on the desk in roald dahl’s writing hut, right next to the chair where he sat to write many of his famous stories – including charlie and the chocolate factory – there is a collection of strange and wonderful items, some of which are particularly curious.
one of these is what appears to be a cannonball. it’s grey and fits into the palm of one hand. it looks like it would be quite heavy. it’s not a cannonball, though. it’s actually chocolate wrappers. hundreds and hundreds of silver foil wrappers that were originally used to keep a chocolate bar nice and fresh.
when roald was working for shell oil in london, before he set off on his adventures in africa and then on to the second world war, he often used to have a chocolate bar with his lunch. every time he had a chocolate bar he would add the wrapper to his growing collection. the first one he wrapped up into a little ball, and then every time he had another he would wrap it around the one from the day before, and so eventually the little ball of silver foil wrappers grew larger and heavier and took on the cannonball-like appearance it has today.
roald kept this collection of chocolate wrappers on the desk in his writing hut along with other things that inspired him, or reminded him of his earlier days. if you’re ever in the roald dahl museum and story centre in great missenden you can see it for yourself.
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credits: roalddahl.com
I didn't have my glasses on.... 
I would love to visit. Went once but it was after closing time, we did enjoy wandering around the other landmarks in the village though
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i’d love to see it –
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I have reblogged my post ‘Roald Dahl’s village’ so you can see some of the details of the village.
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wonderful – thank you !
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nyc post http://newsmasterbd.com/
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Fascinating and fun! That’s a lot of chocolate
>
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it is. obvious he loved chocolate, judging by this and his charlie story –
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Another fun bit of information from your blog…………:))
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you never know what bit of trivia will be found here )
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Interesting story!
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he was an interesting man –
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he most certainly was!
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❤️
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))
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Why am I so fascinated by this??? I want to have it in the palm of my hand. Just for a second.
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i know, me too!
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That is an awful lot of chocolate!
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yes, and it took years to make –
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How interesting. I wish I had eaten each and every one…or maybe not.
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mixed feelings on this one )
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Wow. What a neat piece of information!
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great trivia i think )
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And firm endorsement for chocolate, which I eat daily.
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Yes –
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I knew there was a reason to enjoy chocolate that much more. We love Roald Dahl in our house and watched Charlie and Chocolate Factory twice ( two versions) over the break. What a wonderous thing a chocolate wrapper is.. I’ve had gold and pink and so many kinds..
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I love the wrappers, and what’s inside, too )
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Interesting. And a good question. Since I write from my laptop, my computer is the only thing on my lap (a.k.a., my desk)!
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Ah )
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so little roy did not do this first? ask him about his shenanigans…
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it does seem ‘so roy, ‘ i can’t wait to hear…)
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lol! where to begin: 1) stole an angel – just the angel – that was the top to a turtle box my mom had, and hid her (the angel) in my desk drawer for safe keeping; 2) I shoved about 4,000 sucker wrappers in the backseat ashtrays of our car, and then secured them with a LOT of half chewed gum; 3) I put stickers (not the removable kind) ALL over my windows; 4) I dismantled the musical mechanism on a baby rocking chair; 5) I put my blanket over a globe lamp and when the glass immediately cracked, just left the blanket there as if no one would notice. the list goes on … and this was all just last year.
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really? you did all of that? I was referring to the topsy toss and the stash of hershey’s kisses wrappers I found when you were in college and topsy was deceased…thou dost protest too much…maybe it is topsy who is roald dahl–ish? we are communicating on beth’s dime and time here!
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haha! oh, yes! no, I did that. but I was the TRAINER in that scenario, and Topsy was the culprit! but yes, she did love her “silvers” and would hide them EVERYWHERE!
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Ha!
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So funny!
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my writing desk is a bit of a mess but I know where everything is 🙂
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Mine too –
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Wow! You told a great part of a Writer’s desk and how it becomes a muse and inspiration. I liked this one a lot, Beth. 🙂
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Thanks, robin )
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And to think we’re supposed to limit ourselves to one tiny square of chocolate a day… This proves that wrong – unless he died of tooth decay 😛
Ellespeth
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ha – not at all. i say we go for it!
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How fascinating – I’m going to try this with packets of Roast Beef Monster Munch 😁
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ha – pefect )
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What a neat story!
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I loved it )
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I wonder if it smells of chocolate!
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i’ll bet it does )
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You are a regular source of fun facts. Only problem is I get distracted from writing and want to explore more about whatever the topic is. Now I shall check him out more thoroughly. Thanks so much. My writing will have to wait. Procrastination feeder. That’s what this is. Dang.
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Yep. Just as I suspected. I looked up the writing shed and village and it led me to other writing sheds and so on…
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oops, yep )
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he is one of my favorites for many reasons – and i go through the same process on a regular basis )
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