Original subtitles

♪♪

Suchet: In September 1922, a young novelist, Agatha Christie,

journeyed up this hill with her husband, Archie,

and other members of the British Empire Exhibition mission.

They'd been invited to visit this building.

The Dominion Astrophysical Observatory.

Now, at the time of their visit, this observatory was fairly new,

and their hosts were very keen to make a good impression

on their visitors.

The country behind this exciting venture

wanted to make a name for itself on the international stage,

and that country was Canada.

For Agatha, this observatory in Victoria

was the start of an epic adventure that would take her

over 3,000 miles from west to east.

Agatha had come to Canada on the journey of a lifetime.

She was travelling the world as part of a mission

that was championing the upcoming

British Empire Exhibition.

Held in London in 1924,

the exhibition was being designed to boost trade

and strengthen the bonds between nations.

I've been re-creating this journey

and following in Agatha's footsteps.

So far, it's taken me to Southern Africa...

Australia...

and New Zealand... -Welcome.

-...and even on holiday to Hawaii.

I'm David Suchet and I played Agatha Christie's

famous character Hercule Poirot for 25 years.

I want to explore the countries Agatha visited in the 1920s...

There were 94,099 sheep shorn the year that Agatha was here.

What?!

Suchet: ...and learn about the legacy

of the British Empire today.

We are still black, dispossessed,

displaced, and landless.

You can't understand why things are the way

they are with indigenous people in Canada

if you don't look at what the history is.

And through seeing what Agatha saw...

That is extraordinary.

...with my trusty camera at my side,

I'll discover more about the woman

whose work has played such a pivotal part in my own career.

She embraced life for all it was worth.

Wow, what a discovery!

♪♪

♪♪

On the 16th of September 1922,

Agatha and Archie arrived in Canada,

a self-governing dominion of the British Empire created in 1867.

They started in Victoria,

where the mission was shown a technological marvel created

by this young nation.

Just four years before Agatha's visit,

the Dominion Astrophysical Observatory

had opened its doors.

Inside was the largest

and most important telescope in the British Empire.

The Observatory's historian, Dennis,

has offered to show me what Agatha would have seen

when she came here in 1922.

-Oh, hi, David. -Hello.

-Welcome to the observatory. -Thank you very much.

Dennis, I've got to ask you straightaway,

what would have been its significance for a visit

by Agatha Christie and the British Empire Mission?

In the early part of the 20th century,

U.S., particular, was building larger and larger telescopes,

and Canada, feeling it wanted to become

a major player on the world stage, said,

"We need a big telescope."

And so it was built partly for national pride,

as well as for the science.

People came from around the world to see it.

What was the telescope actually doing

when Agatha Christie came here in 1922?

Well, it was basically doing what it did every clear night,

taking the spectrum of stars

and recording them on photographic plates.

-Yes. -I have here the logbook,

on astronomers keeping track of what they're doing.

Suchet: Yes.

September 15th, 1922,

the night before Agatha visited the telescope,

and they did a lot of observing that night.

The next page is September 17th.

What happened to the 16th?

From the looks of it, clouds came in late on September 15th.

I think the 16th was cloudy.

-That's when she was here. -Yes.

-It was cloudy. -That's life as an astronomer.

You end up with cloudy nights.

So she wouldn't have been able to actually see anything?

Through the telescope, I don't think so.

But you can observe the moon through a fair bit of cloud,

so who knows?

She might have been able to see something.

-I hope so. -Well, I'd like to think so.

Yeah, I'd like to think so, too. Yeah.

Suchet: Fascinating.

♪♪

Suchet: Over a century after Agatha's visit,

this observatory is still operational.

Before night falls and the telescope gets to work,

I have the opportunity to see it up close.

Oh, my goodness!

-That's amazing! -It's a wonderful machine.

Think how Agatha would have viewed this in 1922.

I'm sure she would have had the same reaction as I've just had.

Oh, I'm sure she did.

And is this as she would have seen it?

What it looks like and the scale of it

would be basically the same.

The difference, of course, today is we have computers,

-which they didn't have in 1922. -No.

The computers control the motion of the telescope.

So, what the telescope can do today is about 10,000 times

more sensitive than the telescope was in 1922.

♪♪

♪♪

Wow!

Crabtree: The first thing is, you have to

point the telescope at the star.

-You can see that gear moving. -Yes.

