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Hercule Poirot

Hercule Poirot is a fictional Belgian detective created by British writer Agatha Christie. Poirot is one of Christie's most famous and long-running characters, appearing in 33 novels, two plays (Black Coffee and Alibi), and 51 short stories published between 1920 and 1975.

Poirot has been portrayed on radio, in film and on television by various actors, including Austin Trevor, John Moffatt, Albert Finney, Peter Ustinov, Ian Holm, Tony Randall, Alfred Molina, Orson Welles, David Suchet, Kenneth Branagh, and John Malkovich.

Influences
Poirot's name was derived from two other fictional detectives of the time: Marie Belloc Lowndes' Hercule Popeau and Frank Howel Evans' Monsieur Poiret, a retired French police officer living in London. Evans' Jules Poiret "was small and rather heavyset, hardly more than five feet, but moved with his head held high. The most remarkable features of his head were the stiff military moustache. His apparel was neat to perfection, a little quaint and frankly dandified." He was accompanied by Captain Harry Haven, who had returned to London from a Colombian business venture ended by a civil war.

A more obvious influence on the early Poirot stories is that of Arthur Conan Doyle. In An Autobiography, Christie states, "I was still writing in the Sherlock Holmes tradition – eccentric detective, stooge assistant, with a Lestrade-type Scotland Yard detective, Inspector Japp". Conan Doyle acknowledged basing his detective stories on the model of Edgar Allan Poe's C. Auguste Dupin and his anonymous narrator, and basing his character Sherlock Holmes on Joseph Bell, who in his use of "ratiocination" prefigured Poirot's reliance on his "little grey cells". Poirot also bears a striking resemblance to A. E. W. Mason's fictional detective Inspector Hanaud of the French Sûreté, who first appeared in the 1910 novel At the Villa Rose and predates the first Poirot novel by 10 years.

Christie's Poirot was clearly the result of her early development of the detective in her first book, written in 1916 and published in 1920. The large number of refugees in the country who had fled the German invasion of Belgium in August to November 1914 served as a plausible explanation of why such a skilled detective would be available to solve mysteries at an English country house. At the time of Christie's writing, it was considered patriotic to express sympathy towards the Belgians, since the invasion of their country had constituted Britain's casus belli for entering World War I, and British wartime propaganda emphasised the "Rape of Belgium".

Popularity
Poirot first appeared in The Mysterious Affair at Styles, published in 1920, and exited in Curtain, published in 1975. Following the latter, Poirot was the only fictional character to receive an obituary on the front page of The New York Times.

By 1930, Agatha Christie found Poirot "insufferable", and by 1960 she felt that he was a "detestable, bombastic, tiresome, ego-centric little creep". Despite this, Poirot remained an exceedingly popular character with the general public. Christie later stated that she refused to kill him off, claiming that it was her duty to produce what the public liked.

Appearance and proclivities
Captain Arthur Hastings's first description of Poirot:

"He was hardly more than five feet four inches but carried himself with great dignity. His head was exactly the shape of an egg, and he always perched it a little on one side. His moustache was very stiff and military. Even if everything on his face was covered, the tips of moustache and the pink-tipped nose would be visible.

The neatness of his attire was almost incredible; I believe a speck of dust would have caused him more pain than a bullet wound. Yet this quaint dandified little man who, I was sorry to see, now limped badly, had been in his time one of the most celebrated members of the Belgian police."

Agatha Christie's initial description of Poirot in Murder on the Orient Express:

"By the step leading up into the sleeping-car stood a young French 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."

In the later books, his limp is not mentioned, suggesting it may have been a temporary wartime injury. (In Curtain, Poirot admits he was wounded when he first came to England.) Poirot has green eyes that are repeatedly described as shining "like a cat's" when he is struck by a clever idea, and dark hair, which he dyes later in life. In Curtain, he admits to Hastings that he has taken to wearing a wig and a false moustache. However, in many of his screen incarnations, he is bald or balding.

Frequent mention is made of his patent leather shoes, damage to which is frequently a source of misery for him, but comical for the reader. Poirot's appearance, regarded as fastidious during his early career, later falls hopelessly out of fashion.

Among Poirot's most significant personal attributes is the sensitivity of his stomach:

"The plane dropped slightly. 'Mon estomac,' thought Hercule Poirot, and closed his eyes determinedly."

He suffers from sea sickness, and, in Death in the Clouds, he states that his air sickness prevents him from being more alert at the time of the murder. Later in his life, we are told:

"Always a man who had taken his stomach seriously, he was reaping his reward in old age. Eating was not only a physical pleasure, it was also an intellectual research."

Poirot is extremely punctual and carries a pocket watch almost to the end of his career. He is also particular about his personal finances, preferring to keep a bank balance of 444 pounds, 4 shillings, and 4 pence. Actor David Suchet, who portrayed Poirot on television, said "there's no question he's obsessive-compulsive". Film portrayer Kenneth Branagh said that he "enjoyed finding the sort of obsessive-compulsive" in Poirot.

As mentioned in Curtain and The Clocks, he is fond of classical music, particularly Mozart and Bach.

Methods
In The Mysterious Affair at Styles, Poirot operates as a fairly conventional, clue-based and logical detective; reflected in his vocabulary by two common phrases: his use of "the little grey cells" and "order and method". Hastings is irritated by the fact that Poirot sometimes conceals important details of his plans, as in The Big Four. In this novel, Hastings is kept in the dark throughout the climax. This aspect of Poirot is less evident in the later novels, partly because there is rarely a narrator to mislead.

In Murder on the Links, still largely dependent on clues himself, Poirot mocks a rival "bloodhound" detective who focuses on the traditional trail of clues established in detective fiction (e.g., Sherlock Holmes depending on footprints, fingerprints, and cigar ash). From this point on, Poirot establishes his psychological bona fides. Rather than painstakingly examining crime scenes, he enquires into the nature of the victim or the psychology of the murderer. He predicates his actions in the later novels on his underlying assumption that particular crimes are committed by particular types of people.

Poirot focuses on getting people to talk. In the early novels, he casts himself in the role of "Papa Poirot", a benign confessor, especially to young women. In later works, Christie made a point of having Poirot supply false or misleading information about himself or his background to assist him in obtaining information. In The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, Poirot speaks of a non-existent mentally disabled nephew to uncover information about homes for the mentally unfit. In Dumb Witness, Poirot invents an elderly invalid mother as a pretence to investigate local nurses. In The Big Four, Poirot pretends to have (and poses as) an identical twin brother named Achille: however, this brother was mentioned again in The Labours of Hercules.

"'If I remember rightly – though my memory isn't what it was – you also had a brother called Achille, did you not?' Poirot's mind raced back over the details of Achille Poirot's career. Had all that really happened? 'Only for a short space of time,' he replied."

Poirot is also willing to appear more foreign or vain in an effort to make people underestimate him. He admits as much:

"It is true that I can speak the exact, the idiomatic English. But, my friend, to speak the broken English is an enormous asset. It leads people to despise you. They say – a foreigner – he can't even speak English properly. ... Also I boast! An Englishman he says often, 'A fellow who thinks as much of himself as that cannot be worth much.' ... And so, you see, I put people off their guard."

He also has a tendency to refer to himself in the third person.

In later novels, Christie often uses the word mountebank when characters describe Poirot, showing that he has successfully passed himself off as a charlatan or fraud.

Poirot's investigating techniques assist him solving cases; "For in the long run, either through a lie, or through truth, people were bound to give themselves away..." At the end, Poirot usually reveals his description of the sequence of events and his deductions to a room of suspects, often leading to the culprit's apprehension.

Origins
Christie was purposely vague about Poirot's origins, as he is thought to be an elderly man even in the early novels. In An Autobiography, she admitted that she already imagined him to be an old man in 1920. At the time, however, she did not know that she would write works featuring him for decades to come.

A brief passage in The Big Four provides original information about Poirot's birth or at least childhood in or near the town of Spa, Belgium: "But we did not go into Spa itself. We left the main road and wound into the leafy fastnesses of the hills, till we reached a little hamlet and an isolated white villa high on the hillside." Christie strongly implies that this "quiet retreat in the Ardennes" near Spa is the location of the Poirot family home. An alternative tradition holds that Poirot was born in the village of Ellezelles (province of Hainaut, Belgium). A few memorials dedicated to Hercule Poirot can be seen in the centre of this village. There appears to be no reference to this in Christie's writings, but the town of Ellezelles cherishes a copy of Poirot's birth certificate in a local memorial 'attesting' Poirot's birth, naming his father and mother as Jules-Louis Poirot and Godelieve Poirot.

Christie wrote that Poirot is a Catholic by birth, but not much is described about his later religious convictions, except sporadic references to his "going to church" and occasional invocations of "le bon Dieu". Christie provides little information regarding Poirot's childhood, only mentioning in Three Act Tragedy that he comes from a large family with little wealth, and has at least one younger sister. Apart from French and English, Poirot is also fluent in German.

Policeman
Gustave ... was not a policeman. I have dealt with policemen all my life and I know. He could pass as a detective to an outsider but not to a man who was a policeman himself.

 * — Hercule Poirot,  The Erymanthian Boar

Hercule Poirot was active in the Brussels police force by 1893. Very little mention is made about this part of his life, but in "The Nemean Lion" (1939) Poirot refers to a Belgian case of his in which "a wealthy soap manufacturer ... poisoned his wife in order to be free to marry his secretary". As Poirot was often misleading about his past to gain information, the truthfulness of that statement is unknown; it does, however, scare off a would-be wife-killer.

In the short story "The Chocolate Box" (1923), Poirot reveals to Captain Arthur Hastings an account of what he considers to be his only failure. Poirot admits that he has failed to solve a crime "innumerable" times:

"I have been called in too late. Very often another, working towards the same goal, has arrived there first. Twice I have been struck down with illness just as I was on the point of success."

Nevertheless, he regards the 1893 case in "The Chocolate Box",

Inspector Japp offers some insight into Poirot's career with the Belgian police when introducing him to a colleague: "You've heard me speak of Mr Poirot? It was in 1904 he and I worked together – the Abercrombie forgery case – you remember he was run down in Brussels. Ah, those were the days Moosier. Then, do you remember 'Baron' Altara? There was a pretty rogue for you! He eluded the clutches of half the police in Europe. But we nailed him in Antwerp – thanks to Mr. Poirot here."

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

Private detective
"I had called in at my friend Poirot's rooms to find him sadly overworked. So much had he become the rage that every rich woman who had mislaid a bracelet or lost a pet kitten rushed to secure the services of the great Hercule Poirot."

