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Clode darrell

Simon Lowe as Claud Darrell

In the novel The Big Four, Claud Darrell is Number 4, also known as "The Destroyer". In the "Big Four" conspiracy to dominate the world, Claud Darrell or Number 4 was the chief executioner or "hitman". As Poirot noted, Numbers 1, 2, and 3 were powerful and well known personalities whose high up positions rendered them immune from the suspicions of the police. But for the same reason, they could not get involved in operations on the ground. This had to be left to Darrell, who "succeeds by the way of obscurity".

Darell was a master of disguise and through the course of his encounters with Poirot, he adopted a large number of personas. From these Poirot distilled certain common denominators. He was of medium height, of fair complexion, had a small nose, of a fairly young age between 30-35 and with few or any teeth of his own (because the various personas he adopted all have very different dental features). Furthermore his skill at disguise suggested a stage actor, of the type who immersed themselves in their role rather than impress their personalities on it. With the help of his friend the theatre agent Joseph Aarons, Poirot narrowed the possibilities to three people. Of these Poirot focused on Darrell. He had played at music halls and repertory plays and had been to China and America. He was aged 33, with brown hair, fair complexion, grey eyes and a height of 5 ft 10½ in. All these fitted Poirot's criteria.

Claud had a friend from his theatre days Flossie Monro. She told Poirot that Claud had an unconscious habit of using a small piece of bread to dab up bread crumbs from the table. Using this, Poirot was able to spot him on several occasions.

Claud died in the explosion at the Big Four headquarters in the Felsenlabyrinth at the end of the book. His head had been blown off and therefore his body was not conclusively identifiable.

Personas adopted by Claud Darrell[]

In addition, Darrell most likely knocked down and killed Flossie Munro and broke into her house to steal her photo of him which she was about to give to Poirot (The Adventure of the Peroxide Blonde). Poirot also believed it was Darrell who composed the letter which Hastings was forced to write to lure his friend into a trap in The Baited Trap. Darrell most likely also planted the bomb in The Terrible Catastrophe.

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