And as we also point the telescope,

the dome will have to be moved

so the telescope is looking out through the shutter.

They're basically rail wheels on a railway track.

-Oh, my God! -And that big top turns around.

And you use it.

We use it every clear night for science, yes.

Wow.

-This is really impressive. -It's an impressive machine.

Even though it's 106 years old, it's a very impressive machine.

Suchet: The telescope was the brainchild

of the Canadian astronomer John Stanley Plaskett,

who made public access to the observatory

a priority from the start.

Crabtree: Plaskett said,

"The telescope will be open for the public tours

on Saturday night and for every Saturday night thereafter."

And we've been running public tours almost consistently

during that time, running these star parties Saturday night.

-You call it a star party? -Yeah.

Have a party, come look at the stars, enjoy the sky, you know?

How wonderful.

Do you have any idea what day of the week

Agatha Christie visited?

Well, it turns out she visited on a Saturday.

Saturdays are special up here at the observatory.

♪♪

And just like Agatha, I'm also here on a Saturday,

so I'm joining the star party that is in full swing.

I'm looking at the Red Giant.

Gosh, it's rather awe-inspiring, isn't it?

It really is.

Were there any major discoveries as a result of this observatory?

Oh, yes, many a great discoveries were made here.

In 1922, in fact,

Plaskett discovered the most massive pair

of stars known up until that time.

-Really? -And it got to be known

very quickly as Plaskett's Star.

Plaskett won many international awards for his work.

It was a demonstration of Canada coming of age

as a modern country.

And it really made the observatory famous

around the world and, of course,

it made Victoria, the city, famous around the world.

Suchet: In 1922,

Canada was still forging its own identity

and was keen to distinguish itself from Britain.

And this meant many in Canada

were initially sceptical of the Empire Exhibition.

The leader of the mission, Major Belcher --

he really believed

that Canada needed more encouragement

than other dominions as far as the exhibition was concerned.

And I think, with a twinkle in his eye and rather wickedly,

he sort of set up a competition

between other dominions and Canada by using the media.

And in one newspaper, he was quoted as saying,

"Australia is making a magnificent response due largely

to their sense of vision

as to what the exhibition will mean for the extension

of Australia's trade."

That's a good bit of publicity to get Canada moving.

♪♪

♪♪

While in Victoria, Agatha and Archie stayed at The Empress.

This impressive hotel, known as "The Castle on the Coast,"

must have provided some much-needed respite

after eight long months of travelling.

But its opulence may have made Agatha uneasy.

In Agatha's autobiography,

she tells us that at this stage in the trip,

she and Archie were running out of money.

And I find that quite extraordinary, really.

You see, although Agatha's sea fares were paid for,

she had no allowance.

Archie had £1,000 allowance for the trip.

But by this stage, they were really running low

and getting very worried.

But Agatha had a plan.

In a surprising passage from her autobiography,

she recounts how she gorged herself on the hotel breakfast.

"I had grapefruit and sometimes pawpaw, as well.

I had buckwheat cakes,

waffles with maple syrup, eggs, and bacon.

I came out feeling like an overstuffed boa constrictor.

But I managed to make it last until evening."

What's lovely about this is that it shows a sense

of resourcefulness.

In all her writings, she never complains.

Never. She recounts everything with a certain light-heartedness

and wit, which shows a wonderful, positive character.

A week after her arrival in Canada,

Agatha left Victoria behind and began an epic journey east.

I'm getting ready to do the same on the Rocky Mountaineer,

a luxury train that travels from Vancouver

to the mountain resort of Banff.

-Hello. -Welcome, sir.

Suchet: Thank you very much. Good morning, good morning.

Thank you.

Well, I've been on a couple of red carpets in my life,

but never the red carpet of the Rocky Mountaineer.

Woman #1: We are excited to host you on board

the Rocky Mountaineer

as we make our way from the beautiful city of Vancouver.

We have our crew waving us off just on the right-hand side.

Woman #2: Look -- there they are.

You certainly don't get this send-off

leaving Paddington Station.

♪♪

♪♪

Back in the 1920s,

Canada's railway was advertised to tourists

as the most efficient and scenic way

to explore this vast country.

♪♪

Oh, we're slowing down.

Oh, wow! That is extraordinary.

♪♪

I'm completely amazed at how this whole rail was constructed.

What a feat.

