Penning Poirot was pure murder!
QUESTION Did Agatha Christie detest Hercule Poirot?
Poirot ranks second only to Sherlock Holmes in the pantheon of detective fiction. Each tale was hotly anticipated by the public and, like Arthur Conan Doyle, at times, Agatha Christie came to resent her creation.
Perhaps this was understandable: she never expected he would become so famous and would be living inside her head for two-thirds of her life. Christie wrote 33 novels and 52 short stories over 55 years featuring the detective.
Her feelings were summed up in a 1938 interview in the Daily Mail: ‘there are moments when i have felt: why, why, why did i ever invent this detestable, bombastic, tiresome little creature?
‘Eternally straightening things, eternally boasting, eternally twirling his moustaches and tilting his egg-shaped head...i point out that by a few strokes of the pen...i could destroy him utterly. He replies, grandiloquently: “impossible to get rid of Poirot like that! He is much too clever.” ’
Christie had a love-hate relationship with Poirot. She admitted in the same article to having a reluctant affection for him and, though she was financially beholden to him, they were foremost ‘friends and partners’. She softened his impact over time by toning down his mannerisms and introducing him later and later into each story.
the public adored Poirot and Christie was shrewd enough not to alter his characteristics too much. Fans know exactly what to expect from the detective and part of the stories is the anticipation of the fulfilment of this expectation.
Christie kept Poirot’s death hanging over him for decades. She had written his demise in Curtain in the 1940s and the story was intended to be published after her death. in fact, it was published four months before she died in January 1976.
Roland Hickson, Reigate, Surrey.
QUESTION Have there been recent sightings of ghost planes in the North of England?
SigHtingS of ghost planes are common in the Peak District. there have been at least 50 plane crashes in the wild northern area known as the Dark Peak.
the most famous was on August 19, 1949, when a BEA Douglas g-AHCY crashed on Wimberry Stones Brow. it was on its final approach from Belfast to ringway, now Manchester Airport. the pilot, Captain Pinkerton, a World War ii veteran, was flying with two other crew and 29 passengers.
owing to a navigational error, it crashed. only eight passengers survived.
there have been countless sightings of the ghost plane, usually at twilight, with many saying the area goes eerily dark as the plane flies over.
in a typical encounter from 2018, a woman from Derby said: ‘We were driving along Bretby Lane at between 6.45pm and 7pm and saw a massive green and black military plane flying really low and not making any noise, which was bizarre. A few cars in front of us had stopped so people could look at it.’
A young boy said: ‘i was in the car with my Dad on the A38 at around 6.45pm and two aircraft flew over us. it was scary, they were so low, i thought they were going to crash. they made no noise and produced no contrails.’
Paul Avery, Matlock, Derbys.
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