During World War I, Poirot left Belgium for England as a refugee, although he returned a few times. On 16 July 1916 he again met his lifelong friend, Captain Arthur Hastings, and solved the first of his cases to be published, The Mysterious Affair at Styles. It is clear that Hastings and Poirot are already friends when they meet in Chapter 2 of the novel, as Hastings tells Cynthia that he has not seen him for "some years". Agatha Christie's Poirot has Hastings reveal that they met on a shooting case where Hastings was a suspect.

Particulars such as the date of 1916 for the case and that Hastings had met Poirot in Belgium, are given in Curtain, Chapter 1. After that case, Poirot apparently came to the attention of the British secret service and undertook cases for the British government, including foiling the attempted abduction of the Prime Minister. Readers were told that the British authorities had learned of Poirot's keen investigative ability from certain members of Belgium's royal family.

After the war, Poirot became a private detective and began undertaking civilian cases. He moved into what became both his home and work address, Flat 203 at 56B Whitehaven Mansions. Hastings first visits the flat when he returns to England in June 1935 from Argentina in The A.B.C. Murders, Chapter 1. The TV programmes place this in Florin Court, Charterhouse Square, in the wrong part of London.

According to Hastings, it was chosen by Poirot "entirely on account of its strict geometrical appearance and proportion" and described as the "newest type of service flat". His first case in this period was "The Affair at the Victory Ball", which allowed Poirot to enter high society and begin his career as a private detective.

Between the world wars, Poirot travelled all over Europe and the Middle East investigating crimes and solving murders. Most of his cases occurred during this time, and he was at the height of his powers at this point in his life. In The Murder on the Links, the Belgian pits his grey cells against a French murderer. In the Middle East, he solved the cases Death on the Nile and Murder in Mesopotamia with ease, and even survived An Appointment with Death. As he passed through Eastern Europe on his return trip, he solved The Murder on the Orient Express. He did not travel to Africa or Asia, probably to avoid seasickness.

"It is this villainous sea that troubles me! The mal de mer – it is horrible suffering!"

It was during this time he met the Countess Vera Rossakoff, a glamorous jewel thief. The history of the countess is, like Poirot's, steeped in mystery. She claims to have been a member of the Russian aristocracy before the Russian Revolution and suffered greatly as a result, but how much of that story is true is an open question. Even Poirot acknowledges that Rossakoff offered wildly varying accounts of her early life. Poirot later became smitten with the woman and allowed her to escape justice.

"It is the misfortune of small, precise men always to hanker after large and flamboyant women. Poirot had never been able to rid himself of the fatal fascination that the countess held for him."

Although letting the countess escape was morally questionable, it was not uncommon. In The Nemean Lion, Poirot sided with the criminal, Miss Amy Carnaby, allowing her to evade prosecution by blackmailing his client Sir Joseph Hoggins, who, Poirot discovered, had plans to commit murder. Poirot even sent Miss Carnaby two hundred pounds as a final payoff prior to the conclusion of her dog kidnapping campaign. In The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, Poirot allowed the murderer to escape justice through suicide and then withheld the truth to spare the feelings of the murderer's relatives.

In The Augean Stables, he helped the government to cover up vast corruption. In Murder on the Orient Express, Poirot allowed the murderers to go free after discovering that twelve different people participated in the murder, each one stabbing the victim in a darkened carriage, after drugging him into unconsciousness so that there was no way for anyone to definitively determine which of them actually delivered the killing blow. The victim had committed a disgusting crime which led to the deaths of at least five people, and there was no question of his guilt, but he had been acquitted in America in a miscarriage of justice.

Considering it poetic justice that twelve jurors had acquitted him and twelve people had stabbed him, Poirot produced an alternative sequence of events to explain the death involving an unknown additional passenger on the train, with the medical examiner agreeing to doctor his own report to support this theory.

After his cases in the Middle East, Poirot returned to Britain. Apart from some of the so-called Labours of Hercules (see next section) he very rarely went abroad during his later career. He moved into Styles Court towards the end of his life.

While Poirot was usually paid handsomely by clients, he was also known to take on cases that piqued his curiosity, although they did not pay well.

Poirot shows a love of steam trains, which Christie contrasts with Hastings' love of autos: this is shown in The Plymouth Express, The Mystery of the Blue Train, Murder on the Orient Express, and The ABC Murders. In the TV series, steam trains are seen in nearly all of the episodes.

Retirement
"That's the way of it. Just a case or two, just one case more – the Prima Donna's farewell performance won't be in it with yours, Poirot."

Confusion surrounds Poirot's retirement. Most of the cases covered by Poirot's private detective agency take place before his retirement to attempt to grow larger marrows, at which time he solves The Murder of Roger Ackroyd. It has been said that the twelve cases related in The Labours of Hercules (1947) must refer to a different retirement, but the fact that Poirot specifically says that he intends to grow marrows indicates that these stories also take place before Roger Ackroyd, and presumably Poirot closed his agency once he had completed them.

There is specific mention in "The Capture of Cerberus" of the twenty-year gap between Poirot's previous meeting with Countess Rossakoff and this one. If the Labours precede the events in Roger Ackroyd, then the Ackroyd case must have taken place around twenty years later than it was published, and so must any of the cases that refer to it. One alternative would be that having failed to grow marrows once, Poirot is determined to have another go, but this is specifically denied by Poirot himself.

In "The Erymanthian Boar", a character is said to have been turned out of Austria by the Nazis, implying that the events of The Labours of Hercules took place after 1937. Another alternative would be to suggest that the Preface to the Labours takes place at one date but that the labours are completed over a matter of twenty years. None of the explanations is especially attractive.

In terms of a rudimentary chronology, Poirot speaks of retiring to grow marrows in Chapter 18 of The Big Four (1927) which places that novel out of published order before Roger Ackroyd. He declines to solve a case for the Home Secretary because he is retired in Chapter One of Peril at End House (1932). He has certainly retired at the time of Three Act Tragedy (1935) but he does not enjoy his retirement and repeatedly takes cases thereafter when his curiosity is engaged.

He continues to employ his secretary, Miss Lemon, at the time of the cases retold in Hickory Dickory Dock and Dead Man's Folly, which take place in the mid-1950s. It is, therefore, better to assume that Christie provided no authoritative chronology for Poirot's retirement but assumed that he could either be an active detective, a consulting detective, or a retired detective as the needs of the immediate case required.

One consistent element about Poirot's retirement is that his fame declines during it, so that in the later novels he is often disappointed when characters, especially younger characters, recognise neither him nor his name:

"I should, perhaps, Madame, tell you a little more about myself. I am Hercule Poirot."

The revelation left Mrs Summerhayes unmoved.

"What a lovely name," she said kindly. "Greek, isn't it?"

Post–World War II
"He, I knew, was not likely to be far from his headquarters. The time when cases had drawn him from one end of England to the other was past."

Poirot is less active during the cases that take place at the end of his career. Beginning with Three Act Tragedy (1934), Christie had perfected during the inter-war years a subgenre of Poirot novel in which the detective himself spent much of the first third of the novel on the periphery of events. In novels such as Taken at the Flood, After the Funeral, and Hickory Dickory Dock, he is even less in evidence, frequently passing the duties of main interviewing detective to a subsidiary character. In Cat Among the Pigeons, Poirot's entrance is so late as to be almost an afterthought. Whether this was a reflection of his age or of Christie's distaste for him, is impossible to assess. Crooked House (1949) and Ordeal by Innocence (1957), which could easily have been Poirot novels, represent a logical endpoint of the general diminution of his presence in such works.

Towards the end of his career, it becomes clear that Poirot's retirement is no longer a convenient fiction. He assumes a genuinely inactive lifestyle during which he concerns himself with studying famous unsolved cases of the past and reading detective novels. He even writes a book about mystery fiction in which he deals sternly with Edgar Allan Poe and Wilkie Collins. In the absence of a more appropriate puzzle, he solves such inconsequential domestic riddles as the presence of three pieces of orange peel in his umbrella stand.

Poirot, and, it is reasonable to suppose, his creator becomes increasingly bemused by the vulgarism of the up-and-coming generation's young people. In Hickory Dickory Dock, he investigates the strange goings-on in a student hostel, while in Third Girl (1966) he is forced into contact with the smart set of Chelsea youths. In the growing drug and pop culture of the sixties, he proves himself once again but has become heavily reliant on other investigators, especially the private investigator, Mr. Goby, who provide him with the clues that he can no longer gather for himself. "You're too old. Nobody told me you were so old. I really don't want to be rude but – there it is. You're too old. I'm really very sorry."

Notably, during this time his physical characteristics also change dramatically, and by the time Arthur Hastings meets Poirot again in Curtain, he looks very different from his previous appearances, having become thin with age and with obviously dyed hair.

Death
On the ITV television series, Poirot died in October 1949 from complications of a heart condition at the end of Curtain. This took place at Styles Court, the scene of his first English case in 1916. In Christie's novels, he lived into the early 1970s, perhaps even until 1975 when Curtain was published.

In Curtain, Poirot himself became a murderer, in order to prevent further murders instigated by a man who manipulated others to kill for him, subtly and psychologically manipulating the moments where others desire to commit murder so that they carry out the crime when they might otherwise dismiss their thoughts as nothing more than a momentary passion. Poirot executed the man, as otherwise he would have continued his actions and never been convicted.

Poirot himself died shortly after having committed murder. He had moved his amyl nitrite pills out of his own reach, possibly because of guilt. Poirot himself noted that he wanted to kill his victim shortly before his own death so that he could avoid succumbing to the arrogance of the murderer, concerned that he might come to view himself as entitled to kill those whom he deemed necessary to eliminate.

It is revealed at the end of Curtain that he fakes his need for a wheelchair to fool people into believing that he is suffering from arthritis, to give the impression that he is more infirm than he is. His last recorded words are "Cher ami!", spoken to Hastings as the Captain left his room. The TV adaptation adds that as Poirot is dying alone, he whispers out his final prayer to God in these words: "Forgive me... forgive...". Poirot was buried at Styles, and his funeral was arranged by his best friend Hastings and Hastings' daughter Judith. Hastings reasoned, "Here was the spot where he had lived when he first came to this country. He was to lie here at the last."

Poirot's actual death and funeral occurred in Curtain, years after his retirement from the active investigation, but it was not the first time that Hastings attended the funeral of his best friend. In The Big Four (1927), Poirot feigned his death and subsequent funeral to launch a surprise attack on the Big Four.

