It’s hard to imagine a world without Roald Dahl. There’d be no Matilda. What would we do without Willy Wonka? Oompa-Loompas? The Everlasting Gobstopper? The 1990’s version of The Witches remains one of the creepiest depiction of witches I’ve ever seen. His works have been interpreted by the minds of both Wes Anderson (Fantastic Mr. Fox) and Tim Burton. Plus he rivals Shakespeare when it comes to making up words. Today we celebrate his birthday and Roald Dahl Day with some fantastic fun facts about the author and his work.
Fun Facts about Roald Dahl
Making up words was what he did best. When writing The BFG, he invented 238 new words for the book’s protagonist. His word for those words was Gobblefunk. Other words he created throughout his career: Crodsquinkled, razztwizzler, grunion and splendiferous.
He didn’t just write for kids. He wrote for several adult publications as well such as: Collier’s, Ladies Home Journal, Harper’s, The New Yorker, and Playboy.
Writing for the screen wasn’t his forte. Which is hard to believe having so many great movies in existence that are adaptations of his books. “Dahl was hired to adapt two of Ian Fleming’s novels, the James Bond novel You Only Live Once and the kid-friendly Chitty Chitty Bang Bang; both scripts were completely rewritten. Dahl was also hired to adapt Charlie and the Chocolate Factory for the big screen, but was replaced by David Seltzer when he couldn’t make his deadlines.” -mentalfloss.com
Was he type A? He only ever wrote with an HB pencil and used yellow paper. He also only wrote four hours a day, 10-12 and from 4-6. I can get behind that kind of schedule.
Buried with his prized possessions. When he died in 1990, he was buried with the things he loved most: his HB pencils, a power saw, snooker cues, chocolate and red wine.
He invented Gremlins. The Gremlins was his very first children’s book. Disney bought the rights for it to become an animated film, but it never made it to the screen. The Steven Spielberg film Gremlins we know today borrowed the idea from the book but the plot was drastically different.
So, how will you celebrate Roald Dahl Day? Will you watch one of the films based on Charlie and the Chocolate Factory? Maybe you can watch The Witches-which would be Spooky Season appropriate! Or maybe read one of his other lesser known short stories for adults (most of which you can find online). Anyway, we hope it’s a scrumpdiddlyumptious swashboggling kind of day!