Built in the 1880s, this railway line played

a crucial role in Canada's formation.

Our train manager Wendy has worked on this route

for nearly 15 years.

The idea was to unite both Eastern and Western Canada.

So our government in Ottawa thought,

"We need to get a rail line built."

British Columbia, at that point, hadn't joined into the federacy,

so the rail line was the draw.

So once they heard that they would get a rail line

built through British Columbia joining the two coastlines,

they were willing to join the country

and really is why we have the Canada that we have today.

-I mean, how did they do it?

-They brought in a lot of Irish workers, Chinese workers,

and they were the ones who really helped

to finish that rail line.

Throughout Canada, we are built off of immigration.

It really is kind of that foundation.

I mean, it must have been hugely dangerous.

Very much so. We see the terrain we're travelling through.

They say, for every mile, there is usually a loss of life --

-Every mile? -Every mile of track being laid.

They were doing it in what is considered

really impassable, rugged areas.

You've got mudslides, dynamite, the weather, the terrain.

Suchet: It's estimated

that around 15,000 Chinese labourers worked

on this stretch of track through British Columbia.

They were paid less than other workers,

and hundreds lost their lives during construction.

Once this section of track was complete,

the Canadian Pacific Railway in the West

could be connected to Canada's rail network in the East.

The railways met over 300 miles from Vancouver.

Our host Toni can show me where.

Okay, this is going to be Craigellachie coming up.

Suchet: Here we are.

What happened here was, the last spike

of the Canadian Pacific Railway was hammered in.

-So, just a spike like this. -Oh, wow!

The first one that they tried to hammer in actually bent

because it was done by a politician rather than

an engineer because he wanted the camera shot.

-So he tried to do it himself. -Typical politician.

Absolutely. So it was bent.

But the second one went in, and that was on --

in November, in 1885.

Suchet: Wow!

♪♪

[ Train rattling, clanging ]

I just love the sound of the train.

[ Brakes hiss ]

Ah! It's amazing!

♪♪

During the next stage of this journey,

the train must traverse the infamous Canadian Rockies,

a towering mountain range with around 50 peaks

that surpass 11,000 feet.

I really can't believe how massive these mountains are.

It really makes me feel that small.

At the rugged Kicking Horse Pass,

the highest point in our journey,

trains must ascend over 5,300 feet.

To gain this amount of height safely,

two tunnels were built through two immense mountains.

But this required a unique design.

So, it was in 1907

that they began the building of the Spiral Tunnels.

They started at the bottom in the town of Field

-that we just passed by. -Yes.

And they had one team start there

and they had the other team start at the very top

of Mount Cathedral.

And they worked for two years to meet in the middle.

Kind of spiralling around.

Exactly. Spiralling the entire way.

Webb: Here we go into our first tunnel.

Suchet: Oh, this is -- Now we're in a spiral.

Webb: We are. We are inside Mount Ogden.

-Ah. -So, we're turning.

We really are turning now on a --

We're turning 226 degrees.

We're turning left.

So when we come out of this mountain,

everything that we saw on the left-hand side

is now going to be on the right-hand side.

-Suchet: Now we're out. -Webb: So, we're out!

Suchet: The Spiral Tunnels were completed in 1909

and allowed trains to make this vast ascent gradually.

Really, really incredible.

This is the second mountain here that

we're going to be making our way through, Mount Cathedral.

Suchet: Yes.

I'm getting a wonderful sense

that you're quite excited this time.

I am really excited, to be honest.

-Is that right? Yes. -Yeah.

♪♪

♪♪

-Wow! Look, here we are. -We're all turned around.

Oh, my goodness me. We have turned around.

The valley, the Kicking Horse River.

Yes!

Everything is all on the other side now.

♪♪

-A margarita. -Man: Yes.

It seems obvious

that Canada's railways were an important part of their story,

and I would say even their identity and something

the country was very proud of in the 1920s,

because they featured very prominently

in the British Empire Exhibition.

And I'm just looking at the map here in the guidebook,

and either side of the Canadian pavilion are two buildings,

one dedicated to C.P.R. --

that's the Canadian Pacific Railway --

and the other one, the CN Railway,

the Canadian National Railway.

Telling the story, according to the guidebook,

of their marvellous conquest of prairie and mountains.

It also seems clear

that they were keen to advertise the ingenuity

and technical achievements of the railways.

