Poirot explains to the Legion that the real ABC is not a homicidal maniac, but a sane man trying to pass a murder as a part of several serial killings.

Poirot then explains to Hastings how Halliday was kidnapped he was walking away when a lady caught up with him and told him Madame Olivier wanted to talk to him again.

Poirot explains that Savaronoff did die in Russia and that number Four impersonated him as a cover.

In it, Poirot reveals that he wore a false moustache as well as a wig and explains that X was Norton, a man who had perfected the technique of which Iago in Othello ( like a character in Ervine's play ) is master: applying just such psychological pressure as is needed to provoke someone to commit murder, where normally they would let the other live and dismiss their desires as simply the heat of the moment, without anyone ever truly realising what he is doing.

Poirot takes the others in the house where he explains all.

Meeting Henry again, Poirot explains: Anthony left a large fortune to his dead, but estranged, brother.

The act put on by Cornworthy explains why Poirot wasn't as impressed by the man as he expected him to be.

It is only afterwards that Poirot explains what has really been going on to the family.

David arrives and Poirot explains everything.

Poirot reviews what the reader already knows, and then explains that Princess Shaista was an impostor: the real Shaista had been kidnapped earlier in Switzerland, and the apparent abduction was actually the imposter's escape from the school.

Poirot explains that he hired a man to impersonate Mr Maltravers and turn off the lights.

Poirot meets back with Ridgeway and his fiancé and explains the case to them.

Poirot rushes back to Clapham with Hastings and explains matters on the way.

The theory Poirot has also explains why Lord Alloway didn't want the guests told of the theft of the plans – he wanted the foreign power to receive the false plans.

Poirot explains: Mrs Clapperton was already dead when her husband, witnessed by Poirot, Kitty and Pamela, heard her " speak " to him from inside the cabin but it was her husband using his music hall act.

The woman is later identified as Flossie Halliday, latterly the Honourable Mrs Rupert Carrington, the daughter of an Australian steel magnate who asks Poirot to take the case on.

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.

Christie's Poirot was a francophone Belgian.

Unlike the models mentioned above, Christie's Poirot was clearly the result of her early development of the detective in her first book, written in 1916 but not published until 1920.

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 1930, Agatha Christie found Poirot " insufferable ", and by 1960 she felt that he was a " detestable, bombastic, tiresome, ego-centric little creep ".

Yet the public loved him, and Christie refused to kill him off, claiming that it was her duty to produce what the public liked, and what the public liked was Poirot.

: " 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.

It was also in this period that Poirot shot a man who was firing from a roof onto the public below.

In The Double Clue Poirot mentions that he was Chief of Police of Brussels, until " the Great War " ( WWI ) forced him to leave for England.

It was chosen by Poirot for its symmetry.

( This building was in fact built in 1936, decades later than Poirot fictionally moved in.

) His first case was " The Affair at the Victory Ball ", which saw Poirot enter the high society and begin his career as a private detective.

In The Nemean Lion, he sided with the criminal, Miss Amy Carnaby, and saved her from having to face justice by blackmailing his client Sir Joseph Hoggins, who himself was plotting murder and was unwise enough to let Poirot discover this.

Poirot thus was forced to kill the man himself as otherwise he would have continued his actions and never been officially convicted.

Poirot was buried at Styles, and his funeral was arranged by his best friend Hastings and Hastings ' daughter Judith.

Whether this was during one of Poirot ’ s numerous retirements or before she entered his employment is unknown.

In The Agatha Christie Hour, she was portrayed by British actress Angela Easterling, while in Agatha Christie's Poirot, she was portrayed by Pauline Moran.

In Agatha Christie's Poirot, Japp was portrayed by Philip Jackson.

In the film, Thirteen at Dinner ( 1985 ), adapted from Lord Edgware Dies, the role of Japp was taken by the actor David Suchet, who would later star as Poirot in the ITV adaptations.

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.

Holtorf ’ s description of the archaeologist as a detective is very similar to Christie ’ s Poirot who is hugely observant and is very careful to look at the small details as they often impart the most information.

Christie wrote little of Poirot ’ s childhood though in Three Act Tragedy she writes that he comes from a large family with little wealth.

Just a case or two, just one case more – the Prima Donna ’ s farewell performance won ’ t be in it with yours, Poirot.

Japp is outgoing, loud and sometimes inconsiderate by nature, and his relationship with the bourgeois Belgian is one of the stranger aspects of Poirot ’ s world.

George ( his last name is never revealed ) is a stereotypical English valet who enters Poirot ’ s employment in 1923 and does not leave his side until the 1970s, shortly before Poirot ’ s death.

de: Agatha Christie ’ s Poirot

Poirot ’ s explanation in the denouement is a startling one.

She hides it in a clay sculpture of a horse in her workshop, then gets it handled by a blind match-seller, and places it in Poirot ’ s hedge.

She ’ s the sort of woman, I think, that men would get tired of very easily .” In Evil under the Sun, Poirot says of Arlena Marshall “ She was the type of woman whom men care for easily and of whom they easily tire .”

The novel is notable as a rigorous attempt to demonstrate Poirot ’ s repeatedly stated contention that it is possible to solve a mystery purely by reflecting upon the testimony of the participants, and without access to the scene of the crime.

Poirot labels the five alternative suspects “ the five little pigs ”: they comprise Phillip Blake (" went to the market "); Philip's brother, Meredith Blake (" stayed at home "); Elsa Greer ( now Lady Dittisham, " had roast beef "); Cecilia Williams, the governess (" had none "); and Angela Warren, Caroline ’ s younger half-sister (" went ' Wee!

This included 70 hours of Agatha Christie ’ s Poirot starring David Suchet and 24 hours of Rosemary and Thyme, starring Felicity Kendal and Pam Ferris.

:* Agatha Christie ’ s Poirot: ( 1989-2004 ) for ITV1 – total 53 episodes

Poirot is made to sit in the light of a bright desk lamp and he is not impressed with the man, dressed in an old patchwork dressing gown and wearing thick glasses, feeling that he is stagy and a mountebank and doesn ’ t possess the charisma he would expect from such a rich and powerful person.

Poirot ’ s attention is directed to Amy Folliat, who seems to know more than she is saying.

After the boatman Merdell dies, Poirot discovers that he was Marlene ’ s grandfather.

The television library features programming by most of the major ITV companies ( except Thames Television, which belongs to RTL Group ) including titles such as Prime Suspect, Doctor Zhivago ( 2002 miniseries ), The Forsyte Saga ( 2002 ), Inspector Morse and Agatha Christie's Poirot, plus children ’ s shows, TV movies, wildlife documentaries and other factual programming.

He is best known for his scripts of Agatha Christie ’ s Poirot, P. G. Wodehouse's Jeeves and Wooster, and Rosemary & Thyme.