Captain Arthur Hastings
Hastings, a former British Army officer, meets Poirot during Poirot's years as a police officer in Belgium and almost immediately after they both arrive in England. He becomes Poirot's lifelong friend and appears in many cases. Poirot regards Hastings as a poor private detective, not particularly intelligent, yet helpful in his way of being fooled by the criminal or seeing things the way the average man would see them and for his tendency to unknowingly "stumble" onto the truth. Hastings marries and has four children – two sons and two daughters. As a loyal, albeit somewhat naïve companion, Hastings is to Poirot what Watson is to Sherlock Holmes.

Hastings is capable of great bravery and courage, facing death unflinchingly when confronted by The Big Four and displaying unwavering loyalty towards Poirot. However, when forced to choose between Poirot and his wife in that novel, he initially chooses to betray Poirot to protect his wife. Later, though, he tells Poirot to draw back and escape the trap.

The two are an airtight team until Hastings meets and marries Dulcie Duveen, a beautiful music hall performer half his age, after investigating the Murder on the Links. They later emigrated to Argentina, leaving Poirot behind as a "very unhappy old man". Poirot and Hastings reunite during the novels The Big Four, Peril at End House, The ABC Murders, Lord Edgware Dies, and Dumb Witness, when Hastings arrives in England for business, with Poirot noting in ABC Murders that he enjoys having Hastings over because he feels that he always has his most interesting cases with Hastings.

The two collaborate for the final time in Curtain when the seemingly-crippled Poirot asks Hastings to assist him in his final case. When the killer they are tracking nearly manipulates Hastings into committing murder, Poirot describes this in his final farewell letter to Hastings as the catalyst that prompted him to eliminate the man himself, as Poirot knew that his friend was not a murderer and refused to let a man capable of manipulating Hastings in such a manner go on.

Mrs Ariadne Oliver
Detective novelist Ariadne Oliver is Agatha Christie's humorous self-caricature. Like Christie, she is not overly fond of the detective whom she is most famous for creating–in Ariadne's case, Finnish sleuth Sven Hjerson. We never learn anything about her husband, but we do know that she hates alcohol and public appearances and has a great fondness for apples, until she is put off them by the events of Hallowe'en Party. She has a habit of constantly changing her hairstyle. In every appearance by her much is made of her clothes and hats. Her maid Maria prevents the public adoration from becoming too much of a burden on her employer but does nothing to prevent her from becoming too much of a burden on others.

She has authored more than 56 novels and greatly dislikes people modifying her characters. She is the only one in Poirot's universe to have noted that "It's not natural for five or six people to be on the spot when B is murdered and all have a motive for killing B." She first met Poirot in the story Cards on the Table and has bothered him ever since.

Miss Felicity Lemon
Poirot's secretary, Miss Felicity Lemon, has few human weaknesses. The only mistakes she makes within the series are a typing error during the events of Hickory Dickory Dock and the mis-mailing of an electricity bill, although she was worried about strange events surrounding her sister who worked at a student hostel at the time. Poirot described her as being "Unbelievably ugly and incredibly efficient. Anything that she mentioned as worth consideration usually was worth consideration." She is an expert on nearly everything and plans to create the perfect filing system.

In The Agatha Christie Hour, she was portrayed by Angela Easterling, while in Agatha Christie's Poirot she was portrayed by Pauline Moran (where she was shown to be efficient, prim and modest, but not remotely "unbelievably ugly".) On a number of occasions, she joins Poirot in his inquiries or seeks out answers alone at his request.

Chief Inspector James Harold Japp
Japp is a Scotland Yard Inspector and appears in many of the stories trying to solve cases that Poirot is working on. Japp is outgoing, loud, and sometimes inconsiderate by nature, and his relationship with the refined Belgian is one of the stranger aspects of Poirot's world. He first met Poirot in Belgium in 1904, during the Abercrombie Forgery. Later that year they joined forces again to hunt down a criminal known as Baron Altara. They also meet in England where Poirot often helps Japp and lets him take credit in return for special favours. These favours usually entail Poirot being supplied with other interesting cases.

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.

Major novels
The Poirot books take readers through the whole of his life in England, from the first book (The Mysterious Affair at Styles), where he is a refugee staying at Styles, to the last Poirot book (Curtain), where he visits Styles before his death. In between, Poirot solves cases outside England as well, including his most famous case, Murder on the Orient Express (1934).

Hercule Poirot became famous in 1926 with the publication of The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, whose surprising solution proved controversial. The novel is still among the most famous of all detective novels: Edmund Wilson alludes to it in the title of his well-known attack on detective fiction, "Who Cares Who Killed Roger Ackroyd?" Aside from Roger Ackroyd, the most critically acclaimed Poirot novels appeared from 1932 to 1942, including Murder on the Orient Express (1934); The ABC Murders (1935); Cards on the Table (1936); and Death on the Nile (1937), a tale of multiple murders upon a Nile steamer. Death on the Nile was judged by the famed detective novelist John Dickson Carr to be among the ten greatest mystery novels of all time.

The 1942 novel Five Little Pigs (a.k.a. Murder in Retrospect), in which Poirot investigates a murder committed sixteen years before by analysing various accounts of the tragedy, has been called "the best Christie of all" by critic and mystery novelist Robert Barnard.

In 2014, the Poirot canon was added to by Sophie Hannah, the first author to be commissioned by the Christie estate to write an original story. The novel was called The Monogram Murders, and was set in the late 1920s, placing it chronologically between The Mystery of the Blue Train and Peril at End House. A second Hannah-penned Poirot came out in 2016, called Closed Casket, and a third, The Mystery of Three Quarters, in 2018.

Stage
The first actor to portray Poirot was Charles Laughton. He appeared on the West End in 1928 in the play Alibi which had been adapted by Michael Morton from the novel The Murder of Roger Ackroyd. In 1932, the play was performed as The Fatal Alibi on Broadway. Another Poirot play, Black Coffee opened in London at the Embassy Theatre on 8 December 1930 and starred Francis L. Sullivan as Poirot.

Black Coffee was revived by The Agatha Christie Theatre Company for an extensive UK tour in 2014. Poirot was initially portrayed by Robert Powell, with Jason Durr later taking over the role partway through the run.

American playwright Ken Ludwig adapted Murder on the Orient Express into a play, which premiered at the McCarter Theatre in Princeton, New Jersey on 14 March 2017. It starred English actor Allan Corduner in the role of Hercule Poirot. A 2022 UK production starred Henry Goodman. A new touring production will star Michael Maloney as Poirot.

Austin Trevor
Austin Trevor debuted the role of Poirot on screen in the 1931 British film Alibi. The film was based on the stage play. Trevor reprised the role of Poirot twice, in Black Coffee and Lord Edgware Dies. Trevor said once that he was probably cast as Poirot simply because he could do a French accent. Notably, Trevor's Poirot did not have a moustache. Leslie S. Hiscott directed the first two films, and Henry Edwards took over for the third.

Tony Randall
Tony Randall portrayed Poirot in The Alphabet Murders, a 1965 film also known as The ABC Murders. This was more a satire of Poirot than a straightforward adaptation and was greatly changed from the original. Much of the story, set in modern times, was played for comedy, with Poirot investigating the murders while evading the attempts by Hastings (Robert Morley) and the police to get him out of England and back to Belgium.

Albert Finney
Albert Finney played Poirot in 1974 in the cinematic version of Murder on the Orient Express. As of now, Finney is the only actor to receive an Academy Award nomination for playing Poirot, though he did not win.

Peter Ustinov

Peter Ustinov played Poirot six times, starting with Death on the Nile (1978). He reprised the role in Evil Under the Sun (1982) and Appointment with Death (1988).

Christie's daughter Rosalind Hicks observed Ustinov during a rehearsal and said, "That's not Poirot! He isn't at all like that!" Ustinov overheard and remarked "He is now!"

He appeared again as Poirot in three television films: Thirteen at Dinner (1985), Dead Man's Folly (1986), and Murder in Three Acts (1986). Earlier adaptations were set during the time in which the novels were written, but these television films were set in the contemporary era. The first of these was based on Lord Edgware Dies and was made by Warner Bros. It also starred Faye Dunaway, with David Suchet as Inspector Japp, just before Suchet began to play Poirot. David Suchet considers his performance as Japp to be "possibly the worst performance of [his] career".

Kenneth Branagh
Kenneth Branagh played Poirot in film adaptations of Murder on the Orient Express in 2017, Death on the Nile in 2022, and A Haunting in Venice, based on the novel Hallowe'en Party, in 2023. Branagh directed all three and co-produced them alongside Ridley Scott. They were all written by Michael Green.

Other

 * Anatoly Ravikovich, Zagadka Endkhauza (End House Mystery) (1989; based on "Peril at End House")
 * Pál Mácsai, A titokzatos stylesi eset (''The Mysterious Affair at Styles) (2023)

David Suchet
David Suchet starred as Poirot in the ITV series Agatha Christie's Poirot from 1989 until June 2013, when he announced that he was bidding farewell to the role. "No one could've guessed then that the series would span a quarter-century or that the classically trained Suchet would complete the entire catalogue of whodunits featuring the eccentric Belgian investigator, including 33 novels and dozens of short stories." His final appearance in the show was in an adaptation of Curtain, aired on 13 November 2013.

The writers of the "Binge!" article of Entertainment Weekly December 2014/January 2015) picked Suchet as "Best Poirot" in the "Hercule Poirot & Miss Marple" timeline.

The episodes were shot in various locations in the UK and abroad (for example "Triangle at Rhodes" and "Problem at Sea" ), whilst other scenes were shot at Twickenham Studios.

Other

 * Heini Göbel, (1955; an adaptation of Murder on the Orient Express for the West German television series Die Galerie der großen Detektive)
 * José Ferrer, Hercule Poirot (1961; Unaired TV Pilot, MGM; adaptation of "The Disappearance of Mr. Davenheim")
 * Martin Gabel, General Electric Theater (4/1/1962; adaptation of "The Disappearance of Mr. Davenheim")
 * Horst Bollmann, Black Coffee 1973
 * Ian Holm, Murder by the Book, 1986
 * Arnolds Liniņš, Slepkavība Stailzā (The Mysterious Affair at Styles), 1990
 * Hugh Laurie, Spice World, 1997
 * Alfred Molina, Murder on the Orient Express, 2001
 * Konstantin Raikin, Neudacha Puaro (Poirot's Failure) (2002; based on "The Murder of Roger Ackroyd")
 * Anthony O'Donnell, Agatha Christie: A Life in Pictures, 2004
 * Shirō Itō (Takashi Akafuji), Meitantei Akafuji Takashi (The Detective Takashi Akafuji), 2005
 * Mansai Nomura (Takeru Suguro), Orient Kyūkō Satsujin Jiken (Murder on the Orient Express), 2015; Kuroido Goroshi (The Murder of Kuroido), 2018 (based on "The Murder of Roger Ackroyd"); Shi to no Yakusoku, 2021 (based on Appointment with Death)
 * John Malkovich was Poirot in the 2018 BBC adaptation of The ABC Murders.

