Superintendent Battle is a fictional character created by Agatha Christie.
Battle is notable for his stolid good sense, and he relies in part on the appearance of being a stupid or unimaginative police officer as a means to investigating his cases. His moustache is impressive, even to Hercule Poirot.
He is first mentioned in The Secret of Chimneys, where he is introduced as "a squarely built middle-aged man with a face so singularly devoid of expression as to be quite remarkable".[1] George Lomax describes him as "a man of the utmost discretion". He also mentions that Battle had "worked with us in that deplorable business of the Party funds" [2] and specifically requests his assistance on the case.
In Cards on the Table, Battle is described as a "big, square, wooden-faced man". He conveys the impression that he is "carved out of wood", and also that the wood in question is "the timber out of a battleship".[3]
Until Towards Zero the reader knows nothing of his domestic arrangements, but in this novel we learn the name of his wife (Mary) and that he has five children, the youngest of whom (Sylvia) unwittingly provides a key clue to the mystery. The earliest mention of him being married is in The Seven Dials Mystery, when Eileen Brent says to him:
"Superintendent Battle, you are a wonderful man. I'm sorry you're married already. As it is, I shall have to put up with Bill."[4]
In the Hercule Poirot novel The Clocks, the pseudonymous secret agent Colin Lamb is heavily implied to be the son of the now-retired Battle.
Battle also has a secret professional life that is revealed in the denouement to The Seven Dials Mystery, but this is never referred to again. In this novel he states, that
- "half the people who spent their lives avoiding being run over buses had much better be run over and put safely out of the way. They're no good."[5]
Similar statements are given by Major Despard in Cards on the Table and Michael Rogers in Endless Night and might be approved by Mrs. Christie as well.
In Sparkling Cyanide, Battle is mentioned as being an influence on Chief Inspector Kemp, who had worked under Battle for many years, and had perhaps unconsciously copied many of his mannerisms. This includes giving the impression that he is carved all in one piece, but where Battle gives a wood "such as teak or oak", Kemp suggests mahogany or rosewood.
Battle is in many respects typical of Christie's police officers, being (like Inspector Japp), more careful and intelligent than the police officers of early detective fiction, who had served only as foils for the brilliance of the amateur sleuth.
Appearances[]
- The Secret of Chimneys (1925)
- The Seven Dials Mystery (1929 - including some of the same characters, notably Lady Eileen "Bundle" Brent)
- Cards on the Table (1936, with Hercule Poirot, Ariadne Oliver and Colonel Race)
- Murder is Easy (1939)
- Towards Zero (1944)
- Mrs McGinty's Dead (1952) - mention[6]
- The Clocks (1963) - he does not appear in person, but Colin Lamb is heavily implied to be his son[7].
Portrayals[]
- Actor Harry Andrews portrayed Battle in the 1981 film The Seven Dials Mystery.
- Christie adapted Towards Zero for the stage in 1956. Actors who have played Battle in the various productions include William Kendall, Glynn Edwards, Michael Sharvell-Martin and George Telfer.
- Actor Gordon Jackson portrayed Battle in a 1981 stage play of Cards on the Table. Here, Poirot is absent from the plot, making Battle the main protagonist.
- Battle was voiced by Ioan Meredith in the 2002 BBC Radio adaptation of Cards on the Table.
- In the 2006 debut production of the previously unperformed stage play Chimneys, Battle was played by Ronald Simon.
- In the Suchet ITV TV adaptation of the novel Cards on the Table, Battle was replaced by Superintendent Jim Wheeler.
- In the French film L'Heure zéro, he is represented by the character of Commissaire Martin Bataille.
- In the 2024 television adaptation Martin Freeman will play Battle.
Quotes[]
"For a moment or two, no one spoke. Superintendent Battle because he was a man of ripe experience who knew how infinitely better it was to let everyone else speak if they could be persuaded upon to do so (...)."[8]
"Well, you see, Mr Cade, most of my work has lain amongst these people. What they call the upper class, I mean. You see, the majority of people are always wondering what the neighbours will think. But tramps and aristocrats don’t – they just do the first thing that comes into their heads, and they don’t bother to think what anyone thinks of them. I’m not meaning just the idle rich, the people who give big parties, and so on. I mean those that have had it born and bred in them for generations that nobody else’s opinion counts but their own. I’ve always found the upper classes the same – fearless, truthful, and sometimes extraordinarily foolish."[9]
"‘Detective stories are mostly bunkum,’ said Battle unemotionally. ‘But they amuse people,’ he added, as an afterthought. ‘And they’re useful sometimes.’
‘In what way?’ asked Anthony curiously.
‘They encourage the universal idea that the police are stupid. When we get an amateur crime, such as a murder, that’s very useful indeed.’"[9]
References[]
- ↑ Chapter 11 of The Secret of Chimneys
- ↑ Chapter 10 of The Secret of Chimneys
- ↑ Chapter 2 of Cards on the Table
- ↑ Chapter 33 of The Seven Dials Mystery
- ↑ Chapter 10 of The Seven Dials Mystery
- ↑ Chapter 13 of Mrs McGinty's Dead
- ↑ Poirot to Colin Lamb: "But why do you call yourself by the name of Lamb?" and again: "I thought the good Superintendent was going to write his memoirs?", implying that his father was a police Superintendent with whom Poirot had worked.
- ↑ Chapter 12 of The Secret of Chimneys
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 Chapter 20 of The Secret of Chimneys