JFK

There's a conspiracy theory about everything - the Titanic never sank, Neil Armstrong never landed on the moon, Elvis Presley faked his own death, Michael Jackson isn't dead, Shakespeare was someone else - and someone put it aptly: "There is no conspiracy. It's good journalism."  

JFK (released 1991) sheds light on one of United States' most enduring mysteries, the assassination of President John F Kennedy in 1963. Three years later, District Attorney Jim Garrison  - played by Kevin Costner - finds too many coincidences, inaccuracies and conflicts in the investigation report (26 volumes) by Warren Commission. Interrogating several witnesses to the assassination, he and his team establish, beyond doubt, that Lee Harvey Oswald couldn't possibly have carried out the task single-handedly. Further investigation reveals that although all documents report three shots were fired, witnesses had heard up to six shots...

In the 1969 trial of Clay Shaw (one of the accused), Garrison provides more evidence that there were six shots fired and not as reported and that the single bullet could not have assassinated JFK and another person in the car. His theory is based on the fact that CIA got the president murdered and covered it up. Though Garrison lost the case, the end credits state that in 1979, someone (I have forgotten the name) testified under oath that Clay Shaw had been, once, a part-time agent of the CIA.

Whether you believe in the theory or not, it is an amazing movie. One of those movies, which - despite knowing the outcome - you end up biting the best part of your nails. A must watch (189 minutes)

*****

Queen of Crime: Agatha Christie by Vish Dhamija

This bank holiday weekend in the English Riviera reminded me - as if I ever forgot - of Agatha Christie. Born in 1890 in Torquay (Devon) and, except for a few years, lived there for most of her life and wrote 80 crime novels, 19 plays, 6 romances (as Mary Westmacott), two books of poems, one of reminiscences and one autobiography. 

Amongst others, she created two of the most famous characters in crime fiction - Hercule Poirot and Miss Jane Marple - that live on, even to this day.  According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the  "Queen of Crime" is the best selling author of any kind (along with William Shakespeare) and her work has been translated in over 100 languages. As an ardent reader of "whodunit" mysteries, I admit I am a fan and also marvel at her brilliance. 

        Having known some authors personally, I am aware that it takes more or less a year to finish a manuscript. Then it, obviously, needs editing, polishing, re-editing et al., before it is in any shape or form to be sent to an agent or publisher. Hence, even if you are not a fan of hers, or not impressed with her style of writing, you have to acknowledge her sheer genius to have come up with so many plots, and then put them on paper brilliantly. Good enough for 4 billion people to buy them, besides all the adaptations for films, television, theatre and comics. All this with no computers to work on, back in the day.

        In September this year, there is the annual Agatha Christie Festival in Torquay (English Riviera) and it promises to be the best so far, as it coincides with her 120th birth anniversary.