To what extent did Agatha Christie base Captain Hastings on Dr. Watson?

Question

I've noticed that there are quite a few parallels between Agatha Christie's [Captain Arthur Hastings](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Hastings) and Arthur Conan Doyle's [Dr. John Watson](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dr._Watson): - Both served in the British military (Hasting in World War I, Watson in the Second Anglo-Afghan War). - Both are relatable, first-person narrators. - Both are the only true friends to their less-relatable comrades (Hercule Poirot and Sherlock Holmes). - Both present a layperson's view to the stories' fantastical deductions, as they seldom foresee the conclusion of a case.The similarities are too many and too strong to be simple coincidences. I have to assume that Christie decided to base Hastings on Watson for one reason or another. Are there any writings by Christie that detail just which characteristics of Hastings she borrowed from Watson, and how those shaped his character in the Poirot novels he appeared in?

Answer 1

Remember that both Christie and Conan Doyle owe a big debt of inspiration to Edgar Allan Poe, who, although he only wrote a few detective stories, pretty much built the entire structure we now recognize. His detective hero Dupin is pretty clearly a partial inspiration for Holmes (who in one or two stories makes fun of Dupin), who is pretty clearly a partial inspiration for Poirot (who in one or two stories makes fun of Holmes). And Dupin also has a first-person narrator friend / assistant much like Watson / Hastings.