The first Hercule Poirot began with tram passengers and Belgian refugees.

More indirectly, Christie ’ s famous character of Hercule Poirot can be compared to an archaeologist in his detailed scrutiny of all facts both large and small.

* 1998 Black Coffee ( featuring Hercule Poirot, based on the 1930 play ' Black Coffee ')

Hercule Poirot (; ) is a fictional Belgian detective, created by Agatha Christie.

His name was derived from two other fictional detectives of the time: Marie Belloc Lowndes ' Hercule Popeau and Frank Howel Evans ' Monsieur Poirot, a retired Belgian police officer living in London.

On publication of the latter, Poirot was the only fictional character to be given an obituary in the New York Times ; 6 August 1975 " Hercule Poirot is Dead ; Famed Belgian Detective ".

: " By the step leading up into the sleeping-car stood a young Belgian lieutenant, resplendent in uniform, conversing with a small man ( Hercule Poirot ) muffled up to the ears of whom nothing was visible but a pink-tipped nose and the two points of an upward-curled moustache.

" Mon estomac ," thought Hercule Poirot, and closed his eyes determinedly.

" — Hercule Poirot in " The Erymanthian Boar " ( 1940 ).

So much had he become the rage that every rich woman who had mislaid a bracelet or lost a pet kitten rushed to secure the services of the great Hercule Poirot.

I am Hercule Poirot.

Hercule Poirot became famous with the publication, in 1926, of The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, whose surprising solution proved controversial.

The first actor to portray Hercule Poirot was Charles Laughton.

* José Ferrer, Hercule Poirot ( 1961 ; Unaired TV Pilot, MGM ; adaptation of " The Disappearance of Mr. Davenheim ")

There have been a number of radio adaptations of the Poirot stories, most recently twenty seven of them on BBC Radio 4 ( and regularly repeated on BBC 7 ), starring John Moffatt ( Maurice Denham and Peter Sallis have also played Poirot on BBC Radio 4, Mr. Denham in The Mystery of the Blue Train and Mr. Sallis in Hercule Poirot's Christmas ).

Alongside Hercule Poirot, she is one of the most loved and famous of Christie's characters and has been portrayed numerous times on screen.

The other Rutherford films ( all directed by George Pollock ) were Murder at the Gallop ( 1963 ), based on the 1953 Hercule Poirot novel After the Funeral ( In this film, she is identified as Miss JTV Marple, though there was no indication as to what the extra initials might stand for ); Murder Most Foul ( 1964 ), based on the 1952 Poirot novel Mrs McGinty's Dead ; and Murder Ahoy!

Rutherford also appeared briefly as Miss Marple in the spoof Hercule Poirot adventure The Alphabet Murders ( 1965 ).

The character of Jessica Fletcher is thought to be based on a combination of Miss Marple, Agatha Christie herself, and another Christie character, Ariadne Oliver, who often appears in the Hercule Poirot mysteries.

From 2004 to 2005, Japanese TV network NHK produced a 39 episode anime series titled Agatha Christie's Great Detectives Poirot and Marple, which features both Miss Marple and Hercule Poirot.

David Dickinson, John Prescott, Robin Cook, Gandalf, David Cameron, Magneto and Ian McKellen, Professor Robert Winston, Dr Rowan Williams, David Blunkett, Tom Paulin, Saddam Hussein, Peter Mandelson, Graham Norton, Martin Jarvis, Trevor McDonald ( on radio ), Bob Geldof, Ken Livingstone, Brian Blessed, Luciano Pavarotti, Monty Don, Richard Briers, Patrick Stewart, Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen, Toby Ziegler, Donald Rumsfeld, Adam Hart-Davis, Hannibal Lecter ( on radio ), Lord Voldemort ( on radio ), Hercule Poirot, Second Doctor & Patrick Troughton, Bernard Matthews, Rocky Balboa, Al Gore, George Lamb

The solution involves the wisdom of Sherlock Holmes, the methods of Hercule Poirot, and the style of Lord Peter Wimsey.

Ned begins to see himself first as Hercule Poirot, but then as Lord Peter Wimsey, with Verity as his Harriet Vane.

He was the son of Hercule, Lord of Monaco ( 24 September 1562 – 21 November 1604 ) and Maria Landi.

* Hercule, Lord of Monaco, Marquis of Campagna

Pif gave name in 1969 to a magazine, Pif gadget, of great success during the 1970s, in which French and European cartoonists published their works, and which survived the death of its creator ( with many cartoonists adopting Pif and Hercule into their own creations ).

Many of the most popular books of the Golden Age were written by Agatha Christie, who produced a long series of books featuring her detectives Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple, amongst others, and usually including a complex puzzle for the reader to try to unravel.

The same joke-translation is mentioned in Agatha Christie's Evil Under the Sun by Patrick Redfern to Hercule Poirot – a prank which inadvertently gives Poirot the answer to the murder.

Agatha Christie's numerous mystery novels often referenced Scotland Yard, most notably in her Hercule Poirot series.

During this period, one of his high-profile film roles was as Agatha Christie's Belgian master detective Hercule Poirot in the 1974 film Murder On The Orient Express.

In Agatha Christie's, " Appointment with Death " ( 1938 ), the mysterious and enigmatic Petra is the setting for a murder mystery featuring Hercule Poirot.

Clouseau's immense ego, eccentricity, embellished French accent and mustache were derived from Hercule Poirot, the famous fictional Belgian detective that featured in the novels of Agatha Christie.

Burgh Island is closely linked to Agatha Christie, as it served as the inspirational setting for both And Then There Were None as well as the Hercule Poirot mystery Evil Under the Sun. The hotel and its eloquent Art Deco styling was also a bolt hole in the 1930s for the likes of London's rich and famous, including Noël Coward.

* Agatha Christie's The Mysterious Affair at Styles ( 1920 ) introduces Hercule Poirot.

* Agatha Christie's The Murder of Roger Ackroyd ( 1926 ), featuring Belgian sleuth Hercule Poirot in one of Christie's best-known works

* " Ariadne Oliver ", a friend of the detective Hercule Poirot in many of his detective mysteries written by Agatha Christie.

He is known for his role as Agatha Christie's detective Hercule Poirot in the long-running British TV dramatic series Agatha Christie's Poirot.

His performance as Agatha Christie's famous detective Hercule Poirot in the television series Poirot earned him a 1991 British Academy Television Award ( BAFTA ) nomination.

* Agatha Christie's Poirot ( TV ) ( 1989-present ) as Hercule Poirot

Brooklands made a notable TV appearance when it featured in the 1990 ' The Disappearance of Mr. Davenheim ' episode of Agatha Christie's Poirot, when Hercule Poirot investigates a crime committed involving a racing driver.

It stars David Suchet as Agatha Christie's fictional detective Hercule Poirot.

Suchet himself said to The Strand magazine: " What I did was, I had my file on one side of me and a pile of stories on the other side and day after day, week after week, I ploughed through most of Agatha Christie's novels about Hercule Poirot and wrote down characteristics until I had a file full of documentation of the character.

* The Clothes of Hercule Poirot in Agatha Christie's Poirot

* Agatha Christie's Murder in Mesopotamia ( 1936 ), Hercule Poirot's Christmas ( 1938 ), And Then There Were None ( 1939 )

Agatha Christie's fictional detective Hercule Poirot was born in Spa.

* Agatha Christie publishes her first novel, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, introducing the long-running character detective, Hercule Poirot.