25 November 1952: “The Mousetrap” premieres in London

On this day in 1952, Agatha Christie’s murder mystery play “The Mousetrap” began a run of over 28,000 performances in the West End, to become the longest-running play in the world.

St Martins theatre, home of Agatha Christie's 'The Mousetrap'
St Martins theatre, home of Agatha Christie's 'The Mousetrap'
(Image credit: © Keith Mayhew/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

Agatha Christie was a mystery writer known mainly for her novels, featuring characters such as Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple. But she adapted her short story Three Blind Mice for the theatre, and renamed it The Mousetrap (a reference to Shakespeare's Hamlet) on the advice of her son-in-law.

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