And also the potential for tourism,

probably targeting the Brits visiting the exhibition.

Yeah, but, you know, look at the potential.

Stunning.

No wonder it's on so many people's bucket list.

♪♪

Also near the top of many a bucket list

is the train's destination, Banff,

the highest town in the Canadian Rockies.

One of the town's key attractions

is the Banff Springs Hotel.

It was built in 1887 by the Canadian Pacific Railway

to attract tourists to the area

and it's one of the first and most striking of Canada's

famous grand railway hotels.

These mountains are so impressive.

And I'm about 4,500 feet above sea level.

And I'm at Banff, staying at the Banff Springs Hotel,

where Agatha stayed.

So I am once again following in her footsteps.

With its towering mountains and serene lakes,

it's no surprise that Agatha said it was one

of the most beautiful places she had ever seen.

And it continues to attract thousands

of tourists to this day.

♪♪

Where the Rockies end, the Prairies begin --

a valley of plains, forest, and farmland

nearly 1,500 miles long.

Agatha came here because the Empire Mission were following

in someone else's footsteps.

That someone was the future Edward VIII.

He would become infamous as the British king

who abdicated to marry Wallis Simpson in the 1930s.

But in 1919,

he was still a young prince touring the British Empire.

David, this is the view that the prince would have seen.

Oh, sensational.

They say that he got up early in the morning before breakfast

and he went for a long walk

and he walked the ridgeline behind us here

and he saw the view.

And this is what he fell in love with.

Suchet: The Prince of Wales had come here to Alberta

and visited a ranch called the Bar U.

He was so enamoured,

he decided to buy a ranch for himself -- right next door.

Today, the ranch is owned by Jennifer and her family.

It's pretty much identical to what the prince

would have seen back in 1919.

And he was incredibly taken with the Rocky Mountains

in the background, the foothills,

and then Pekisko Creek, the wooded meandering creek

that you see that goes through the ranch.

Yes.

Historically, royals do not buy personal property.

So, it's said to be the only property

that was ever owned personally by a member of the royal family.

So, if you look straight at the end,

there's the Prince of Wales' house.

It's the red house with the white trim.

Suchet: Okay, yes.

Bartlett: That's the original ranch house.

-Is it? -Mm-hmm.

♪♪

What did he do when he was here? Did he get involved?

I understand he was very active.

I understand he liked to take part in anything

to do with the cattle operation --

-The cattle? -Yeah.

Did he become a cowboy?

Well, I think he played cowboy when he was here.

-No! -Yes.

And I think he just wanted to sort of embrace the lifestyle.

One of the things that everyone remembers

is that he would always refer to "My fellow Albertans."

Oh, really?

It's as though he had assumed that he was an Albertan himself

after purchasing the ranch.

Suchet: When the Prince of Wales found out

that the Empire Mission were visiting Canada,

he insisted they visit his ranch.

And maybe Agatha was able to experience a bit

of the ranching lifestyle herself.

The prince certainly did.

In 1941, the prince came with Wallis Simpson,

and they stayed at the ranch house

and they were here approximately a week.

-Was that her first visit? -Her very first visit.

-Oh. -And his last visit was in 1950.

And it as a very short visit. It lasted two days.

Oh!

They arrived in April to one of our infamous spring snowstorms.

So I think the weather became a huge deterrent.

Suchet: But back in 1924,

the ranch captured the imagination of visitors

to the Empire Exhibition in quite a surprising way.

I've got to show you a photograph...

-Okay. -...of...

that.

Do you know what that is?

-The prince. -That is the prince.

Next to a horse in front of the ranch house.

In front of the ranch house.

But let me tell you, the whole thing is a butter sculpture.

Bartlett: Butter? That's crazy.

Suchet: This life-size sculpture,

made of 3,000 pounds of butter,

was one of the most admired spectacles

in the entire exhibition.

Also, did you know that, in the exhibition,

very prominently, was also a photograph of your ranch?

I did not know that.

You have a very, very, very special place here.

We love it.

♪♪

[ Whistles ]

Suchet: Well, I can quite see why Edward loved it here.

And I'd like to think that Agatha liked it, too.

And this particular ranch, whether in photographic form

or even in the butter sculpture,

would have certainly been a highlight

of the Canadian pavilion.

It's as if they wanted to promote themselves

as a homestead, if you like, for the British settlers.

