"I am like a blotting paper or a sponge. I just absorb and then give out what I have absorbed. I do not create consciously - I never start a novel knowing what will happen, and until the last chapter f don't know how it will finish. I am a man of instinct - not at all an intellectual."
Georges Simenon, creator of one of the world's most famous detective characters, Chief
Inspector Maigret, and author of over 400 novels, today celebrates his 80th birthday.
Richard Cobb, who recently visited him at his Swiss home, presents an anniversary portrait of the great Belgian writer, with the help of his family and friends.