| “ | Well, well. It appears no one knows our host. How gauche. Do I hear a martini calling? | „ |
| ~ Anthony James Marston's most famous line. |
Anthony James Marston, often referred to as Tony or Marston, is a minor protagonist of the acclaimed Agatha Christie novel And Then There Were None and its adaptations.
Anthony Marston has appeared in several televised and cinematic adaptations of the original story, albeit with his name changed. In the 2015 miniseries, he was portrayed by Douglas Booth.
Overview[]
An adventurous young man from a wealthy family, he is lured to Solider Island along with eight others by the mysterious and elusive, U.N. Owen.
Marston arrived expecting a party, but instead found himself (and the others) accused of having previously killed people in a way that the law cannot prove or punish them for. Arrogant and unapologetic, Anthony confessed that the accusation was true and would ultimately be the first person be served his justice.
Appearance[]
Anthony Marston is described as a man with a well-proportioned body, crisp hair, tanned face and blue eyes. He is six feet tall and maintains a well kept appearance, wearing expensive clothing and jewelry as an indication of his status. Those that saw him, often compared Marston to a God from ancient saga's.
Personality[]
Noted for his passion of fast cars and parties, Anthony Marston is portrayed as both wild and adventurous. He knows that he is attractive and is not afraid about flaunting it. At the same time though, Anthony is shown to be both arrogant and reckless. Marston does not accept responsibility for his actions and will never acknowledge when he has made a mistake. When confronted by the others about his "incident", Anthony was more upset about losing his license than what happened to his victims.
Biography[]
| “ | Anthony James Marston that upon the fourteenth day of November last, you were guilty of the murder of John and Lucy Coombes. | „ |
| ~ Anthony James Marston accused by the culprit. |
Anthony James Marston was born into a wealthy family, somewhere in England several years before the carnage on Soldier Island. Sheltered and protected by his upbringing, Marston discovered a passion for both partying and cars. After passing his driving test, he purchased an expensive Super Sports Dalmain, which was his pride and joy. Marston kept his vehicle immaculate and nothing pleased him more than to drive it uninterrupted at high speed through the country. At the same time though, Marston was both a speedster and reckless driver, which ultimately proved to be his undoing.
On the night of 14th November 1938, one year before the events on Soldier Island, Marston was driving/speeding near Cambridge. Suddenly two children, John and Lucy Combes, stepped out in front of him. Despite his best efforts, Marston ended up hitting the two youths, killing them instantly. Although Anthony was clearly the one at fault, he was ultimately not prosecuted. A few of his wealthy friends intervened on his behalf, ensuring that he was not banned from driving indefinitely or charged with manslaughter. In the end, Marston's license was suspended for one year, much to his annoyance, and the Combes family were denied justice.
By the start of the story, Marston had got his license back, but has clearly learnt nothing from the experience. He has also recently received a letter from one of his friends, Badger Berkeley, who tells him of an event taking place on Soldier Island. Intrigued, Marston packs his bags and sets off in his car. On the journey down to Devon, he speeds past Dr. George Armstrong, running the latter off the road. Stopping at an inn for a quick drink and a bite to eat, he makes it down to the station in time to meet most of the other guests (who travelled by train).
Ferried across by Mr Fred Narracott, who like everyone else marveled at his car, Marston quickly settled in to his temporary accommodation. He joined the others for an extravagant dinner, courtesy of the staff, Mr and Mrs Rogers. Afterwards, Marston was staring out of the window enjoying an after dinner drink when the tranquil atmosphere was shattered. A hidden gramophone played out, accusing each of people present of murder. Amongst the charges was Anthony's murder of the Combes children.
Marston helped Lombard to carry Mrs. Rogers, who fainted, into the drawing room, where Dr Armstrong tended to her. When the record was discovered, Marston demanded to know how it was started, given that they had all been present in the room and listened to Mr Roger's explanation about U.N. Owens instructions. Satisfied, Wargrave proceeded to ask each guest in turn about their relation to the Owens and how they came to be there. Marston freely told them about his message from "Berkeley" and of the good time he was promised.