And I can quite imagine that some of the British visitors

to the Canadian Pavilion may have wanted to have a taste

of the ranch lifestyle themselves.

But, you know, there's something also that I'm curious about.

In all my travels with Agatha throughout Canada,

I've never heard any mention of the indigenous people.

So that gets me to question what Agatha didn't see.

♪♪

♪♪

I've come to see a place

that the Empire Mission were not taken to visit.

This is St. Eugene.

The land here has been home to the Ktunaxa people

for thousands of years.

Today, it's a beautiful resort, but in the 1920s,

this building was a residential school

for First Nations children.

Gordie's parents and grandparents were sent here,

and he had to attend the school himself when he was 5 years old.

Our dormitories on the top floors in each of the corners.

Boys to that side of the building,

girls to this side of the building.

Boys' side, girls' side.

Gordie, can you actually remember your

very first day here?

-I can't forget it. -Really?

It was one of the worst days of my life.

When I came to school here in 1957,

my grandmother brought me here.

I came in horse and buggy.

When my grandmother gets me here,

they go into the building what's called the Indian Parlour.

We have to sit there and wait for the priest to come.

You could hear a nun shouting at our --

scolding a girl, and the girl started crying.

So I start getting scared.

One of the things that my grandmother tells me

before she leaves is, if I have any problems, deal with it here.

Don't carry it on my shoulder.

-So she knew. -She knew, yeah.

What sort of things would the boys and girls

have had to endure?

Hardship, abuse, physical abuse, sexual abuse, culture abuse.

We weren't allowed to speak our language.

That was taken away from us. You're punished for it.

You're either given a strap or maybe you have to do

extra labour or something or maybe even eat soap.

-Soap? -Yeah.

That's one the punishments was eating soap

for speaking your language.

Suchet: Residential schools were run by Christian churches

with the financial support of the Canadian government.

It's believed that more than 150,000 indigenous children

were forcibly sent to these schools

and that thousands died while in their care.

They were a central part of a wider effort

to suppress indigenous culture.

Sophie Pierre is an elder

and retired chief of the Ktunaxa Nation.

The Minister of Indian Affairs stood up in Parliament

and said that the purpose of these schools

was to raise these children to be adults

that no longer identify as Indian.

It was really the intent of

wiping out who we are as Ktunaxa,

removing us from the land,

so then it becomes available for developing

and for everybody else.

A very effective way of doing that is through the children.

And was this encouraged by the government?

Oh, absolutely. It's part of our law.

-Is it? -It's still on the books.

-Re-- On the -- -Oh, sure. Yeah.

We still have something in Canadian legislation

called the Indian Act.

Suchet: The Indian Act, introduced in 1876,

placed legal restrictions on the lives of indigenous Canadians

and led to the foundation of the residential-school system.

By the 1920s, when Agatha was in Canada,

oppressive amendments had been made

which included compulsory attendance at the schools

for children aged between 7 and 15.

The majority of students that came here would have

arrived speaking nothing but Ktunaxa

and by the time they left would be speaking nothing but English.

Some of these children, I mean, they're 5, 6 years old,

and they start to get punished from the time

they arrive because they're not speaking English.

It's doesn't take much to break down a child

and to affect them for the rest of their lives

just by taking away their language.

They can no longer communicate. They're afraid to communicate.

But that was the purpose of having these buildings.

Suchet: The St. Eugene Mission School closed in 1970.

In the decades that followed,

a decision had to be made about what to do with the building.

Sophie was chief at that time.

Pierre: Really what we had was a big white elephant on our hands.

It's a huge building.

We still had our own people, who were former students

that came here, that felt that we should just tear it down.

That's not how you heal.

Just because something's out of sight doesn't mean

that it's going to make things better.

It was our elder, Mary Paul,

that really gave us our directions on what to do,

because it was she who told us

that if we thought we had lost so much in that building,

that we need to go back in there and pick it up.

Suchet: The community decided to turn the building into a resort

that also has an interpretive centre.

It's here that the traditions and culture

that historic governments tried to eradicate

are now being championed.

Leanna is the director of the centre.

We tell our 12,000-plus-year history,

as well as our residential-school story.

And our guides are former residential-school survivors

who tell their stories.

We have beading activities, plant walks, tepee raising.

Yes.

Passing on that knowledge to the next generations.

Suchet: A keystone of this work is ensuring the language

that was so nearly taken from the community endures.

