Agatha Christie, pictured above, used a Belgian policeman as the inspiration behind her famous detective Hercule Poirot It is a mystery almost as great as those that he solves. It seems the inspiration behind Agatha Christie's Poirot may have been unveiled as a policeman from Belgium. Little-known gendarme Jacques Hornais is the man who the author turned into her famous detective Hercule, according to the descendant of a wartime fundraiser. Christie introduced the sleuth in her 1920 novel, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, and he went on to 'exercise his little grey cells' in 33 novels. Although the author never revealed any particular person as her inspiration an amateur researcher says he has now uncovered evidence Hornias could have been the real-life Poirot.
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It's claimed Jacques Hornais is man who author turned into famous detective
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Details have emerged of meeting between young Hornais and Christie
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It is said that she played the piano for him in her home town of Torquay
when he uncovered the chance meeting between @placeholder and Christie.