Roald Dahl...

Since childhood I have loved Roald Dahl's books! So, when I visited my Sister in London last weekend, I was not surprised to find myself wondering around The Roald Dahl Museum, in Great Missenden.

Enchanted by giant illustrations by Quentin Blake, I followed a journey of Dahl's life and the inspirational events which helped mould his stories.

Bizarrely, some of his characters remind me of a few individuals who I've encountered during my life. I'm sure we've all had a friendly giant when we were little, my Dad was mine and he's even got sticky out ears! I've also come across a few witches (mentioning no names) and occasionally at work alot of smelly people do come in...and I'm sure I've seen a few things growing in their beards!!!

One of the biggest things I had in common with Roald Dahl (apart from wanting to write), was his passion for sweet things!
As a child, Dahl loved sweets and his favorites were Sherbet Suckers and Licorice Bootlaces.
I loved licorice too, but I'd also crave Curly Wurlys or a Raspberry Ruffle.
So, in honour of Roald's sweet tooth, my sister and I sampled a rather large piece of chocolate cake in the Twit's Cafe...it would have been rude not to!

Here are a few juicy facts I've learnt about Roald Dahl and taken from his book, 'More about boy'...oh, and don't forget to celebrate Roald Dahl Day on the 13th of September!

1- Roald Dahl's parents were Norwegian.

2- Roald Dahl was one of six children, but he lost one of his oldest sister's (Astri) when she was just Seven years old.

3- He had false teeth in his twenties (probably from all the sweets).

4- Roald Dahl was a regular visitor at the Doctors and had six op's on his spine, two hip replacements and appendicitis in 1945.

5- Roald Dahl got to road test some chocolate bars for Cadbury.

6- Roald Dahl liked to smoke when he wrote. The ceiling of his writing hut was stained yellow with nicotine! You can see a replica of his writing hut at the Museum!

The best fact of all is that Roald Dahl never found writing easy! He would re-write, re-write and re-write...until eventually it was just perfect!