{"id":3261,"date":"2016-03-28T12:25:04","date_gmt":"2016-03-28T12:25:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.littlebird.co.uk\/blog\/?p=3261"},"modified":"2018-08-16T14:26:36","modified_gmt":"2018-08-16T14:26:36","slug":"whoopsey-splunkers-14-things-you-didnt-know-about-roald-dahl","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.littlebird.co.uk\/blog\/2016\/03\/whoopsey-splunkers-14-things-you-didnt-know-about-roald-dahl\/","title":{"rendered":"Whoopsey-Splunkers! 14 Things You Didn’t Know About Roald Dahl"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s the 100th<\/sup> anniversary of the beloved creator of children\u2019s books such as The Fantastic Mr Fox<\/em> and George\u2019s Marvellous Medicine<\/em>. As part of Roald Dahl 100 there are a factory full of amazing events and activities taking place throughout the year. This man has shaped the imaginations of thousands of children but here are all the things you didn\u2019t know about this celebrated author.<\/p>\n

\"matildanew\"<\/a><\/p>\n

1. Matilda was Killed Off<\/strong><\/p>\n

Dahl’s longtime editor described his first draft of Matilda as ‘hopeless’ \u2013 as in the original ending the beloved heroine DIED after gambling on horses. In poor health and into his early 70s, Dahl realised he needed to rethink the plot – the first time he’d ever had to start a novel over.<\/p>\n

2.\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0<\/span>2.\u00a0Dahl was The Original BFG<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

The BFG was Roald’s favourite novel – he was telling the story of the dream-catching giant to his own children and, later, his grandchildren, well before the book was published. He would climb a ladder outside their bedrooms and pretend to blow good dreams in through the window, just like the BFG.<\/p>\n

\"wondercrump1Cover-1400x650\"<\/a><\/p>\n

3. The Southbank Centre’s Wondercrump World of Roald Dahl’s Curious Spaces<\/strong><\/p>\n

As part of\u00a0Roald Dahl 100<\/em>, The Southbank Centre are celebrating the author famous across the world for books such as\u00a0Matilda<\/em>,\u00a0Charlie and the Chocolate Factory<\/em>,\u00a0Fantastic Mr Fox<\/em>\u00a0and many more.\u00a0Giant peaches, hidden treasures and gloriumptious treats… Embark on a magical tour through the imagination of the world\u2019s greatest storyteller.\u00a0Plus there are interactive installations to spark the imagination \u2013 and even test your own powers of creativity.\u00a0Laugh until your belly hurts and squirm your way through curious spaces as you step inside this\u00a0Wondercrump World<\/em>.<\/p>\n

3.\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0<\/span>4.\u00a0The Forgotten Novel<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

Dahl published a dystopian adult novel before any of his children’s books: Some Time Never. Some Time Never: A Fable for Supermen is notable for being perhaps the first fictional account of nuclear war – influenced by his time as an RAF pilot in WWII.<\/p>\n

\"dairy-milk-chocolate-glass-and-a-half-productions-original-27309\"<\/a><\/p>\n

4.\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0<\/span>5.\u00a0Inspired by a True Story<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

You can probably guess which Dahl novel these facts inspired – in the 1920s, Rowntree’s and Cadbury were continually sending spies posing as employees into each other\u2019s factories, in an attempt to steal ideas.<\/p>\n

5.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>6.\u00a0Banned in the US<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

Dahl’s first classic novel for children, James and the Giant Peach, was banned in some American states, because it ‘encouraged disobedience to parents’. Miss Spider was too flirty and there were more than a few ‘magical references’ to drugs and alcohol.<\/p>\n

\"RoaldDahlMuseum_Carousel\"<\/a><\/p>\n

7. The Roald Dahl Museum and Story Centre Oompa-Loompa Party<\/strong><\/p>\n

The award winning museum featuring interactive galleries and his original Writing Hut, check out the Story Centre which puts your imagination centre-stage with fantabulous activities to inspire the writer in you. \u00a0Don’t miss the fizz-banging Oompa-Loompa Party<\/a>\u00a0on Thursday 31st March an\u00a0hour of storytelling from\u00a0Charlie and the Chocolate Factory<\/em>\u00a0and classic party games, including boisterous bingo and sweetie-tower building!<\/p>\n

9.\u00a010 Golden Tickets!<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

In early drafts of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl imagined as many as 10 golden ticket winners, as opposed to the final five.<\/p>\n

Wilbur Rice and Tommy Troutbeck were sent to the Pounding and Cutting Room after climbing into one of the wagons in The Vanilla Fudge Room, while Miranda Mary Piker’s disobedience landed her in the Peanut Brittle Mixer, ground to dust.<\/p>\n

In the first draft, Clarence Crump, Bertie Upside and Terence Roper all overheat when they stuff themselves with hundreds of warming candies too.<\/p>\n

\"disney&dahl\"<\/a><\/p>\n

7.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a010.\u00a0Who was \u201cStalky\u201d?<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

Dahl measured nearly two metres tall – a whopping six feet five and three-quarter inches. Disney undoubtedly noticed his height when they came into contact regarding The Gremlins, which he bought the film rights to. From there The nickname Stalky was born.<\/p>\n

11. He was Anti-Beards<\/strong><\/p>\n

Dahl had a desire to, “do something against beards,” due to his acute dislike of facial hair. Mr. Twit had a “disgusting” beard that often had mouldy bits of food caught in it, described in horrific detail. The first sentence of the story is, “What a lot of hairy-faced men there are around nowadays!”<\/p>\n

\"gobblefunk\"<\/a><\/p>\n

9.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>12.\u00a0250 New Words!<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

Dahl is credited with the invention of over 250 new words, including ‘Frothbuggling’ (silly) and ‘Whizzpopping’ (farting) Dahl created his own language, actually. It was called ‘Gobblefunk’.<\/p>\n

10\u00a0 \u00a0<\/span>13.\u00a0Maker of Movie Magic<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

Books weren’t the only thing Dahl lent his hand to – he wrote the original screenplays for Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and the Bond movie You Only Live Twice<\/p>\n

\"BookWithEars\"<\/a><\/p>\n

14. You Could Win!<\/strong><\/p>\n

We bet you also didn\u2019t know that there are some amazing Roald Dahl Prizes to be won from our friends at the Southbank Centre, The Roald Dahl Museum and at Puffin!<\/p>\n

You could win a family ticket to The\u00a0Southbank Centre\u2019s Wondercrump<\/a>\u00a0World of Roald Dahl as well as the\u00a0Roald Dahl Museum<\/a>. We also have\u00a015 Roald Dahl Books from Puffin<\/a>\u00a0to inspire your kids to walk in the footsteps of this darkly brilliant author. Puffin is celebrating Roald Dahl 100 with all new editions and covers of the Roald Dahl 100 paperbacks. Check out the amazing BFG ears!\u00a0Head over to our competitions page and enter now!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s the 100th anniversary of the beloved creator of children\u2019s books such as The Fantastic Mr Fox and George\u2019s Marvellous Medicine. As part of Roald Dahl 100 there are a factory full of amazing events and activities taking place throughout the year. This man has shaped the imaginations of thousands of children but here are … Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":3281,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,2656],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3261","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-families","category-ideas"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.littlebird.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3261","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.littlebird.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.littlebird.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.littlebird.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.littlebird.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3261"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.littlebird.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3261\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5488,"href":"https:\/\/www.littlebird.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3261\/revisions\/5488"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.littlebird.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3281"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.littlebird.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3261"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.littlebird.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3261"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.littlebird.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3261"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}