In the near future, I want to visit some places related to Agatha Christie. However, I have a lot of places to go to, so I haven't had any chance to visit Torquay yet. On my trip in 2003, I decided to go to Liverpool for the first time even though I had been to England thirteen times! Therefore, I couldn't visit Torquay once again.
However, I thought that there was one place which I could go during this trip. It was Whitehaven Mansion which is where Christie's character Poirot lived.
According to "Agatha Christie's Poirot in the TV series"(published by Kyuryudo), in original novels, Christie used some names such as Whitehaven Mansion, White House Mansion, or White Flier Mansion as the place where Poirot lived. In the TV series, they chose the name of "Whitehaven Mansion" because it was the most popular of the names. Fortunately, Florin Court near Charter House Square had just finished its refurbishment and the apartment were put on the market.
Before residents moved into the apartment, the crew had filmed Florin Court from many angles for use in several scenes in the Poirot series. In fact, the crew had filmed the mansion for a total of 72 hours. Thus, they were able to make a complete picture of their Whitehaven Mansion.
Christie said that Poirot lived in Mayfair, but Florin Court is near Charterhouse Square. However, It is in London, so I thought I could visit.
"If I use an 'A Z'^*, I'll managed to find it.", I thought. However, actually, I wasn't sure I could find it, so I thought I should not mention it to anybody until I had actually found the building.
However, Emirin, one of my HP visitors, wrote on my notice board, "Actually, I want to find Whitehaven Mansion. If you find it, let me know."
"Wow! How does she know my idea?" Ha ha ha.
Then, I answered,  "Honestly, I plan to find it."
"I think I'll surely find it, so you can rely on me! "

^* "A Z" iz a detail map of London. There are some kinds of "A Z"s according to our use. I bought "Mini London A Z". It contains a huge index at the back of the book. Using this index, we can find the place which we want to go to from its name or the name of a nearby steet.

The next morning we arrived at London, when I talk to Alan who provided us with a place to stay, unexpectedly, he asked me "In Japan, what they call 'flat' or 'apartment'".
I answered, "We call them 'mansion' although it is the same as an apartment. However, I remember that Christie's Poirot lived in Whitehaven Mansion. It is a mansion!" Then, Alan said , "Ah, yes. On of our daughters used to live in the apartment which the TV crew had filmed." "Really? Actually, I planed to visit there. Where is it?" I was very excited.
Alan showed me a post card. It was a monochrome photo and had Christie's world atomosphere.
The daughter got married last year, so now she doesn't live there. However, she still has the key and plans to sell it in the near future.
"If she lived there, we could ask her to show the room.", his wife, Brenda, said.
How lucky! It must be a sign that we talked about the mansion. Therefore, I asked the nearest station and decided to go there with Tsukasa, my friend, that day.
We got off the train at　Clapham. Relying on his saying, "It is a few minutes walk form the station.", we checked where it was on the map at the station. Soon after we began to walk with the "A Z" which I bought at Euston station in one hand, we could see the building.
"It's over there." We crossed the road watching the traffic.
It seemed to be a mansion with a long history. "Now, Poirot may appear from the entrance.", I thought.

You can see Du Cane Court at the opening of "The Plymouth Express" in the TV series, "Agatha Christie's POIROT",
in which David Suchet appeared as Poirot.
In the drama, Florence who was a daughter of a multimillionaire, Holliday, lived in the mansion.
The entrance appeared when Florence's husband was visiting her.
When we visited the building, I didn't have any idea how this mansion was used in the TV series.
However, recently, Haruhiko Imatake told me that it appeared in "The Plymouth Express".

However, I said, "I think it is a little different from my image. Probably, the crew may have used this mansion, such as the lobby. However, my Whitehaven Mansion is a shining golden building."
I took out of my notebook for this trip from my bag and checked key words which I wrote it down from "Agatha Christie's Poirot in the TV series" before I had left Japan.

Charterhouse Square is at the back of St Bartholomew's Hospital and isn't so far from rectangular Smithfield Square containing some old buildings.
It is an northern area of Charterhouse Square.

Then, we looked up "Florin Court" in the "A Z". It's near to London Bridge station. We got on the Northern Line to go there. In the train, to make double sure, we looked up "Charterhouse Square" and found out that it is near to Barbican. Hmm…Which should we go to? I chose "Charterhouse Square" without any hesitation. Charterhouse Square seems to be a historic place. Even if there isn't "Florin Court" near Charterhouse Square in the "A Z", I was sure there must be another "Florin Court"!! We planed to change trains at Moorgate station and then go to Barbican, but according to the in-train announcement, that day, Barbican station was closed. Therefore, we got off the train at Moorgate and began to walk.
We walked a little. "London Travel Map" said that we were going to arrive at Charterhouse Square.
Then, I felt in my bones that the Whitehaven Mansion would appear soon at the right hand side.
We saw the square. Bingo!!
The actual Whitehaven Mansion wasn't such a golden shining building compared to my memory. I don't know why ? Maybe, the professional crew's hands made the building more charming, or somebody had manipulated the image. However, it didn't matter. It was the very Whitehaven Mansion!
We walked around the square and approached the entrance. We could see the sign, "Florin Court".

The next morning, Alan and Brenda asked us where we visited the previous day. We answered, "Whitehaven Mansion". They were surprised that we'd already visited.
They had planed to ask their daughter to show the inside for us. They said, "If you've already visited, it wasn't necessary."
Apparently, we lost a chance to enter another Whitehaven Mansion.

Do you like Agatha Christie?--TOP

Do you like Christie's Poirot?
seires 1 (1989)
series 2 (1990)
series 3 (1990-1)　*The page is still making.
series 4 (1992)　*The page is still making.
series 5 (1993)　*The page is still making.
series 6 (1995-6 )　*The page is still making.
series 7(-2000)　*The page is still making.

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Trip to England

I really love London!

(2003.11.9)