Anime
In 2004, the Japanese public broadcaster NHK produced a 39-episode anime series titled Agatha Christie's Great Detectives Poirot and Marple, as well as a manga series under the same title released in 2005. The series, adapting several of the best-known Poirot and Marple stories, ran from 4 July 2004 through 15 May 2005, and in repeated reruns on NHK and other networks in Japan. Poirot was voiced by Kōtarō Satomi and Miss Marple was voiced by Kaoru Yachigusa.

Radio
From 1985 to 2007, BBC Radio 4 produced a series of twenty-seven adaptations of Poirot novels and short stories, adapted by Michael Bakewell and directed by Enyd Williams. Twenty five starred John Moffatt as Poirot; Maurice Denham and Peter Sallis played Poirot on BBC Radio 4 in the first two adaptations, The Mystery of the Blue Train and in Hercule Poirot's Christmas respectively.

In 1939, Orson Welles and the Mercury Players dramatised Roger Ackroyd on CBS's Campbell Playhouse.

On 6 October 1942, the Mutual radio series Murder Clinic broadcast "The Tragedy at Marsden Manor" starring Maurice Tarplin as Poirot.

A 1945 radio series of at least 13 original half-hour episodes (none of which apparently adapt any Christie stories) transferred Poirot from London to New York and starred character actor Harold Huber, perhaps better known for his appearances as a police officer in various Charlie Chan films. On 22 February 1945, "speaking from London, Agatha Christie introduced the initial broadcast of the Poirot series via shortwave".

An adaptation of Murder in the Mews was broadcast on the BBC Light Programme in March 1955 starring Richard Bebb as Poirot; this program was thought lost, but was discovered in the BBC archives in 2015.

Other audio
In 2017, Audible released an original audio adaptation of Murder on the Orient Express starring Tom Conti as Poirot. The cast included Jane Asher as Mrs. Hubbard, Jay Benedict as Monsieur Bouc, Ruta Gedmintas as Countess Andrenyi, Sophie Okonedo as Mary Debenham, Eddie Marsan as Ratchett, Walles Hamonde as Hector MacQueen, Paterson Joseph as Colonel Arbuthnot, Rula Lenska as Princess Dragimiroff and Art Malik as the Narrator. According to the Publisher's Summary on Audible.com, "sound effects [were] recorded on the Orient Express itself."

In 2021, L.A. Theatre Works produced an adaptation of The Murder on the Links, dramatised by Kate McAll. Alfred Molina starred as Poirot, with Simon Helberg as Hastings.

Video games
In the video games Agatha Christie - Hercule Poirot: The First Cases and Agatha Christie - Hercule Poirot: The London Case, Poirot is voiced by Will De Renzy-Martin.

Parodies and references
Parodies of Hercule Poirot have appeared in a number of movies, including Revenge of the Pink Panther, where Poirot makes a cameo appearance in a mental asylum, portrayed by Andrew Sachs and claiming to be "the greatest detective in all of France, the greatest in all the world"; Neil Simon's Murder by Death, where "Milo Perrier" is played by American actor James Coco; the 1977 film The Strange Case of the End of Civilization as We Know It (1977); the film Spice World, where Hugh Laurie plays Poirot; and in Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened, Poirot appears as a young boy on the train transporting Holmes and Watson. Holmes helps the boy in opening a puzzle-box, with Watson giving the boy advice about using his "little grey cells".

In the book series Geronimo Stilton, the character Hercule Poirat is inspired by Hercule Poirot.

The Belgian brewery Brasserie Ellezelloise makes a stout called Hercule with a moustachioed caricature of Hercule Poirot on the label.

In season 2, episode 4 of TVFPlay's Indian web series Permanent Roommates, one of the characters refers to Hercule Poirot as her inspiration while she attempts to solve the mystery of the cheating spouse. Throughout the episode, she is mocked as Hercule Poirot and Agatha Christie by the suspects. TVFPlay also telecasted a spoof of Indian TV suspense drama CID as "Qissa Missing Dimaag Ka: C.I.D Qtiyapa". In the first episode, when Ujjwal is shown to browse for the best detectives of the world, David Suchet appears as Poirot in his search.

Works

 * Goddard, John (2018), Agatha Christie’s Golden Age: An Analysis of Poirot’s Golden Age Puzzles, Stylish Eye Press, ISBN 978-1-999-61200-9
 * Goddard, John (2018), Agatha Christie’s Golden Age: An Analysis of Poirot’s Golden Age Puzzles, Stylish Eye Press, ISBN 978-1-999-61200-9
 * Goddard, John (2018), Agatha Christie’s Golden Age: An Analysis of Poirot’s Golden Age Puzzles, Stylish Eye Press, ISBN 978-1-999-61200-9
 * Goddard, John (2018), Agatha Christie’s Golden Age: An Analysis of Poirot’s Golden Age Puzzles, Stylish Eye Press, ISBN 978-1-999-61200-9
 * Goddard, John (2018), Agatha Christie’s Golden Age: An Analysis of Poirot’s Golden Age Puzzles, Stylish Eye Press, ISBN 978-1-999-61200-9
 * Goddard, John (2018), Agatha Christie’s Golden Age: An Analysis of Poirot’s Golden Age Puzzles, Stylish Eye Press, ISBN 978-1-999-61200-9
 * Goddard, John (2018), Agatha Christie’s Golden Age: An Analysis of Poirot’s Golden Age Puzzles, Stylish Eye Press, ISBN 978-1-999-61200-9
 * Goddard, John (2018), Agatha Christie’s Golden Age: An Analysis of Poirot’s Golden Age Puzzles, Stylish Eye Press, ISBN 978-1-999-61200-9
 * Goddard, John (2018), Agatha Christie’s Golden Age: An Analysis of Poirot’s Golden Age Puzzles, Stylish Eye Press, ISBN 978-1-999-61200-9
 * Goddard, John (2018), Agatha Christie’s Golden Age: An Analysis of Poirot’s Golden Age Puzzles, Stylish Eye Press, ISBN 978-1-999-61200-9
 * Goddard, John (2018), Agatha Christie’s Golden Age: An Analysis of Poirot’s Golden Age Puzzles, Stylish Eye Press, ISBN 978-1-999-61200-9
 * Goddard, John (2018), Agatha Christie’s Golden Age: An Analysis of Poirot’s Golden Age Puzzles, Stylish Eye Press, ISBN 978-1-999-61200-9
 * Goddard, John (2018), Agatha Christie’s Golden Age: An Analysis of Poirot’s Golden Age Puzzles, Stylish Eye Press, ISBN 978-1-999-61200-9
 * Goddard, John (2018), Agatha Christie’s Golden Age: An Analysis of Poirot’s Golden Age Puzzles, Stylish Eye Press, ISBN 978-1-999-61200-9
 * Goddard, John (2018), Agatha Christie’s Golden Age: An Analysis of Poirot’s Golden Age Puzzles, Stylish Eye Press, ISBN 978-1-999-61200-9
 * Goddard, John (2018), Agatha Christie’s Golden Age: An Analysis of Poirot’s Golden Age Puzzles, Stylish Eye Press, ISBN 978-1-999-61200-9
 * Goddard, John (2018), Agatha Christie’s Golden Age: An Analysis of Poirot’s Golden Age Puzzles, Stylish Eye Press, ISBN 978-1-999-61200-9
 * Goddard, John (2018), Agatha Christie’s Golden Age: An Analysis of Poirot’s Golden Age Puzzles, Stylish Eye Press, ISBN 978-1-999-61200-9
 * Goddard, John (2018), Agatha Christie’s Golden Age: An Analysis of Poirot’s Golden Age Puzzles, Stylish Eye Press, ISBN 978-1-999-61200-9
 * Goddard, John (2018), Agatha Christie’s Golden Age: An Analysis of Poirot’s Golden Age Puzzles, Stylish Eye Press, ISBN 978-1-999-61200-9
 * Goddard, John (2018), Agatha Christie’s Golden Age: An Analysis of Poirot’s Golden Age Puzzles, Stylish Eye Press, ISBN 978-1-999-61200-9
 * Goddard, John (2018), Agatha Christie’s Golden Age: An Analysis of Poirot’s Golden Age Puzzles, Stylish Eye Press, ISBN 978-1-999-61200-9
 * Goddard, John (2018), Agatha Christie’s Golden Age: An Analysis of Poirot’s Golden Age Puzzles, Stylish Eye Press, ISBN 978-1-999-61200-9
 * Goddard, John (2018), Agatha Christie’s Golden Age: An Analysis of Poirot’s Golden Age Puzzles, Stylish Eye Press, ISBN 978-1-999-61200-9
 * Goddard, John (2018), Agatha Christie’s Golden Age: An Analysis of Poirot’s Golden Age Puzzles, Stylish Eye Press, ISBN 978-1-999-61200-9
 * Goddard, John (2018), Agatha Christie’s Golden Age: An Analysis of Poirot’s Golden Age Puzzles, Stylish Eye Press, ISBN 978-1-999-61200-9
 * Goddard, John (2018), Agatha Christie’s Golden Age: An Analysis of Poirot’s Golden Age Puzzles, Stylish Eye Press, ISBN 978-1-999-61200-9
 * Goddard, John (2018), Agatha Christie’s Golden Age: An Analysis of Poirot’s Golden Age Puzzles, Stylish Eye Press, ISBN 978-1-999-61200-9
 * Goddard, John (2018), Agatha Christie’s Golden Age: An Analysis of Poirot’s Golden Age Puzzles, Stylish Eye Press, ISBN 978-1-999-61200-9

title: Hercule Poirot


text:
Talk:Agatha Christie

Foreign victims
"Christie portrayed some "foreign" characters as victims, or potential victims" Are there specific examples mentioned in the source? The most prominent foreign victim that I remember is Mr Shaitana, the "flamboyant" Syrian collector from Cards on the Table. He was mistaken for an Italian, and faced anti-Italian sentiment in the novel. See the following summary:
 * "..we’ve interviewed Mr. Shaitana’s solicitor. We know the terms of his will. Nothing of interest there. He had relatives in Syria, it seems."
 * "There are, however, a few racial moments: Shaitana was not only called a dago, but also “the sort of Dago who needed kicking badly. He used to make the toe of my boot fairly itch”, said the intemperate and clearly racist Despard. "Dimadick (talk) 13:04, 26 May 2023 (UTC)

