Mon dieu! It’s 100 years of Hercule Poirot

In October 1920, after many rejections from major publishing houses, Agatha Christie’s first crime novel, The Mysterious Affair at Styles was published. Its protagonist was the well-dressed, smart but finicky Belgian detective Hercule Poirot. In the last century, Poirot (along with his “little grey cells”) has become one of the most iconic fictional detectives
David Suchet squeezed a penny between his buttocks to get the mincing gait right
He began as a bet…
Christie, 26, actually wrote her first book on a dare.Her sister told her she couldn’t write a mystery novel, and she proved her wrong (like how). Styles was rejected several times and when it was published, Christie got only a £25 fee and no control of copyright.

Real-life inspiration
Researchers say Agatha Christie modelled Poirot on a little-known Belgian gendarme called Jacques Hamoir

Unlike Sherlock
Though Christie was a big Arthur Conan Doyle fan, she was apparently attempting to make a character as different from Sherlock Holmes as possible, one whose kindness and affection for others wasn’t opposed with his detective skills. Captain Hastings, however, was her version of Dr Watson
Christie kills him..
Poirot features in 33 novels. The final Poirot mystery was actually written decades before we read it. Reportedly tired of Poirot (she once called him an “ego-centric little creep”), Christie wrote Curtain: Poirot’s Last Case during World War 2 and locked it in a vault as she wasn’t sure she would survive. The book was only published in 1975, and Poirot became the first fictional character to get a front-page obituary in the New York Times
Resurrection of Poirot
Starting in 2014, British author Sophie Hannah has resurrected the character in three novels (and one upcoming one!)
Actors who played Poirot...
➤ The first to portray Poirot on stage was Charles Laughton, in a 1928 adaptation of The Murder of Roger Ackroyd called Alibi. The screen honour went to Claude Austin Trevor Schilsky in 1931
➤ In 2017, Kenneth Branagh played Poirot in a very expensive version of Murder on the Orient Express. Branagh returns to the role later this year with a racy version of Death on the Nile
➤ Besides David Suchet, other Poirots include John Malkovich, Robert Powell, Orson Welles, Albert Finney and Peter Ustinov

Sources: Economist, Daily Mail, Belfast Telegraph, Herald Sun, Daily Mirror