Celebrating 100 years since Agatha Christie’s mysterious disappearance with a special event in Harrogate

One of the greatest ever mysteries in British literary history will come under the spotlight in the place where it happened - Harrogate.

Regarded as the best-selling novelist of all time, Agatha Christie disappeared at the height of her fame in the 1920s for 11 days and was found staying under an assumed name at the Swan Hydropathic Hotel in Harrogate, which is now known as the Old Swan Hotel.

The drama began on December 3, 1926, when the ‘Queen of crime writing’ left her home in Surrey after her mother's death and her husband’s confession to an affair.

Christie’s car was found dumped near Newlands Corner, triggering a massive national manhunt with more than 1,000 police officers, volunteers, news reporters and, even, aviators.

What no one knew at the time was that the internationally renowned author had travelled to Harrogate and checked into the Swan Hydro using the name Teresa Neele, borrowing the surname of her husband's mistress.

Eventually, all was revealed and Agatha Christie returned to a life of writing.

Now, a new exhibition called Agatha Christie: A Harrogate Mystery will celebrate the 100th anniversary of Agatha Christie’s mysterious disappearance, one of the most speculated and talked-about events of the early 20th century.

To mark the occasion, there will be a launch night at the Royal Pump Room Museum in Harrogate on Friday, November 27.

This special occasion will also see the official launch of a new exhibition just up the road at Mercer Art Gallery.

What’s In Store exhibition will present a journey through more than a century of creativity via the Harrogate Fine Art Collection, bringing rare and beloved pieces out of storage by artists including Tacita Dean, William Powell Frith, John Atkinson Grimshaw, Dame Laura Knight, Andy Goldsworthy, Paul Nash and John Hoyland.

The joint launch event at the Royal Pump Room Museum will run from 5pm to 7pm and attendees will get 10% off in Museum Shop.

The two 19th century buildings, which are owned and run by North Yorkshire, are steeped in their own history.

Mercer Art Gallery, which has a collection of more than 2,000 items, is housed in a building which opened in 1806 as the Promenade Rooms, Harrogate's very first spa building where visitors gathered to socialise accompanied by music.

In 1900, it was converted into an elegant theatre, hosting notable cultural figures such as Oscar Wilde, Sarah Bernhardt, and Lillie Langtree.

It first became a fully-fledged art gallery in 1991 after a successful fundraising campaign led by local arts advocate Judith Thomas in which Sidney Agnew Mercer sons donated £50,000 toward the project and have their name to the gallery.

The Royal Pump Room officially opened in 1842 over the site of a sulphur water well.

Agatha Christie: A Harrogate Mystery , Royal Pump Room Museum, Crown Place, Harrogate: Saturday, November 28–May 2027.

What’s In Store at the Mercer Art Gallery, Swan Road, Harrogate: Until September 5, 2027.

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