Ibn-e-Safi
Christie's quote about Ibn-e-Safi may possibly be significant enough to Ibn-e-Safi to mention at that article, but I don't see it having any significance to the article about Christie. She paid a compliment to another writer; how is that important enough to mention in an encyclopedia article? Pinging who has been edit-warring to add that content. Schazjmd  (talk)  18:46, 14 June 2023 (UTC)
 * Yes, agreed (I have just reverted the addition again). Not a statement about Christie but about Ibn-e-Safi. Also, sourcing may be a problem - one of the references given was to Teach Yourself German on Amazon. Tacyarg (talk) 19:03, 14 June 2023 (UTC)
 * In this article about Agatha Christie, there are many points that are not so important but included in the article, information about Agatha Christie's visit to Pakistan and her opinion about Ibn-e-Safi are also there with references. That page is also available from the weekly newspaper of 1960, if you want to see it, I will send it through email (reference of Dr Aqeel Abbas Jafri writer of book Pakistan Chronicle). It is hoped that you will add information about Agatha Christie's visit to Pakistan with suitable words and also include her expression about Ibn-e-Safi. Thanks. Sayyedfahad (talk) 04:22, 15 June 2023 (UTC)
 * What matters is not what Agatha Christie expressed about Ibn-e-Safi, Ibn-e-Safi has his own fan following. Ibn-e-Safi also holds the record of selling 100,000 novels in a week. It is important that the information reaches the researchers, because it is a fact that Agatha Christie has come to Pakistan and expressed her opinion about Ibne Safi and when the researchers do the research, they can find information from other sources as well as Wikipedia. This information is not incorrect. Thanks. Sayyedfahad (talk) 04:38, 15 June 2023 (UTC)
 * Christie has been described as a "globetrotter", meaning she visited many countries. She spent time in France as a child, and traveled around the world (South Africa, Australia, and North America) in the 1920s. She accompanied her archaeologist husband on multiple digs in Syria. She spent time in Persia (now Iran), Iraq, New Zealand, and the Canary Islands. She based two of her novels in Egypt, which she visited several times. She wrote Murder on the Orient Express while staying in Turkey.The point is that when people write about Agatha Christie, they mention the significant places she visited or stayed (meaning they were significant to her work or her life), not an exhaustive list of every location that she went to. The Wikipedia article summarizes what people have written about Christie. That Pakistan was one of the places she visited isn't considered significant by her biographers, so it isn't considered significant to Wikipedia. Schazjmd   (talk)  13:35, 15 June 2023 (UTC)
 * Thank you. Yes, Aga Christie visited different countries. Some are also mentioned in article. Isn't it a contradiction that some countries are mentioned and others are not mentioned? They have been mentioned in one place in the article. An important thing is that Agatha Christie visited Pakistan and mentioned her fellow writer Ibn-e-Safi. Well, if it is not mentioned, then it does not matter. Which countries Agatha Christie visited can also be mentioned. Regards. Sayyedfahad (talk) 17:23, 15 June 2023 (UTC)

Small detail - copyright owned by daughter
I am currently reading "Murder with Mirrors" (1952, the 1987 Penguin edition) and happened to notice that the copyright is indicated as held by "Rosalind Margaret Clarissa Hicks and William Edmund Cork". There's no mention of that anywhere in this or in the article on Hicks, although it does mention that Hicks was given the copyright on a different work. Can anyone explain/confirm/discuss? 100.0.242.34 (talk) 17:33, 13 August 2023 (UTC)
 * I found three older newspaper articles that discuss the copyright status of Christie's work. (That third one is Hicks's obituary.) Unless reliable sources go into details on who owns copyright on each work, the article can't do so. Schazjmd   (talk)  17:45, 13 August 2023 (UTC)

A well-written and researched article. Kudos! Lee D. Rothstein 17:52, 4 December 2023 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by LDR (talk • contribs)

Her characters - Poirot, Marple, Tuppence, etc. - omit Superintendant Battle.
Her characters - Poirot, Marple, Tuppence, etc. - omit Superintendant Battle. 2600:6C50:64F0:60E0:612E:CF29:DC12:F73 (talk) 23:56, 20 March 2024 (UTC)

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Talk:Agatha Christie


text:
Miss Marple

Miss Jane Marple is a fictional character in Agatha Christie's crime novels and short stories. Miss Marple lives in the village of St. Mary Mead and acts as an amateur consulting detective. Often characterized as an elderly spinster, she is one of Christie's best-known characters and has been portrayed numerous times on screen. Her first appearance was in a short story published in The Royal Magazine in December 1927, "The Tuesday Night Club", which later became the first chapter of The Thirteen Problems (1932). Her first appearance in a full-length novel was in The Murder at the Vicarage in 1930, and her last appearance was in Sleeping Murder in 1976.

Origins
The character of Miss Marple is based on friends of Christie's step grandmother, Margaret Miller, née West. Christie attributed the inspiration for the character to multiple sources, stating that Miss Marple was "the sort of old lady who would have been rather like some of my step grandmother's Ealing cronies – old ladies whom I have met in so many villages where I have gone to stay as a girl". Christie also used material from her fictional creation, spinster Caroline Sheppard, who appeared in The Murder of Roger Ackroyd. When Michael Morton adapted the novel for the stage, he replaced the character of Caroline with a young girl. This change saddened Christie and she determined to give old maids a voice; thus, Miss Marple was born.

It is popularly believed that Christie may have taken her iconic character's name from Marple railway station, through which she passed, though a letter she wrote to a fan appears to prove that the name was inspired by a visit to a sale at Marple Hall in the same town, near her sister Margaret Watts' home at Abney Hall.

Character
The character of Jane Marple in the first Miss Marple book, The Murder at the Vicarage, is quite different from how she appears in later books. This early version of Miss Marple is a gleeful gossip and not an especially nice woman. The residents of St. Mary Mead like her but are often tired of her nosy nature and the fact she seems to expect the worst of everyone. In later books, she becomes a kinder person.

Miss Marple solves difficult crimes thanks to her shrewd intelligence, and St. Mary Mead, over her lifetime, has given her seemingly infinite examples of the negative side of human nature. Crimes always remind her of a previous incident, although acquaintances may be bored by analogies that often lead her to a deeper realisation about the true nature of a crime. She also has a remarkable ability to latch onto a casual comment and connect it to the case at hand. In several stories, she is able to rely on her acquaintance with Sir Henry Clithering, a retired commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, for official information when required.

Miss Marple never married and has no close living relatives. Her nephew, the "well-known author" Raymond West, appears in some stories, including The Thirteen Problems, Sleeping Murder, and Ingots of Gold (which also feature his wife, Joyce Lemprière). Raymond overestimates himself and underestimates his aunt's mental acuity. Miss Marple employs young women (including Clara, Emily, Alice, Esther, Gwenda, and Amy) from a nearby orphanage, whom she trains for service as general housemaids after the retirement of her long-time maid-housekeeper, faithful Florence. She was briefly looked after by her irritating companion, Miss Knight. In her later years, companion Cherry Baker, first introduced in The Mirror Crack'd From Side to Side, lives with her.

Miss Marple has never worked for her living and is of independent means, although she benefits in her old age from the financial support of her nephew, Raymond. She is not from the aristocracy or landed gentry, but is quite at home among them; as a gentlewoman, Miss Marple may thus be considered a female version of the gentleman detective, a staple of British detective fiction. She demonstrates a remarkably thorough education, including some art courses that involved the study of human anatomy using human cadavers. In They Do It with Mirrors (1952), it is revealed that Miss Marple grew up in a cathedral close, and that she studied at an Italian finishing school with American sisters Ruth Van Rydock and Caroline "Carrie" Louise Serrocold.

While Miss Marple is described as "an old lady" in many of the stories, her age is rarely mentioned and is not consistently presented. In At Bertram's Hotel, published in 1965, it is said she visited the hotel when she was 14 and almost 60 years have passed since then, implying that she is nearly 75 years old; but in 4:50 from Paddington, published almost a decade earlier in 1957, she says she will be "90 next year."

Excluding Sleeping Murder, 41 years passed between the first and last-written novels, and many characters grow and age. An example would be the Vicar's nephew: in The Murder at the Vicarage, the Reverend Mr Clement's nephew Dennis is a teenager; in The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side, it is mentioned that the nephew is now an adult and has a successful career. The effects of ageing are seen on Miss Marple, such as needing a holiday after illness in A Caribbean Mystery, but she is if anything more agile in Nemesis, set only 16 months later.

Miss Marple's background is described in some detail, albeit in glimpses across the novels and short stories in which she appears. She has a very large family, including a sister, the mother of Raymond, and Mabel Denham, a young woman who was accused of poisoning her husband, Geoffrey (The Thumb Mark of St. Peter).

Miss Marple series

 * 1) The Murder at the Vicarage (1930, Novel)
 * 2) The Body in the Library (1942, Novel)
 * 3) The Moving Finger (1943, Novel)
 * 4) A Murder Is Announced (1950, Novel)
 * 5) They Do It with Mirrors (1952, Novel) - also published in the United States as Murder With Mirrors
 * 6) A Pocket Full of Rye (1953, Novel)
 * 7) 4.50 from Paddington (1957, Novel) - also published in the United States as What Mrs. McGillicuddy Saw!
 * 8) The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side (1962, Novel)
 * 9) A Caribbean Mystery (1964, Novel)
 * 10) At Bertram's Hotel (1965, Novel)
 * 11) Nemesis (1971, Novel)
 * 12) Sleeping Murder (1976, Novel)

Miss Marple short story collections

 * The Thirteen Problems (1932 short story collection featuring Miss Marple, also published as The Tuesday Club Murders)
 * The Regatta Mystery and Other Stories (1939, Collection)
 * Three Blind Mice and Other Stories (1950, Collection)
 * The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding (1960, Collection)
 * Double Sin and Other Stories (1961, Collection)
 * Miss Marple's Final Cases and Two Other Stories (short stories collected posthumously, also published as Miss Marple's Final Cases, but only six of the eight stories actually feature Miss Marple) (written between 1939 and 1954, published 1979)
 * Miss Marple: The Complete Short Stories, published 1985, includes 20 from 4 sets: The Thirteen Problems, The Regatta Mystery, Three Blind Mice and Other Stories, and Double Sin and Other Stories.