If you weren't raised in the language,

it is hard for some speakers to come back to try

to learn it later when they're in their adult years.

A lot of our people today are learning.

Myself, I can read better than I can speak.

I'm still considered a baby speaker.

I have knowledge of learned phrases and the animals,

how to count.

Leanna, you've been talking so vividly about your language,

but I haven't heard it.

Will you talk to me or say something to me in it?

That was wonderful. Thank you so much.

It wasn't until the 1980s

that the truth about what happened at residential schools

began to be publicly acknowledged.

The last closed its doors in 1996.

Pierre: You don't just move away from intergenerational trauma.

You can't understand why things are the way

they are with indigenous people in Canada

if you don't look at what the history is.

-That ain't gonna happen. -No.

Not till we deal with the truth.

One of the ways that we chose to deal with it

is to take back this building.

So that, for future generations, it's a positive impact.

It is the thing that I am most proud of, of our people,

that we made that decision to do this.

It's been so interesting talking to you.

"Interesting" is not the word.

I think you've been amazingly honest with me,

and thank you very, very much for sharing.

It's me that is indebted to you

for coming here to learn about the truth,

because that's the only way we can get it out.

-So thank you. -Bless you. Thank you.

Suchet: Indigenous Canadians weren't included in

the image of Canada that was shown to Agatha

or to visitors to the 1924 Empire Exhibition.

The exhibition was used to display

an homogenous version of Canada

that would appeal to a British audience.

To find out more, I'm following Agatha

and the delegation to the seat of government, Ottawa.

I'm going to the National Gallery

to meet art historian Katerina

to find out how Canada represented itself

at the exhibition through art.

Atanassova: This is "September Gale" by Arthur Lismer.

Suchet: Look at that!

As the artist said himself, this picture is all about movement.

And he called it as the symphony of nature.

We do have in the collection

another work by Frederick Varley.

And he painted a very similar subject,

probably even the same tree, from the same locations.

Suchet: Oh, how interesting.

Atanassova: And it was called "Stormy Weather, Georgian Bay."

Suchet: "Stormy Weather."

These paintings were included in a selection

of artworks chosen to represent Canada

in the Palace of the Arts at the Empire Exhibition.

Their artists were members of The Group of Seven.

The Group of Seven were a young generation of painters in Canada

who believed that they can represent the uniqueness

of the landscape and the country

and forward Canadian art into a modern direction

by painting nature.

So you can immediately see that influence

on the atmospheric effects

and that response of how nature makes you feel

as opposed to what you see.

What's fascinating

also is just having a look at just these landscapes.

It's similar to my experiences on this tour through Canada.

Now I'm looking at a reflection of those.

Yes.

Probably similar to Agatha's tour, as well.

She would have recognised the landscape of Canada.

Precisely.

And how is that distinctly Canadian?

I think the whole idea is to say

that the artists were not just painters,

but they were woodsmen, they were outdoors,

they were communing with nature.

Suchet: The Group of Seven wanted

their art to be seen as distinct to that of Britain and Europe.

This aligned with the way that Canada wanted to

be represented across the exhibition.

Oh, you've got the real catalogue there.

We have the real catalogue.

The foreword was written by our first director, Eric Brown.

He says, "Canada is having the opportunity of measuring her art

for the first time against that of the other British dominions

at the British Empire Exhibition.

Canada will show that she possesses vigorous school

of painting and sculpture,

moulded by the tremendously intense character

of her country and colour of her seasons."

Oh, that's so interesting.

Well, you know, this says to me Canada is distinctive.

"We possess a style of our own.

We're not European. We are Canadian."

And that is precisely what they wanted to achieve.

Suchet: Their inclusion in the exhibition

gave the Group of Seven exposure outside of Canada.

And their work was seen to represent Canada gaining

a national voice of its own.

The scenery, with simplification of form,

with boldness and colours and expressiveness,

and that's what delighted and fascinated the British critics.

Exactly that representation of the Canadian landscape.

One of the leading critics at the time --

he writes in The Daily Chronicle and he says,

"The Canadian landscapes, I think,

are the most vital group of paintings produced

since the war, indeed, this century."

My goodness.

So he's giving a very high credit.

Very high. This was was exactly what Canada wanted,

a uniqueness, but a union.

-And a recognition. -Yes.

