D is for Dahl Read online

  Random Roald Fact

  Roald once put his first wife’s coat in the freezer to store it through the summer. Pat was horrified but the coat was pretty chilled out!

  D is for Dream blower

  Dream blower ~ Sometimes, when he was feeling particularly mischievous, Roald Dahl would prop a ladder against the side of his house, climb up to the bedroom windows—just as his children were drifting off to sleep—and push a bamboo cane through their window, pretending to be the BFG.

  D is for Dust

  Dreams ~ Roald Dahl slept for only three or four hours a night, but he crammed these hours full of dreams. One of his top-ten dreams starred himself as a tramp arriving at Lord’s Cricket Ground with a shabby case containing a million pounds. He told the English cricketers that if he played on their team, they would beat the Aussies. If the team lost, he would hand over his million pounds. Roald was always the last batsman, leading the side to victory. His dream usually ended with him and the team being driven around the country in an open-top bus, hailed by all as heroes. . . but of course, it was only a dream.

  Dust ~ Roald Dahl’s writing hut was never dusted. Just like Willy Wonka’s inventing room, it was a top-secret place. Roald wouldn’t allow anyone inside, even to clean it, and so it remained full of grime and spiderwebs, but sparkling with ideas!

  Easter-egg hunt ~ Roald Dahl loved Easter, especially the eggstraordinarily eggciting and eggstremely eggstravagant egg hunts he went on as a child.

  Ellen ~ Roald Dahl used to refer to Ellen as his ancient half-sister, because she was twelve years older than he. After Roald returned home from the Second World War, with no idea whether his family was dead or alive, his ancient half-sister Ellen was the very first person he managed to make contact with, because Roald knew her married name, and she and her husband were in the phone book. She put him in touch with his mother and other sisters, who had moved to Aylesbury, England. Hurrah! (See Family Tree.)

  Else ~ Roald Dahl’s middle sister hated school. When her mother decided to send her to boarding school in Switzerland, she devised a foolproof plan. She ate her train ticket at the Gare du Nord station in Paris and had to be collected and brought home! Roald loved Else very much. (See Family Tree.)

  E is for Endings

  El Superzorro ~ This is the truly fantastic title of the Spanish version of Fantastic Mr. Fox.

  Endings ~ Of all Roald Dahl’s books, the most talked-about ending belongs to The Witches. (It’s hard to believe, but there might—just might—be one or two Dahl fans on earth who have yet to finish this wonderfully wicked book, so. . . you won’t find the actual ending here.) Roald was horrified to find out that in the film version of The Witches his quirky ending had been changed. He threatened to remove his name from the credits in protest. What do you think of the real ending? In some of Roald’s endings you discover that the main character in the story is a writer too and their book is the one you have just read—for example, The BFG and James and the Giant Peach.

  Random Roald Fact

  He once filled his ancient half-sister’s fiancé’s pipe with goat droppings.

  E is for The Enormous Crocodile

  The Enormous Crocodile ~ Roald Dahl said that his first picture book was one of the hardest books he’d ever written—because there were so few words, every single one had to count. This was the first of his books to be illustrated by Quentin Blake.

  Esio Trot ~ The rather topsy-turvy title for this story is actually the word “tortoise” spelled backward. Aedi citsatnaf!

  Essays ~ Roald Dahl’s book of essays—written in 1927 when he was eleven—is still in one piece. If you want to find out what the young Roald had to say about “Summer Holidays,” “Gardening,” “The Life Story of a Penny,” and “It’s Better to Play a Game and Lose than Never to Play at All,” you can read his essays at the Roald Dahl Museum and Story Centre in Great Missenden, England.

  Fairies ~ If you ever visited Roald Dahl’s home in Great Missenden, you might have noticed some strange goings-on in the garden. If you looked carefully on the lawn, you would perhaps have seen the word “Hello!” written in yellow letters. Roald would have told you that this was a message from the fairies. In actual fact, it was one of his little tricks—he did this from time to time, writing the words in weedkiller when no one was looking. His daughters Ophelia and Lucy loved to see their names written on the lawn in fairy writing.

  WARNING!

  Do not try this at home, unless you want to spend your next five years’ pocket money on new turf.

  F is for Fantastic Mr. Fox

  Fantastic Mr. Fox ~ Roald Dahl first wrote this as a picture book called Mr. Fox. But as the story grew and grew, it became more and more fantastic. The book was renamed Fantastic Mr. Fox a matter of days before it went to print.

  Feathered friends ~ Roald Dahl owned a hundred homing budgerigars—yellow ones, green ones, blue ones, and white ones. He also had a mynah bird that had been taught to say very rude things, like “*!*%!” (You didn’t think we’d print them in this book, did you?) If you repeat those words, you might end up like the mynah bird in Matilda, which was given away! Roald hated people shooting birds for sport—you can see this best in The Magic Finger.

  Fighter pilot ~ During the Second World War, Roald Dahl flew several planes, including Hurricanes, Tiger Moths, and Gladiators, on dangerous and nerve-racking missions. After just eight weeks’ training with the Royal Air Force, Roald could fly upside down and get out of a dangerous spin—on his own. He was extraordinarily lucky to survive. Delve into Going Solo to find out more about his daring escapades.

  F is for First-class letter-writers

  Film critic ~ Although Roald Dahl wrote the screenplay for Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971), he never liked the actual film. It was a box office success, though, so you’ll have to make up your own mind.

  First-class letter-writers ~ Roald Dahl received more sacks of mail from Australia than from anywhere else in the world. But he only ever visited the country once, in 1989.

  F is for First ever story

  First ever story ~ During the Christmas holidays when Roald Dahl was ten, he wrote his first short story, “Kumbak II,” about a newly invented machine that could tune in to conversations from the past.

  F is for Fishmonger

  Fishing ~ On family summer holidays in Norway Roald Dahl and his sisters would row out into the fjord and drop their fishing lines, baited with mussels. Then they had to sit still in total silence in case the fish heard them and swam away. This was a big challenge for Roald, who always had lots to say. When he hooked a fish he’d shout, “I’ve got a whopper!” Once they’d caught enough, they’d row back to their mother, who fried the fish gently in butter and served it with boiled potatoes.

  “I have never tasted fish as good.”

  —ROALD DAHL

  Fishmonger ~ Never mind the fishy smell, this was Roald Dahl’s favorite type of shop. On his seventieth birthday, a fisherman’s slab was set up in a marquee in the garden. As well as colorful, shiny fish of all sorts, there were fish and shell sculptures carved out of ice.

  F is for Fleming, Ian

  Fleming, Ian ~ Roald Dahl and the author of the James Bond books met in Jamaica and New York, through a mutual friend, and became good friends. They had lots in common—including their top-secret intelligence work during the 1940s (Fleming worked for the British Naval intelligence division). Roald wrote the screenplay for the Bond film You Only Live Twice and co-wrote the screenplay for Fleming’s Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

  Flood! ~ While training in the Royal Air Force during the Second World War, Roald Dahl spent time in Iraq. When the great river Euphrates burst its banks, he was on sandbag duty, desperately trying to save people’s homes from the rapidly rising water.

  Flying ~ Roald Dahl learned to fly when he served in the Royal Air Force during the Second World War. He was far too tall (just over 6 1⁄2 feet) for lots of the planes he flew, spending many hours with his k