Miss Marple also appears in "Greenshaw's Folly", a short story included as part of the Poirot collection The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding (1960). Four stories in the Three Blind Mice collection (1950) feature Miss Marple: "Strange Jest", "Tape-Measure Murder", "The Case of the Caretaker", and "The Case of the Perfect Maid".

The Autograph edition of Miss Marple's Final Cases includes the eight in the original plus "Greenshaw's Folly".

Continuations not by Christie

 * Marple: Twelve New Mysteries, collection with stories written by Naomi Alderman, Leigh Bardugo, Alyssa Cole, Lucy Foley, Elly Griffiths, Natalie Haynes, Jean Kwok, Val McDermid, Karen M. McManus, Dreda Say Mitchell, Kate Mosse, and Ruth Ware (published 2022)

Books about Miss Marple

 * The Life and Times of Miss Jane Marple – a biography by Anne Hart

Stage
A stage adaptation of Murder at the Vicarage, by Moie Charles and Barbara Toy, was first seen at Northampton on 17 October 1949; it was directed by Reginald Tate, starred the 35-year-old Barbara Mullen as Miss Marple, and after touring, reached the Playhouse Theatre in London's West End on 14 December. Having run till late March 1950, it then went on tour again.

In July 1974, Mullen (by then 60) returned to the role in another national tour of the same play, culminating 12 months later when the show opened at London's Savoy Theatre on 28 July 1975. At the end of March 1976, the Miss Marple role was taken over by Avril Angers, after which the production transferred to the Fortune Theatre on 5 July. The role then passed to Muriel Pavlow in June 1977 and to Gabrielle Hamilton late the following year; the production finally closed in October 1979.

On 21 September 1977, while Murder at the Vicarage was still running at the Fortune, a stage adaptation by Leslie Darbon of A Murder Is Announced opened at the Vaudeville Theatre, with Dulcie Gray as Miss Marple. The show ran to the end of September 1978 and then toured.

Margaret Rutherford
Margaret Rutherford played Miss Marple in four films directed by George Pollock between 1961 and 1964. These were successful light comedies, but Christie herself was disappointed with them. Nevertheless, Agatha Christie dedicated the novel The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side to Rutherford.

Rutherford presented the character as a bold and eccentric old lady, different from the prim and birdlike character Christie created in her novels. As penned by Christie, Miss Marple has never worked for a living, but the character as portrayed by Margaret Rutherford briefly works as a cook-housekeeper, a stage actress, a sailor, and criminal reformer, and is offered the chance to run a riding establishment-cum-hotel. Her education and genteel background are hinted at when she mentions her awards at marksmanship, fencing, and equestrianism (although these hints are played for comedic value).

Murder, She Said (1961) was the first of the four British MGM productions starring Rutherford. This film was based on the 1957 novel 4:50 from Paddington (U.S. title, What Mrs. McGillicuddy Saw!), and the changes made in the plot were typical of the series. In the film, Mrs. McGillicuddy is cut from the plot. Miss Marple herself sees an apparent murder committed on a train running alongside hers. Actress Joan Hickson, who played Marple in the 1984–1992 television adaptations, has a role as a housekeeper in this movie.

Murder at the Gallop (1963), based on the 1953 Hercule Poirot novel, After the Funeral (in this film, she is identified as Miss JTV Marple, though there was no indication as to what the extra initials might stand for).

Murder Most Foul (1964), based on the 1952 Poirot novel Mrs McGinty's Dead.

Murder Ahoy! (1964). The last film is not based on any Christie work but displays a few plot elements from They Do It With Mirrors (viz., the ship is used as a reform school for wayward boys and one of the teachers uses them as a crime force), and there is a kind of salute to The Mousetrap.

The music to all four films was composed and conducted by Ron Goodwin. The same theme is used on all four films with slight variations in each. The score was written within a couple of weeks by Goodwin who was approached by Pollock after Pollock had heard about him from Stanley Black. Black had worked with Pollock on Stranger in Town in 1957 and had previously hired Goodwin as his orchestrator.

Rutherford, who was 68 years old when the first film was shot in February 1961, insisted that she wear her own clothes during the filming of the movie, as well as having her husband, Stringer Davis, appear alongside her as the character Mr Stringer. The Rutherford films are frequently repeated on television in Germany, and in that country Miss Marple is generally identified with Rutherford's quirky portrayal.

Rutherford also appeared briefly as Miss Marple in the parodic Hercule Poirot adventure The Alphabet Murders (1965).

Angela Lansbury
In 1980, Angela Lansbury played Miss Marple in The Mirror Crack'd (EMI, directed by Guy Hamilton), based on Christie's 1962 novel. The film featured an all-star cast that included Elizabeth Taylor, Rock Hudson, Geraldine Chaplin, Tony Curtis, and Kim Novak. Edward Fox appeared as Inspector Craddock, who did Miss Marple's legwork. Lansbury's Marple was a crisp, intelligent woman who moved stiffly and spoke in clipped tones. Unlike most incarnations of Miss Marple, this one smoked cigarettes. Lansbury was later cast as Jessica Fletcher in Murder, She Wrote, a similar role.

Ita Ever
In 1983, Estonian stage and film actress, Ita Ever, starred in the Russian language Mosfilm adaptation of Agatha Christie's novel, A Pocket Full of Rye (using the Russian edition's translated title, The Secret of the Blackbirds), as the character of Miss Marple. Ever has also portrayed the character of Miss Marple in the Eesti Televisioon (ETV) series Miss Marple Stories in 1990, and onstage at the Tallinn City Theatre in a production of The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side in 2005.

Television
The first on-screen portrayal of Miss Marple was by British actress and singer Gracie Fields, playing her in a 1956 episode of the American series Goodyear TV Playhouse based on A Murder Is Announced, the 1950 Christie novel.

In 1970, the character of Miss Marple was portrayed by in a West German television adaptation of The Murder at the Vicarage (Mord im Pfarrhaus).

Helen Hayes
American stage and screen actress, Helen Hayes, portrayed Miss Marple in two American television films near the end of her decades-long acting career, both for CBS: A Caribbean Mystery (1983) and Murder with Mirrors (1985). Sue Grafton contributed to the screenplay of the former. Hayes's Marple was benign and chirpy. She had earlier appeared in a television film adaptation of the non-Marple Christie story, Murder Is Easy, playing an elderly lady somewhat similar to Miss Marple.

Joan Hickson
From 1984 to 1992, the BBC adapted all of the original Miss Marple novels as a series titled Miss Marple. Joan Hickson played the lead role. In the 1940s, she had appeared on stage in an Agatha Christie play, Appointment with Death, which was seen by Christie who wrote in a note to her, "I hope one day you will play my dear Miss Marple". She portrayed a maid in the 1937 film, Love from a Stranger, which starred Ann Harding and Basil Rathbone, another Agatha Christie play adaptation. As well as portraying Miss Marple on television, Hickson narrated Miss Marple stories for audio books. In the "Binge!" article of Entertainment Weekly Issue #1343–1344 (26 December 2014 – 3 January 2015), the writers picked Hickson as "Best Marple" in the "Hercule Poirot & Miss Marple" timeline.

Listing of the TV series featuring Joan Hickson:
 * The Body in the Library (1984)
 * The Moving Finger (1985)
 * A Murder Is Announced (1985)
 * A Pocket Full of Rye (1985)
 * The Murder at the Vicarage (1986) – BAFTA nomination
 * Sleeping Murder (1987)
 * At Bertram's Hotel (1987)
 * Nemesis (1987) – BAFTA nomination
 * 4.50 from Paddington (1987)
 * A Caribbean Mystery (1989)
 * They Do It With Mirrors (1991)
 * The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side (1992)

Geraldine McEwan (2004–2008)/Julia McKenzie (2009–2013)
Beginning in 2004, ITV broadcast a series of adaptations of Agatha Christie's books under the title Agatha Christie's Marple, usually referred to as Marple. Geraldine McEwan starred in the first three series. Julia McKenzie took over the role in the fourth season.

The adaptations change the plots and characters of the original books (e.g. incorporating lesbian affairs, changing the identities of some killers, renaming or removing significant characters, and even using stories from other books in which Miss Marple did not originally feature). In the Geraldine McEwan series, it is revealed that when she was young (portrayed by Julie Cox in a flashback), Miss Marple had an affair with a married soldier, Captain Ainsworth, who was killed in action in World War I, in December 1915. It is also said (in A Murder Is Announced) that she served as an ambulance driver during World War I.

Listing of the TV series featuring Geraldine McEwan and Julia McKenzie:
 * The Body in the Library (2004)
 * The Murder at the Vicarage (2004)
 * 4.50 from Paddington (2004)
 * A Murder Is Announced (2005)
 * Sleeping Murder (2005)
 * The Moving Finger (2006)
 * By the Pricking of My Thumbs (2006)
 * The Sittaford Mystery (2006)
 * At Bertram's Hotel (2007)
 * Ordeal by Innocence (2007)
 * Towards Zero (2008)
 * Nemesis (2008)
 * A Pocket Full of Rye (2009)
 * Murder Is Easy (2009)
 * They Do It with Mirrors (2010)
 * Why Didn't They Ask Evans? (2011)
 * The Pale Horse (2010)
 * The Secret of Chimneys (2010)
 * The Blue Geranium (2010)
 * The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side (2011)
 * A Caribbean Mystery (2013)
 * Greenshaw's Folly (2013)
 * Endless Night (2013)

In 2015, CBS planned a "much younger" version of the character, a granddaughter who takes over a California bookstore.

In 2018, Miss Marple was portrayed by Yunjin Kim in the South Korean television series Ms. Ma, Nemesis.

Anime
From 2004 to 2005, Japanese TV network NHK produced a 39 episode anime series titled Agatha Christie's Great Detectives Poirot and Marple, which features both Miss Marple and Hercule Poirot. Miss Marple's voice is provided by Kaoru Yachigusa. Episodes adapted both short stories and novels.

The anime series dramatised the following Miss Marple stories:
 * Strange Jest (EP 3)
 * The Case of the Perfect Maid (EP 4)
 * The Tape-Measure Murder (EP 13)
 * Ingots of Gold (EP 14)
 * The Blue Geranium (EP 15)
 * 4.50 from Paddington (EP 21–24)
 * Motive versus Opportunity (EP 27)
 * Sleeping Murder (EP 30–33)

Radio
June Whitfield starred as Miss Marple in Michael Bakewell's adaptations of all twelve novels, broadcast on BBC Radio 4 between 1993 and 2001.

