it’s national pencil day!
roald dahl’s favorite pencil was the dixon ticonderoga –
every morning he would sharpen six pencils
with an electric pencil sharpener and said
when all six needed sharpening again
he knew he’d been writing for about two hours.
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credits: roalddahl.com
whipple-scrumptious fudgemallow delight
it’s almost easter – a great time to make wonka’s whipple-scrumptious fudgemallow delight with the chiddlers then?!
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how to make a truly whipple-scrumptious sauce
for your ice cream sundae:
you will need:
an adult to help you
a saucepan
a large bowl of your favourite ice cream ready in the fridge
60g dark chocolate
1 cadbury’s crunchie or similar chocolate bar
60g butter
80g dark brown sugar
150ml double cream
8 marsmallows
what you need to do:
break the chocolate and the crunchie into large chunks
and set to one side.
in a saucepan, over a low heat, melt together
the butter, sugar and cream.
stir until all the sugar is dissolved.
turn the heat up and continue stirring for 10 minutes.
be careful, as it gets very hot and can splutter.
use a very long wooden spoon or a tall adult with a long arm.
turn the heat down again.
get your bowl of ice-cream from the fridge.
put the marshmallows, chocolate and crunchie into the saucepan,
stir around once and pour over your ice-cream.
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“‘Wonka’s Whipple-Scrumptious Fudgemallow Delight!'” cried Grandpa George. ‘It’s the best of them all! You’ll just love it!'” – From Charlie and the Chocolate Factory – roald dahl
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credits:
roalddahl.com
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 understand what you’re saying, and your comments are valuable, but I’m gonna ignore your advice.”
― roald dahl – fantastic mr. fox
Roald Dahl was a British novelist, short story writer, poet, screenwriter, and fighter pilot.Born in Wales to Norwegian parents, Dahl served in the Royal Air Force during World War II, in which he became a flying ace and intelligence officer, rising to the rank of acting wing commander. He rose to prominence in the 1940s with works for both children and adults and became one of the world’s best-selling authors. He has been referred to as “one of the greatest storytellers for children of the 20th century”. Among his awards for contribution to literature, he received the World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement in 1983, and Children’s Author of the Year from the British Book Awards in 1990. In 2008 The Times placed Dahl 16th on its list of “The 50 greatest British writers since 1945.”
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“a little magic can take you a long way.”
― roald dahl
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credits: roalddahl.com, npr.com, fantastic mr. fox, charlie and the chocolate factory
j and b amidst the magic at the hands-on museum
truth at any age.
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image credit: roald dahl
MATILDA WORMWOOD
from roald dahl’s ‘matilda’. not that matilda is only interested in children’s books – before she even gets to school, she’s onto adult classics such as ernest hemingway’s ‘the old man and the sea’ and ‘nicholas nickleby’ by charles dickens. an avid reader who manages to outsmart the horrible miss trunchbull? well, of course we love matilda.
‘I’ve always said to myself that if
a little pocket calculator
can do it why shouldn’t I?’
– matilda wormwood
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credits: roald dahl
“Remember that when you think you are seeing giants, they may not be giants at all; perhaps it is you who is the dwarf.”
and yet another true story, of path-crossing, and timing, and luck, and circumstance. i was on my way to school for a faculty work day, and walked into a huge multi-purpose all-things-you-could-ever-want-and more store, (air compressors, makeup, yarn, chicken tenders, cabbage, towels, scotch, and goldfish – all sold there), and i went to get a cart.
as i pulled my cart out of the corral, i turned and was stopped in my tracks because –
i saw a giant.
literally.
his hands were huge and he stood right in front of me, manning his cart, ready to head off into the aisles, in search of whatever diverse collection of items he may on the hunt for. and everything about him was huge. stunningly massive.
my eyes slowly looked up, and up, and just kept going. and going. he was the tallest man i’ve ever seen close up, other than a basketball player, but he was not built anything like a basketball player, he was built like an oak tree- huge, and solid, and unbending.
i was in awe of his physical presence and as i kept looking up and looked up finally got to his face, he smiled at me with a huge giant’s grin. i smiled back, he seemed so gentle, not scary at all, as i had always imagined a giant would be if i ever encountered one. and we headed off through the aisles, each on our own retail scavenger hunt.
when i got to the grocery section of this massive store that is a like small city, i turned the corner from the cereal aisle, and who should i encounter –
but a second giant!
again, another surprised reaction from me, but i just took it in, and wondered about the odds of finding two men of this ilk, in the same building at the same time. i thought perhaps there was some kind of convention or fest going on in the area, that both may have attended. sort of specialized, like a ‘mothers of twins’ event, but for really, really, really big people.
i finished my shopping, not crossing paths with either of them again, and went on to school. i sat through the professional development meetings, but could not shake the memory of these men. i tried to imagine what a day spent as a giant must be like, how it must be to always have people surprised by encountering them, wondering if people were kind or cruel to them, and wondering what kind of items a giant shops for.
at lunch that day, i sat with one of our phys ed teachers and told him about my stop at the store on the way to school. he got a very surprised look on his face, asked me if i was kidding, and told me he was shocked that i brought this up because he had also run into a giant at another location of the same store across town, that very same morning. it was a surprising encounter for him as well, and he’d taken a picture of his giant because he didn’t think anyone would believe him. he shared the picture on his phone with me, and it was yet another giant that i had not met.
what are the odds of this set of circumstances? that we would each encounter one or more giants on the same morning, in the same brand of store, in different locations, on different sides of town, that he had taken a picture, and that we actually had lunch together, and it would come up in our conversation?
it raised so many questions. why so many giants in one state at one time? why at this chain of stores? did they offer a giants’ discount, like they did for senior citizens each tuesday? or did the giants feel comfortable there because the store itself was so giant? how did the universe conspire to have us all cross paths on the same day and then have the two of us cross paths to share our stories and be amazed by it all?
we will never know the answers to any of these questions, but it was a huge day for all of us.
Definition of giant in English:
NOUN
an imaginary or mythical being of human form but superhuman size.
an abnormally tall or large person, animal, or plant.
a person of exceptional talent or qualities: a giant among sportsmen
Astronomy a star of relatively great size and luminosity compared to ordinary stars of the main sequence, and 10-100 times the diameter of the sun.
“Well, first of all,” said the BFG, “human beans is not really believing in giants, is they? Human beans is not thinking we exist.”
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credits: library of congress, roald dahl, the bfg (the big, friendly, giant), quentin blake, harper collins publishing, oxford dictionary
I didn't have my glasses on.... 