Spotty Powder and other Splendiferous Secrets Read online

  PUFFIN BOOKS

  Happy birthday, Puffin!

  Did you know that in 1940 the very first Puffin story book (about a man with broomstick arms called Worzel Gummidge) was published? That’s 70 years ago! Since then the little Puffin logo has become one of the most recognized book brands in the world and Puffin has established its place in the hearts of millions.

  And in 2010 we are celebrating 70 spectacular years of Puffin and its books! Pocket Money Puffins is a brand-new collection from your favourite authors at a pocket-money price – in a perfect pocket size. We hope you enjoy these exciting stories and we hope you’ll join us in celebrating the very best books for children. We may be 70 years old (sounds ancient, doesn’t it?) but Puffin has never been so lively and fun.

  There really IS a Puffin book for everyone

  – discover yours today.

  Roald Dahl was born in 1916 in Wales of Norwegian parents. He was educated in England and went on to work for the Shell Oil Company in Africa, becoming an RAF fighter pilot when the Second World War began. He wrote his first children’s story, James and the Giant Peach, in 1961 and every one of his subsequent books, including Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, The Magic Finger, Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator, Matilda, The Twits, The BFG and The Witches, has become a much-loved bestseller all over the world. Roald Dahl died in 1990 at the age of seventy-four.

  Books by Roald Dahl

  The BFG

  Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

  Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator

  Danny the Champion of the World

  The Enormous Crocodile

  Esio Trot

  Fantastic Mr Fox

  George’s Marvellous Medicine

  The Giraffe and the Pelly and Me

  James and the Giant Peach

  The Magic Finger

  Matilda

  Rhyme Stew

  The Twits

  The Witches

  Roald Dahl

  Illustrated by

  Quentin Blake

  PUFFIN

  PUFFIN BOOKS

  Published by the Penguin Group

  Penguin Books Ltd, 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England

  Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, USA

  Penguin Group (Canada), 90 Eglinton Avenue East, Suite 700, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M4P 2Y3

  (a division of Pearson Penguin Canada Inc.)

  Penguin Ireland, 25 St Stephen’s Green, Dublin 2, Ireland (a division of Penguin Books Ltd)

  Penguin Group (Australia), 250 Camberwell Road, Camberwell, Victoria 3124, Australia

  (a division of Pearson Australia Group Pty Ltd)

  Penguin Books India Pvt Ltd, 11 Community Centre, Panchsheel Park, New Delhi – 110 017, India

  Penguin Group (NZ), 67 Apollo Drive, Rosedale, North Shore 0632, New Zealand

  (a division of Pearson New Zealand Ltd)

  Penguin Books (South Africa) (Pty) Ltd, 24 Sturdee Avenue, Rosebank, Johannesburg 2196, South Africa

  Penguin Books Ltd, Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England

  puffinbooks.com

  Extracts taken from: The Roald Dahl Diary 1992 first published 1991; Charlie’s Secret Chocolate Box first published 1997; D is for Dahl first published 2004; The Dahlmanac first published 2006; Dahlmanac 2 first published 2007; More About Boy first published 2008 – all published in Puffin Books; Roald Dahl’s Cookbook published by Penguin Books 1996.

  ‘Spotty Powder’ first published in Puffin Post Vol.7, No.1, 1973; ‘Strawberry-flavoured Chocolate-coated Fudge’ and ‘Butterscotch’ from Roald Dahl’s Revolting Recipes published by Jonathan Cape Ltd 1994.

  This edition first published 2010

  Text and archive photographs copyright © Roald Dahl Nominee Ltd, 2010

  Illustrations copyright © Quentin Blake, 2010

  All rights reserved. The moral right of the author and illustrator has been asserted.

  Except in the United States of America, this book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser

  ISBN: 978-0-14-196563-5

  This was his advice from The Minpins: ‘Above all, watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most likely places. Those who don’t believe in magic will never find it.’

  Augustus Gloop was originally named Augustus Pottle?

  Willy Wonka’s Oompa-Loompas were going to be called Whipple-Scrumpets?

  Cocoa pods are as big as rugby balls.

  Roald Dahl wanted to get rid of history teachers and have chocolate teachers instead.

  These are just some of the splendiferous secrets you’ll discover in this delicious little treasure trove of Roald Dahl fun facts and surprises. You’ll also meet Quentin Blake, find out how to make strawberry-flavoured chocolate-coated fudge (YUM!), sneak a peek at Roald Dahl’s school reports and much, much more.

  Contents

  How Roald Dahl started writing Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

  Roald Dahl’s Year

  Roald Dahl’s January

  The Missing Children

  Chocolate!

  Roald Dahl’s February

  The Whipple-Scrumpets

  Mr Wonka’s Chocolate Factory Recipes

  Roald Dahl’s Favourite Things

  Roald Dahl’s March

  Meet Quentin Blake

  What Roald Dahl thought of Quentin Blake

  Ideas Books

  Roald Dahl’s April

  Roald Dahl’s School Reports

  Roald Dahl’s May

  Roald’s Family Holidays

  Roald Dahl’s June

  A Missing Chapter

  Spotty Powder

  Roald Dahl’s July

  What Roald Dahl thought about chocolate

  Weird and wonderful Roald Dahl facts

  He once had a tame magpie.

  Roald’s Family Holidays

  Roald Dahl’s August

  More things that Roald Dahl liked

  Advice from Roald Dahl

  Roald Dahl’s September

  Roald Dahl’s

  Mr Wonka’s Chocolate Factory Recipes

  Roald Dahl’s October

  Charlie’s Quiz

  Roald Dahl’s November

  Roald Dahl’s Secret Writing Tips

  Roald Dahl’s December

  Charlie’s Chocolate Shop

  ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory took me a terrible long time to write. The first time I did it, I got everything wrong. I wrote a story about a little boy who was going round a chocolate factory and he accidentally fell into a big tub of melted chocolate and got sucked into the machine that made chocolate figures and he couldn’t get out. It was a splendid big chocolate figure, a chocolate boy the same size as him. And it was Easter time, and the figure was put in a shop window, and in the end a lady came in and bought it as an Easter present for her little girl, and carried it home. On Easter Day, the little girl opened the box with her present in it, and took it out and then she decided to eat some of it. She would start with the head, she thought. So she broke off the nose, and when she saw a real human nose sticking out underneath and two big bright human eyes staring at her through the eye-holes in the chocolate, she got a nasty shock. And so it went on.

  ‘But the story wasn’t good enough. I rewrote it, and rewrote it, an