Three short stories with Whitfield ("Tape-Measure Murder", "The Case of the Perfect Maid" and "Sanctuary") were later broadcast under the collective title Miss Marple's Final Cases weekly 16 – 30 September 2015.

Other appearances

Marple was highlighted in volume 20 of the Case Closed manga's edition of "Gosho Aoyama's Mystery Library", a section of the graphic novels (usually the last page) where the author introduces a different detective (or occasionally, a villain) from mystery literature, television, or other media.

In the 1976 Neil Simon spoof Murder by Death, Miss Marple is parodied as "Miss Marbles" by Elsa Lanchester.

title: Miss Marple


text:
April

April is the fourth month of the year in the Gregorian and Julian calendars. Its length is 30 days.

April is commonly associated with the season of spring in the Northern Hemisphere, and autumn in the Southern Hemisphere, where it is the seasonal equivalent to October in the Northern Hemisphere and vice versa.

History

The Romans gave this month the Latin name Aprilis but the derivation of this name is uncertain. The traditional etymology is from the verb aperire, "to open", in allusion to its being the season when trees and flowers begin to "open", which is supported by comparison with the modern Greek use of άνοιξη (ánixi) (opening) for spring. Since some of the Roman months were named in honor of divinities, and as April was sacred to the goddess Venus, her Veneralia being held on the first day, it has been suggested that Aprilis was originally her month Aphrilis, from her equivalent Greek goddess name Aphrodite (Aphros), or from the Etruscan name Apru. Jacob Grimm suggests the name of a hypothetical god or hero, Aper or Aprus.

April was the second month of the earliest Roman calendar, before Ianuarius and Februarius were added by King Numa Pompilius about 700 BC. It became the fourth month of the calendar year (the year when twelve months are displayed in order) during the time of the decemvirs about 450 BC, when it was 29 days long. The 30th day was added back during the reform of the calendar undertaken by Julius Caesar in the mid-40s BC, which produced the Julian calendar.

The Anglo-Saxons called April ēastre-monaþ. The Venerable Bede says in The Reckoning of Time that this month ēastre is the root of the word Easter. He further states that the month was named after a goddess Eostre whose feast was in that month. It is also attested by Einhard in his work Vita Karoli Magni.

St George's day is the twenty-third of the month; and St Mark's Eve, with its superstition that the ghosts of those who are doomed to die within the year will be seen to pass into the church, falls on the twenty-fourth.

In China the symbolic ploughing of the earth by the emperor and princes of the blood took place in their third month, which frequently corresponds to April. In Finnish April is huhtikuu, meaning slash-and-burn moon, when gymnosperms for beat and burn clearing of farmland were felled.

In Slovene, the most established traditional name is mali traven, meaning the month when plants start growing. It was first written in 1466 in the Škofja Loka manuscript.

The month Aprilis originally had 30 days; Numa Pompilius made it 29 days long; finally, Julius Caesar's calendar reform made it 30 days long again, which was not changed in the calendar revision of Augustus Caesar in 8 BC.

In Ancient Rome, the festival of Cerealia was held for seven days from mid-to-late April, but exact dates are uncertain. Feriae Latinae was also held in April, with the date varying. Other ancient Roman observances include Veneralia (April 1), Megalesia (April 10–16), Fordicidia (April 15), Parilia (April 21), Vinalia Urbana (April 23), Robigalia (April 25), and Serapia (April 25). Floralia was held April 27 during the Republican era, or April 28 on the Julian calendar, and lasted until May 3. However, these dates do not correspond to the modern Gregorian calendar.

The Lyrids meteor shower appears on April 16 – April 26 each year, with the peak generally occurring on April 22. The Eta Aquariids meteor shower also appears in April. It is visible from about April 21 to about May 20 each year with peak activity on or around May 6. The Pi Puppids appear on April 23, but only in years around the parent comet's perihelion date. The Virginids also shower at various dates in April.

The "Days of April" (journées d'avril) is a name assigned in French history to a series of insurrections at Lyons, Paris and elsewhere, against the government of Louis Philippe in 1834, which led to violent repressive measures, and to a famous trial known as the procès d'avril.

Symbols
April's birthstone is the diamond. The birth flower is the common daisy (Bellis perennis) or the sweet pea. The zodiac signs are Aries (until April 19) and Taurus (April 20 onward).

Observances
This list does not necessarily imply either official status nor general observance.

Month-long

 * In Catholic, Protestant and Orthodox tradition, April is the Month of the Resurrection of the Lord. April and March are the months in which is celebrated the moveable Feast of Easter Sunday.
 * National Pet Month (United Kingdom)

United States

 * Arab American Heritage Month
 * Autism Awareness Month
 * Cancer Control Month
 * Community College Awareness Month
 * Confederate History Month (Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas, Virginia)
 * Financial Literacy Month
 * Jazz Appreciation Month
 * Mathematics and Statistics Awareness Month
 * Month of the Military Child
 * National Poetry Month
 * National Poetry Writing Month
 * Occupational Therapy Month
 * National Prevent Child Abuse Month
 * National Volunteer Month
 * Parkinson's Disease Awareness Month
 * Rosacea Awareness Month
 * Sexual Assault Awareness Month

United States food months

 * Fresh Florida Tomato Month
 * National Food Month
 * National Grilled Cheese Month
 * National Pecan Month
 * National Soft Pretzel Month
 * National Soyfoods Month

Non-Gregorian
(All Baha'i, Islamic, and Jewish observances begin at the sundown prior to the date listed, and end at sundown of the date in question unless otherwise noted.)
 * List of observances set by the Bahá'í calendar
 * List of observances set by the Chinese calendar
 * List of observances set by the Hebrew calendar
 * List of observances set by the Islamic calendar
 * List of observances set by the Solar Hijri calendar

Variable; 2021 dates shown

 * Youth Homelessness Matters Day
 * National Health Day (Kiribati): April 6
 * Oral, Head and Neck Cancer Awareness Week (United States): April 13–19
 * National Park Week (United States): April 18–26
 * Crime Victims' Rights Week (United States): April 19–25
 * National Volunteer Week: April 19–25
 * European Immunization Week: April 20–26
 * Day of Silence (United States): April 24
 * Pay It Forward Day: April 28 (International observance)
 * Denim Day: April 29 (International observance)
 * Day of Dialogue (United States)
 * Vaccination Week In The Americas
 * See: List of movable Western Christian observances
 * See: List of movable Eastern Christian observances

First Wednesday

 * National Day of Hope (United States)

First Saturday

 * Ulcinj Municipality Day (Ulcinj, Montenegro)

First Sunday

 * Daylight saving time ends (Australia and New Zealand)
 * Geologists Day (former Soviet Union countries)
 * Kanamara Matsuri (Kawasaki, Japan)
 * Opening Day (United States)

First full week

 * National Library Week (United States)
 * National Library Workers Day (United States) (Tuesday of National Library week, April 9 in 2024)
 * National Bookmobile Day (Wednesday of National Library week, April 10 in 2024)
 * National Public Health Week (United States)
 * National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week (United States)

Second Wednesday

 * International Day of Pink

Second Thursday

 * National Former Prisoner of War Recognition Day (United States)

Second Friday

 * Fast and Prayer Day (Liberia)
 * Air Force Day (Russia)
 * Kamakura Matsuri at Tsurugaoka Hachiman (Kamakura, Japan), lasts until third Sunday.

Second Sunday

 * Children's Day (Peru)

Week of April 14

 * Pan-American Week (United States)

Third Wednesday

 * Administrative Professionals' Day (New Zealand)

Third Thursday

 * National High Five Day (United States)

Third Saturday

 * Record Store Day (International observance)

Last full week of April

 * Administrative Professionals Week (Malaysia, North America)
 * World Immunization Week

Week of April 23

 * Canada Book Week (Canada)

Week of the New Moon

 * National Dark-Sky Week (United States)

Third Monday

 * Patriots' Day (Massachusetts, Maine, United States)
 * Queen's Official Birthday (Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha)
 * Sechseläuten (Zürich, Switzerland)

Wednesday of last full week of April

 * Administrative Professionals' Day (Hong Kong, North America)

First Thursday after April 18

 * First Day of Summer (Iceland)

Fourth Thursday

 * Take Our Daughters And Sons To Work Day (United States)

Last Friday

 * Arbor Day (United States)
 * Día de la Chupina (Rosario, Argentina)

Last Friday in April to first Sunday in May

 * Arbour Week in Ontario

Last Saturday

 * Children's Day (Colombia)
 * National Rebuilding Day (United States)
 * National Sense of Smell Day (United States)
 * World Tai Chi and Qigong Day

Last Sunday

 * Flag Day (Åland, Finland)
 * Turkmen Racing Horse Festival (Turkmenistan)

April 27 (April 26 if April 27 is a Sunday)

 * Koningsdag (Netherlands)

Last Monday

 * Confederate Memorial Day (Alabama, Georgia (U.S. state), and Mississippi, United States)

