Max Mallowan of Ur (1925–31), which was thought to be the capital of Mesopotamian civilization. It was at the Ur site, in 1930, that he first met Agatha Christie, the famous author, whom he married the same year. In 1932, after a short time working at Nineveh with Reginald Campbell Thompson, Mallowan became a field director for a series of expeditions jointly run by the British Museum and the British School of Archaeology in Iraq. His excavations included the prehistoric village at Tell Arpachiyah, and the sites at Chagar Bazar and Tell Brak in the Upper Khabur area (Syria). He was also
Valerie Grove David Byrnmor Jenkins in 1968, but the couple later divorced. (Her first book "Where I Was Young - Memories of London Childhoods" was published in 1976, under her former name.) She married Trevor Grove in 1975. Her second husband is a former editor of "The Sunday Telegraph". Valerie Grove Valerie Grove (née Smith, born 11 May 1946 in South Shields) is a British journalist and author, who for many years worked as a feature writer, interviewer and columnist for "The Times" newspaper. Her father, William Douglas "Doug" Smith (1916–73), was a cartoonist for the "Shields Gazette" and other newspapers. After