Writer reveals real people who inspired our most famous fictional characters including the Godfather and the BFG The revelation is among 350 made in a new book The Godfather Was A Girl by Eamon Evans which lays bare the real people who inspired many of our most famous characters. The title comes from the claim that Mario Puzo, author of the Godfather novel, based his main character on his mother, an Italian immigrant who single-handedly brought up 12 children in a New York slum. Puzo is said by Evans to have described his mother as a "wonderful, handsome woman" but a "fairly ruthless person." "Whenever the Godfather opened his mouth, in my mind I heard the voice of my mother," he is said to have added. Evans also claims that L Frank Baum, the author who wrote the children's book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, received his inspiration for the Wicked Witch of the West from Matilda Gage, a radical feminist of the time - who also happened to be his mother-in-law. The book describes her as a "courageous pioneer of women's rights" but also a "man-hating testicle eater." Other highlights of the Evan's book include the real life character behind the muppet star Miss Piggy. She was originally called Miss Piggy Lee after the 1940s American jazz diva Peggy Lee. The name was originally meant to be a homage to the "breathy blonde" but as Miss Piggy's fame grew the Lee was dropped to avoid any offence, claims Evans. There was also Draper Daniels, a great 1950s ad man who is said to be the inspiration for Don Draper in Mad Men. Like the fictional character he was fond of a "martini lunch," smoking and attracted "women like flies to flypaper." Along the way he also came up with a number of famous ads including the Marlboro Man campaign, according to Evans. Basil Fawlty, the incredibly rude hotelier invented by John Cleese, was based on real-life guesthouse owner Donald Sinclair, who lived between 1909 to 1981. According to Evans, The Monty Python team stayed at his establishment in 1970 in Torquay and witnessed for themselves the "snobby, bonkers and bad tempered" hotelier for themselves. Mr Toad, of Wind in the Willows, was said to be based on the author Kenneth Grahame's son Alistair who enjoyed putting himself through a series of self destructive obsessions. He was said to enjoy kicking little girls and throwing himself in front of oncoming cars. Evans, 34, said that he got the idea to write the book because he too had been looking for inspiration for a novel. "I was tickled by a lot of my findings," he said. The inventor of Chitty Bang Bang died in a car accident. The real Scrooge more or less wasted away because of stinginess and Mary's little lamb was gored to death by a bull. "I liked the "real" people who were in some ways so unlike the character they inspired. Long John Silver was a poet, Little Dorrit was a prostitute and Dracula was an actor. Rocky Balboa is so noble and upright in the movies, but in real life he went to jail for cocaine possession. Michael Brittin, 75, the nephew of Mr Saunders said he had no doubt his uncle was the inspiration for the BFG. Mr Brittin said: "He knew that Roald Dahl had written the book and based it on him and the characteristics of the two are very similar. He was a well built man and had pretty big hands. The Godfather Was A Girl is published by Hardie Grant books and due out on Thursday.