International recognition and an idea

that Canada's close to the parent,

to the imperial centre, yet distinct and independent.

And yet distinctive.

There's a lot of politics going on in here, isn't there?

I'm seeing Canada represented in a very particular, unique way.

Yes.

Suchet: Amongst the mission's meetings with Canada's

governing officials,

Agatha managed to carve out some leisure time,

coming here to the Royal Ottawa Golf Club.

While enjoying a few rounds,

Agatha must have been thinking of an imminent milestone

in her career, the publication of her next novel.

Agatha's third novel

to be published was "Murder on the Links,"

in which a body is discovered on the edge

of a golf course in France.

This was only her second full-length Poirot novel,

and so beautifully had she drawn the character of Poirot

in her first novel

that her readers would not have been surprised

to learn the Poirot did not like golf.

But the reason?

Because the bunkers were not symmetrical.

But even though Agatha had finished the book by the time

she was golfing in Ottawa,

she would have to wait a few months to see if

"Murder on the Links" would be a success.

In the Times Literary Supplement,

the reviewer compared Poirot to Sherlock Holmes

and wrote that

"The novel provides the reader with an enthralling mystery

of an unusual kind."

The Daily Express -- "'Murder on the Links'

is one of the best mystery stories I have read.

Miss Agatha Christie stands in a class by herself

as a writer of detective stories."

We have to remember, at the beginning of the Empire Tour,

she'd only published one novel, and that was as an amateur.

She did it as a dare.

But maybe she was now thinking

that writing could be her chosen career

and maybe she could earn a good living at it.

Well, I personally would like to think

that she was now ready to mount the dais

and sit on the throne as the queen of crime.

After a truly epic journey and 11 months of travelling,

it was time for Agatha to return home

and resume her writing in earnest.

She finally arrived back in the UK on the 1st of December 1922.

Over a year later, Agatha and Archie

must have been fascinated to see the culmination

of their endeavours

when the British Empire Exhibition opened in 1924.

The 216-acre site attracted

27 million people over two years.

Amongst the highlights heralded in the British press

were the elaborate Dominion Pavilions,

the vast amusement park, and the life-size butter sculpture

of the Prince of Wales.

Perhaps the exhibition's

most lasting legacy was the twin-towered Wembley Stadium,

a London icon until 2003.

But the exhibition was deemed to be a financial failure

and was reported to have lost £1.5 million.

And although it was popular with audiences at home,

it didn't have the international impact many had hoped for.

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Here at Greenway, a house that Agatha adored in later life,

the souvenirs that she collected during her Empire Tour

can still be found.

But being part of the Empire Mission would have another,

rather more unexpected impact on Agatha's life.

It was through the Empire Mission's leader,

Major Ernest Belcher,

that Archie was introduced to Nancy Neele.

They fell in love with each other to such an extent

that Archie asked Agatha to grant him a divorce in 1926.

I would imagine that, after all this,

her memories of the Empire Tour would have been bittersweet.

And, yet, she still kept these mementos.

I find that very touching.

♪♪

It was another love in Agatha's life

that saved her -- her writing.

She became a prolific professional,

and the 1930s and '40s bore witness...

Here it is.

...to some of her best work.

Now, there's a Poirot quote from this book, "Evil Under The Sun,"

which is a travel-themed book set on an island.

And I can't help but think

that Agatha Christie is speaking through the mouth

of Hercule Poirot.

He is actually talking to a very successful businesswoman.

"To marry and have children -- that is the common lot of women.

Only one woman in a hundred, more in a thousand,

can make for herself a name and the position as you have done."

And I can't help but think, you know,

that Agatha is writing with a sense of her own achievement,

that she may be one of those very few women in a thousand

and knowing how hard it had been.

And maybe she was writing with a little sense of pride,

knowing what she had achieved.

And I wonder how she'd feel knowing

that today, all those years later,

she remains in a class all by herself.

It feels right to end my journey here at Greenway,

because this house was so special to Agatha

and because it was here that I said goodbye to Hercule Poirot.

Through getting to know Agatha so much better

at a time when she was developing

this beloved character,

I feel even closer to him than I was before.

You know, the final shot of me playing Poirot

was taken when I was standing on this very step,

and when I heard the words "That's a wrap,"

I thought I would be saying goodbye to him forever.

So to be able to spend time with him

again on this Empire Tour, well, it's been a real joy.

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