Being Poirot Page #3

in Agatha Christie's secret diaries.'

And there, look. Hercule Poirot. Yes.

Written by Agatha Christie.

So you can see here,

The Mysterious Affair At Styles,

the plot was roughed out

and then came her dilemma.

(READS) A detective story.

Now, what kind of a detective?

So she says,

"Why not have a Belgian refugee?"

Because refugees were in

most countries at that stage.

You're not selling onions, are you?

Pardon?

Your people come over here,

doing that, a lot.

(READS) What kind of man

should he be?

A little man with a somewhat

grandiloquent name.

Poirot, monsieur. Hercule Poirot.

Poirot? Could never get my tongue

around French.

But I am Belgian, monsieur,

not French.

(READS) Like many small, dandified

men, he would be conceited

and he would, of course,

have a handsome moustache.

Yes. I think the moment is ripe

for the trimming of the moustache.

Also the pomading.

And what about Agatha's own

relationship to the man himself?

Hmm. Well, that became a bit fraught

as the years went on

and she says here,

(READS) Why, why, did I ever invent

this detestable, bombastic,

tiresome little creature?

I must be right because I am never

wrong.

(READS) Eternally straightening

things, forever boasting,

always twirling his moustaches

and tilting his egg-shaped head.

And then she adds -

and I think this is quite funny -

(READS) Anyway,

what is an egg-shaped head?

Have I ever seen an egg-shaped head?

When people say to me -

Agatha said this.

This is an egg-shaped head.

But you see, all of those things that

irritated her, the public adored.

Absolutely. Absolutely. Yes.

And I'm here to be witness

to the egg-shaped head.

'In 1920, Agatha Christie put Poirot

on the page.

Soon he was to become a star of stage

and screen.'

Good evening, everybody.

This is Hercule Poirot.

'In the Roaring Twenties,

Agatha Christie's new detective

Hercule Poirot was hugely popular.

After only four books, he was set

to appear on the London stage.'

I wish I could get into Dr Who's

Tardis and go back to sitting

in a London Theatre in 1928 and

witnessing, for the very first time,

that the character of Hercule Poirot

came to life.

Performed by Charles Laughton,

one of the greatest actors

that we had in those days,

performing in a play called Alibi,

which was adaptation of the glorious

novel The Murder Of Roger Ackroyd.

(READS) It was just like the

detective of the novel

walking into the room.

The actor's make-up is perfect,

the attitude,

the way of holding his head.

I have seen Poirot tonight.

Poirot himself

actually appears on stage as himself

in the novel and the film we made

called Three Act Tragedy.'

I was certain the person who murdered

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