Colonel Race is a fictional character created by British mystery novelist Agatha Christie.
Race is a highly intelligent ex-Army Colonel who had a stint as a leader of the counter intelligence division of the British spy agency MI5. He is immensely rich, having inherited the fortune of "Sir Laurence Eardsley". The Colonel starred as a detective in four of Christie's books, most notably as Hercule Poirot's good friend in Cards on the Table and Death on the Nile. He also appears in Sparkling Cyanide and The Man in the Brown Suit. He is known for his patience, composure, and ability to quickly detect facts without anyone else noticing. The Man in the Brown Suit is perhaps the only novel in which the emotional side of Colonel Race's nature has been given consideration. It gives a whole new depth to his personality.
In the novel Appointment with Death, Colonel Race is mentioned. Poirot meets Colonel Carbury with a letter of introduction from Colonel Race. Race was apparently an old friend of Colonel Carbury. In the letter, Race had mentioned the brilliant deductions Poirot had made in the Shaitana murder (Cards on the Table). In Third Girl, Poirot also mentions Colonel Race while engaging in a (fake) reminiscence of the time he was with Sir Roderick Horsefield in Normandy during the First World War.
Naming[]
His first name is given as "Johnnie" by a minor character in Sparkling Cyanide. In the film of Death on the Nile, he is called "Johnny". The 2003 ITV adaptation of Sparkling Cyanide featured Oliver Ford Davies as "Colonel Geoffrey Reece".
Novel appearances[]
Portrayals[]
Death on the Nile (1978)[]
In the 1978 Brabourne and Goodwin film Death on the Nile Colonel Race is portrayed by David Niven.
The Man in the Brown Suit (1989)[]
In the 1989 Warner Bros adaptation The Man in the Brown Suit, the character is renamed Gordon Race and is portrayed by Ken Howard. Here Race is a CIA agent but otherwise the portrayal is close to the original. He had also, for example, inherited a large fortune from John Eardsley.
Death on the Nile (2004)[]
In ITV's 2004 David Suchet adaptation of Death on the Nile Colonel Race is portrayed by James Fox.
Cards on the Table (2006)[]
As Fox was unavailable for ITV's 2006 adaptation of Cards on the Table the character was replaced by the similar character "Colonel Hughes", played by Robert Pugh.
Sparkling Cyanide (2003)[]
In ITV's 2003 adaptation Sparkling Cyanide the character's name is changed to Col. Geoffrey Reece and he is portrayed by Oliver Ford Davies. Here he had a wife, Dr Catherine Kendall who like him also worked for an intelligence agency known as "GSHQ". This is likely modelled on MI5 as there is a scene where Reece reminices with his wife about the "good old days" of the Cold War, the Berlin Wall and Russian agents. To him there was some dignity in what they did, unlike the present investigation into a case involving a scrap iron mogul and a footballer. Colonel Race is not featured in the Warner Bros 1983 adaptation of the same novel but some of his plot role is taken by Eric Kidderminster.
The Clocks (2011)[]
In ITV's 2011 Suchet adaptation of The Clocks, one of the lead characters Colin Lamb is renamed Lieutenant Colin Race and he is the son of Colonel Race.
BBC Radio 4 adaptations[]
Colonel Race was voiced by actor Donald Sinden in 1996 and 2002.
Colonel Race was voiced by actor Sean Baker in the 2012 BBC Radio adaptation of Sparkling Cyanide.