When the matter inevitably turned to the accusations at hand, Anthony had trouble remembering the incident. He was ultimately one of only two guests to freely admit his guilt. When Wargrave and Armstrong expressed their disgust at the incident, Marston expressed no remorse for the incident. The only things that concerned him were the loss of his license and the fact that the English roads weren't suited for cars like his. Unconcerned by the opinions of the others, he prepared himself another drink, a whisky and soda.
After listening to the various "excuses" Wargrave suggested that the group leave the island first thing in the morning with Mr Narracott. Anthony was the only person to object to this idea. He found the notion of sussing out Mr Owen's identity exciting, which Wargrave objected too. Mocking the old judge's lack of enthusiasm, Marston downed his drink in one go ... and immediately started choking.
To everyone's horror, Marston collapsed to the floor and was shortly thereafter pronounced dead by Dr Armstrong. As the others looked on in shock, Armstrong studied the body and drinking glass, where he quickly determined that Marston had ingested potassium cyanide. It was quickly concluded that Marston had killed himself, but they could not understand why an apparently happy young man in the prime of his life would take his own life. The body was taken upstairs and laid to rest on his bed, until it was recovered by detectives from the mainland some time afterwards.
Legacy[]
The rest of the guests (who would likewise soon perish) continued to believe that Marstons death was an act of suicide, right up until the death of General MacArthur. Following this indisputable act of murder, they all realized that they were being hunted. They also discovered that Marston's death matched the first verse in the Tale of the Ten Little Soldier Boys, "One choked his little self and then there were nine".
The detectives who investigated the murder, knew that Marston was the first of the guests to die and of the incident near Cambridge. One of them, Inspector Maine noted that he should have been banned from driving full stop. The circumstances behind Anthony's death were revealed following the discovery of Justice Wargrave's confession letter.
Within it, Wargrave noted that he had acquired the names of several youths that committed similar offences to Martson. However, Anthony distinguished himself by his complete callousness and lack of remorse. As such, Wargrave knew that he could not break the young man the same way he could the others. Wargrave also killed his victims in a particular order, based upon what he believed to be their level of guilt. Since Marston was the only one whose case was committed accidentally, Wargrave chose him first. Whilst the others dallied in the aftermath of the gramophone's recording, Wargrave subtlety slipped the cyanide into Marston's empty glass, which the youth refilled, ignorant to the danger. With his death, John and Lucy were avenged.
Other Media[]
TV Series[]
Douglas Booth's portrayal of Marston is largely consistent to his book counterpart. Only a few differences between the two characters exist:
- In the book, Marston owns a Super Sports Dalmain. In the TV series, he owns a Gensan.
- In the TV series, Marston was a drug addict.
- Whilst Marston ran Armstrong off the road in both stories, what happened afterwards varied between the adaptations. In the original novel, the incident was barely touched upon. When Marston admitted to speeding, Armstrong merely commented that he was dangerous, which Anthony ignored. In the television adaptation however, after learning that Marston owned the Gensan in question, Armstrong angrily confronted the young man about his recklessness. Marston was ordered by MacArthur to apologize, which he ultimately did, despite insisting that he had done nothing wrong. After learning about the incident with John and Lucy, Armstrong called Marston a maniac.
- In the mini-series, Marston did not appear to know the names of his victims, but like his novel counterpart, was more concerned about the loss of his driving license than what happened to the two children.
- Whilst he choked to death on a poisoned drink in both stories, in the book Marston was sitting down and choked to death instantly after toasting Wargrave. In the show, he was standing up and commenting on motoring. When the poison took effect, he collapsed and vomited onto Vera Claythorne, before collapsing to the ground and expiring.
- In the book, Armstrong determined that Marston had ingested cyanide at the scene. In the show, Blore worked it out after later studying Marston's body.
Trivia[]
- Marston is the youngest of the main characters.
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 Villains(Non-Poirot & Non-Marple) | |
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Tommy and Tuppence Beresford And Then There Were None Other Mystery Stories Adaptational, Homage & Non-Canonical | |