Is Hercule Hippot related to Hercule Poirot?
Dame Agatha Christie’s creation “Hercule Poirot” and the great detective Hercule Hippot shared many similarities. For example, Hippot was born in Luxembourg while Poirot was from neighbouring Belgium, both had moustaches in which they took considerable pride, and both, of course, were detectives who relied on the power of their brain to solve mysteries. They also had many differences; Christie’s Poirot was thin while Hippot was of somewhat more ample proportions. Dame Agatha published her first account of her fictional detective (“The Mysterious Affair at Styles”) in 1920, by which time the real Hippot had been long recognized in both England and on the Continent. It is entirely possible that Dame Agatha drew some inspiration for her character from the great Hippot, as she almost certainly did from other fictional detectives from stories by Marie Belloc Lowndes ( “Hercule Popeau”), Frank Howel Evans (“Monsieur Poiret”), and A. E. W. Mason (“Inspector Hanaud”).
