ______ every moment of living in that ancient city of shining spires, gracious quadrangles, and beautiful architecture. It was an extraordinary experience to be in that place of great learning, and she would 38 ______ it with love long after she had left. She was reading English and French history, her favourite subjects, and one day she hoped to be a historian and give lectures herself and write books.

It was Friday, the thirty-first of May, and it was Shirley’s birthday, her twentieth birthday. Shirley could 32 ______ believe it, but it was true. And she suddenly, and wonderfully, felt quite grown up, very grown up, in fact. Last night her father had 33 ______ her a lovely young lady, and she had beamed at him, hugged him, and told him she was so happy to have him and Alice, have them as her parents. There was no one luckier than she was; Shirley believed that with all her 34 ______.

Last night, over dinner, Alice and Victor praised her and were talking much about how proud they were of her and what she had become, and she had experienced an enormous rush of love and gratitude toward them. Her father had added that she had a wonderful life ahead of her, and she believed him. He always 35 ______ her the truth.

Her dream of going to Cambridge had come true and for the past year she had been living her childhood dream, 36 ______ lectures. She 37 ______ every moment of living in that ancient city of shining spires, gracious quadrangles, and beautiful architecture. It was an extraordinary experience to be in that place of great learning, and she would 38 ______ it with love long after she had left. She was reading English and French history, her favourite subjects, and one day she hoped to be a historian and give lectures herself and write books.

It was Friday, the thirty-first of May, and it was Shirley’s birthday, her twentieth birthday. Shirley could 32 ______ believe it, but it was true. And she suddenly, and wonderfully, felt quite grown up, very grown up, in fact. Last night her father had 33 ______ her a lovely young lady, and she had beamed at him, hugged him, and told him she was so happy to have him and Alice, have them as her parents. There was no one luckier than she was; Shirley believed that with all her 34 ______.

Last night, over dinner, Alice and Victor praised her and were talking much about how proud they were of her and what she had become, and she had experienced an enormous rush of love and gratitude toward them. Her father had added that she had a wonderful life ahead of her, and she believed him. He always 35 ______ her the truth.

Her dream of going to Cambridge had come true and for the past year she had been living her childhood dream, 36 ______ lectures. She 37 ______ every moment of living in that ancient city of shining spires, gracious quadrangles, and beautiful architecture. It was an extraordinary experience to be in that place of great learning, and she would 38 ______ it with love long after she had left. She was reading English and French history, her favourite subjects, and one day she hoped to be a historian and give lectures herself and write books.

It was Friday, the thirty-first of May, and it was Shirley’s birthday, her twentieth birthday. Shirley could 32 ______ believe it, but it was true. And she suddenly, and wonderfully, felt quite grown up, very grown up, in fact. Last night her father had 33 ______ her a lovely young lady, and she had beamed at him, hugged him, and told him she was so happy to have him and Alice, have them as her parents. There was no one luckier than she was; Shirley believed that with all her 34 ______.

Last night, over dinner, Alice and Victor praised her and were talking much about how proud they were of her and what she had become, and she had experienced an enormous rush of love and gratitude toward them. Her father had added that she had a wonderful life ahead of her, and she believed him. He always 35 ______ her the truth.

Her dream of going to Cambridge had come true and for the past year she had been living her childhood dream, 36 ______ lectures. She 37 ______ every moment of living in that ancient city of shining spires, gracious quadrangles, and beautiful architecture. It was an extraordinary experience to be in that place of great learning, and she would 38 ______ it with love long after she had left. She was reading English and French history, her favourite subjects, and one day she hoped to be a historian and give lectures herself and write books.

It was Friday, the thirty-first of May, and it was Shirley’s birthday, her twentieth birthday. Shirley could 32 ______ believe it, but it was true. And she suddenly, and wonderfully, felt quite grown up, very grown up, in fact. Last night her father had 33 ______ her a lovely young lady, and she had beamed at him, hugged him, and told him she was so happy to have him and Alice, have them as her parents. There was no one luckier than she was; Shirley believed that with all her 34 ______.

Last night, over dinner, Alice and Victor praised her and were talking much about how proud they were of her and what she had become, and she had experienced an enormous rush of love and gratitude toward them. Her father had added that she had a wonderful life ahead of her, and she believed him. He always 35 ______ her the truth.

Her dream of going to Cambridge had come true and for the past year she had been living her childhood dream, 36 ______ lectures. She 37 ______ every moment of living in that ancient city of shining spires, gracious quadrangles, and beautiful architecture. It was an extraordinary experience to be in that place of great learning, and she would 38 ______ it with love long after she had left. She was reading English and French history, her favourite subjects, and one day she hoped to be a historian and give lectures herself and write books.