Last Wednesday

 * International Noise Awareness Day

Fixed

 * April 1
 * April Fools' Day
 * Arbor Day (Tanzania)
 * Civil Service Day (Thailand)
 * Cyprus National Day (Cyprus)
 * Edible Book Day
 * Fossil Fools Day
 * Kha b-Nisan (Assyrian people)
 * National Civil Service Day (Thailand)
 * Odisha Day (Odisha, India)
 * Start of Testicular Cancer Awareness week (United States), April 1–7
 * Season for Nonviolence January 30 – April 4
 * April 2
 * International Children's Book Day (International observance)
 * Malvinas Day (Argentina)
 * National Peanut Butter and Jelly Day (United States)
 * Thai Heritage Conservation Day (Thailand)
 * Unity of Peoples of Russia and Belarus Day (Belarus)
 * World Autism Awareness Day (International observance)
 * April 3
 * April 4
 * Children's Day (Hong Kong, Taiwan)
 * Independence Day (Senegal)
 * International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action
 * Peace Day (Angola)
 * April 5
 * Children's Day (Palestinian territories)
 * National Caramel Day (United States)
 * Sikmogil (South Korea)
 * April 6
 * Chakri Day (Thailand)
 * National Beer Day (United Kingdom)
 * New Beer's Eve (United States)
 * Tartan Day (United States & Canada)
 * April 7
 * Flag Day (Slovenia)
 * Genocide Memorial Day (Rwanda), and its related observance:
 * International Day of Reflection on the 1994 Rwanda Genocide (United Nations)
 * Motherhood and Beauty Day (Armenia)
 * National Beer Day (United States)
 * Sheikh Abeid Amani Karume Day (Tanzania)
 * Women's Day (Mozambique)
 * World Health Day (International observance)
 * April 8
 * Buddha's Birthday (Japan only, other countries follow different calendars)
 * Feast of the First Day of the Writing of the Book of the Law (Thelema)
 * International Romani Day (International observance)
 * April 9
 * Anniversary of the German Invasion of Denmark (Denmark)
 * Baghdad Liberation Day (Iraqi Kurdistan)
 * Constitution Day (Kosovo)
 * Day of National Unity (Georgia)
 * Day of the Finnish Language (Finland)
 * Day of Valor or Araw ng Kagitingan (Philippines)
 * Feast of the Second Day of the Writing of the Book of the Law (Thelema)
 * International Banshtai Tsai Day
 * Martyr's Day (Tunisia)
 * National Former Prisoner of War Recognition Day (United States)
 * Remembrance for Haakon Sigurdsson (The Troth)
 * Vimy Ridge Day (Canada)
 * April 10
 * Day of the Builder (Azerbaijan)
 * Feast of the Third Day of the Writing of the Book of the Law (Thelema)
 * Siblings Day (International observance)
 * April 11
 * Juan Santamaría Day, anniversary of his death in the Second Battle of Rivas. (Costa Rica)
 * International Louie Louie Day
 * National Cheese Fondue Day (United States)
 * World Parkinson's Day
 * April 12
 * Children's Day (Bolivia and Haiti)
 * Commemoration of first human in space by Yuri Gagarin:
 * Cosmonautics Day (Russia)
 * International Day of Human Space Flight
 * Yuri's Night (International observance)
 * Halifax Day (North Carolina)
 * National Grilled Cheese Sandwich Day (United States)
 * National Redemption Day (Liberia)
 * April 13
 * Jefferson's Birthday (United States)
 * Katyn Memorial Day (Poland)
 * Teacher's Day (Ecuador)
 * First day of Thingyan (Myanmar) (April 13–16)
 * Unfairly Prosecuted Persons Day (Slovakia)
 * April 14
 * ʔabusibaree (Okinawa Islands, Japan)
 * Ambedkar Jayanti (India)
 * Black Day (South Korea)
 * Commemoration of Anfal Genocide Against the Kurds (Iraqi Kurdistan)
 * Dhivehi Language Day (Maldives)
 * Day of Mologa (Yaroslavl Oblast, Russia)
 * Day of the Georgian language (Georgia (country))
 * Season of Emancipation (April 14 to August 23) (Barbados)
 * N'Ko Alphabet Day (Mande speakers)
 * Pohela Boishakh (Bangladesh)
 * Pana Sankranti (Odisha, India)
 * Puthandu (Tamils) (India, Malaysia, Singapore, Sri Lanka)
 * Second day of Songkran (Thailand) (Thailand)
 * Pan American Day (several countries in the Americas)
 * The first day of Takayama Spring Festival (Takayama, Gifu, Japan)
 * Vaisakh (Punjab (region)), (India and Pakistan)
 * Youth Day (Angola)
 * April 15
 * Day of the Sun (North Korea).
 * Hillsborough Disaster Memorial (Liverpool, England)
 * Jackie Robinson Day (United States)
 * Pohela Boishakh (West Bengal, India) (Note: celebrated on April 14 in Bangladesh)
 * Last day of Songkran (Thailand) (Thailand)
 * Tax Day, the official deadline for filing an individual tax return (or requesting an extension). (United States, Philippines)
 * Universal Day of Culture
 * World Art Day
 * April 16
 * Birthday of José de Diego (Puerto Rico, United States)
 * Birthday of Queen Margrethe II (Denmark)
 * Emancipation Day (Washington, D.C., United States)
 * Foursquare Day (International observance)
 * Memorial Day for the Victims of the Holocaust (Hungary)
 * National Healthcare Decisions Day (United States)
 * Remembrance of Chemical Attack on Balisan and Sheikh Wasan (Iraqi Kurdistan)
 * World Voice Day
 * April 17
 * Evacuation Day (Syria)
 * FAO Day (Iraq)
 * Flag Day (American Samoa)
 * Malbec World Day
 * National Cheeseball Day (United States)
 * National Espresso Day (Italy)
 * Women's Day (Gabon)
 * World Hemophilia Day
 * April 18
 * Anniversary of the Victory over the Teutonic Knights in the Battle of the Ice, 1242 (Russia)
 * Army Day (Iran)
 * Coma Patients' Day (Poland)
 * Friend's Day (Brazil)
 * Independence Day (Zimbabwe)
 * International Day For Monuments and Sites
 * Invention Day (Japan)
 * April 19
 * Army Day (Brazil)
 * Beginning of the Independence Movement (Venezuela)
 * Bicycle Day
 * Dutch-American Friendship Day (United States)
 * Holocaust Remembrance Day (Poland)
 * Indigenous Peoples Day (Brazil)
 * King Mswati III's birthday (Eswatini)
 * Landing of the 33 Patriots Day (Uruguay)
 * National Garlic Day (United States)
 * National Rice Ball Day (United States)
 * Primrose Day (United Kingdom)
 * April 20
 * 420 (cannabis culture) (International)
 * UN Chinese Language Day (United Nations)
 * April 21
 * A&M Day (Texas A&M University)
 * Civil Service Day (India)
 * Day of Local Self-Government (Russia)
 * Grounation Day (Rastafari movement)
 * Heroic Defense of Veracruz (Mexico)
 * Kang Pan-sok's Birthday (North Korea)
 * Kartini Day (Indonesia)
 * Local Self Government Day (Russia)
 * National Tree Planting Day (Kenya)
 * San Jacinto Day (Texas)
 * Queen's Official Birthday (Falkland Islands)
 * Tiradentes' Day (Brazil)
 * Vietnam Book Day (Vietnam)
 * April 22
 * Discovery Day (Brazil)
 * Earth Day (International observance) and its related observance:
 * International Mother Earth Day
 * Holocaust Remembrance Day (Serbia)
 * National Jelly Bean Day (United States)
 * April 23
 * Castile and León Day (Castile and León, Spain)
 * German Beer Day (Germany)
 * Independence Day (Conch Republic, Key West, Florida)
 * International Pixel-Stained Technopeasant Day
 * Khongjom Day (Manipur, India)
 * National Sovereignty and Children's Day (Turkey and Northern Cyprus)
 * Navy Day (China)
 * St George's Day (England) and its related observances:
 * Canada Book Day (Canada)
 * La Diada de Sant Jordi (Catalonia, Spain)
 * World Book Day
 * UN English Language Day (United Nations)
 * April 24
 * Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day (Armenia)
 * Concord Day (Niger)
 * Children's Day (Zambia)
 * Democracy Day (Nepal)
 * Fashion Revolution Day
 * Flag Day (Ireland)
 * International Sculpture Day
 * Kapyong Day (Australia)
 * Labour Safety Day (Bangladesh)
 * National Panchayati Raj Day (India)
 * National Pigs in a Blanket Day (United States)
 * Republic Day (The Gambia)
 * St Mark's Eve (Western Christianity)
 * World Day for Laboratory Animals
 * April 25
 * Anniversary of the First Cabinet of Kurdish Government (Iraqi Kurdistan)
 * Anzac Day (Australia, New Zealand)
 * Arbor Day (Germany)
 * DNA Day
 * Feast of Saint Mark (Western Christianity)
 * Flag Day (Faroe Islands)
 * Flag Day (Eswatini)
 * Freedom Day (Portugal)
 * Liberation Day (Italy)
 * Major Rogation (Western Christianity)
 * Military Foundation Day (North Korea)
 * National Zucchini Bread Day (United States)
 * Parental Alienation Awareness Day
 * Red Hat Society Day
 * Sinai Liberation Day (Egypt)
 * World Malaria Day
 * April 26
 * Chernobyl disaster related observances:
 * Memorial Day of Radiation Accidents and Catastrophes (Russia)
 * Day of Remembrance of the Chernobyl tragedy (Belarus)
 * Confederate Memorial Day (Florida, United States)
 * Hug A Friend Day
 * Lesbian Visibility Day
 * National Pretzel Day (United States)
 * Old Permic Alphabet Day
 * Union Day (Tanzania)
 * World Intellectual Property Day
 * April 27
 * Day of Russian Parliamentarism (Russia)
 * Day of the Uprising Against the Occupying Forces (Slovenia)
 * Flag Day (Moldova)
 * Freedom Day (South Africa)
 * UnFreedom Day
 * Independence Day (Sierra Leone)
 * Independence Day (Togo)
 * National Day (Mayotte)
 * National Day (Sierra Leone)
 * National Prime Rib Day (United States)
 * National Veterans' Day (Finland)
 * April 28
 * Lawyers' Day (Orissa, India)
 * Mujahideen Victory Day (Afghanistan)
 * National Day (Sardinia, Italy)
 * National Heroes Day (Barbados)
 * Restoration of Sovereignty Day (Japan)
 * Workers' Memorial Day and World Day for Safety and Health at Work (international)
 * National Day of Mourning (Canada)
 * April 29
 * Day of Remembrance for all Victims of Chemical Warfare (United Nations)
 * International Dance Day (UNESCO)
 * Princess Bedike's Birthday (Denmark)
 * National Shrimp Scampi Day (United States)
 * Shōwa Day, traditionally the start of the Golden Week holiday period, which is April 29 and May 3–5. (Japan)
 * April 30
 * Armed Forces Day (Georgia (country))
 * Birthday of the King (Sweden)
 * Camarón Day (French Foreign Legion)
 * Children's Day (Mexico)
 * Consumer Protection Day (Thailand)
 * Honesty Day (United States)
 * International Jazz Day (UNESCO)
 * Martyr's Day (Pakistan)
 * May Eve, the eve of the first day of summer in the Northern hemisphere (see May 1):
 * Beltane begins at sunset in the Northern hemisphere, Samhain begins at sunset in the Southern hemisphere. (Neo-Druidic Wheel of the Year)
 * Carodejnice (Czech Republic and Slovakia)
 * Walpurgis Night (Central and Northern Europe)
 * National Persian Gulf Day (Iran)
 * Reunification Day (Vietnam)
 * Russian State Fire Service Day (Russia)
 * Tax Day (Canada)
 * Teachers' Day (Paraguay)

title: April