My Favourite Author

If you were to ask people I know what my favourite writer was, they would take a guess at one of the following; JK Rowling (Harry Potter), JRR Tolkien (The Lord of the Rings), HG Wells (The War of the Worlds), Michael Crichton (Jurassic Park), Ian Fleming (James Bond) or even Herge (The Adventures of TinTin). One person even suggested George R.R Martin (Game of Thrones). While all of them are all good writers – I have to guess at George Martin as I’ve never read any of the books the series Game of Thrones are based on – I’ve not even seen the series, their guesses would be wrong.

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My favourite writer is British writer Roald Dahl (1916 – 1990). Famous for such books as Charley and the Chocolate Factory, the BFG, Fantastic Mr. Fox, Danny – the Champion of the World and Matilda among others, the writings of Mr. Dahl have kept me glued to his books since 1988.

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When I was at school, they did occasional book sales in the assembly hall and it was during one of these events I saw the book of Matilda being sold. I brought a copy and was hooked. Matilda was about a little girl who was ignored by her parents who poured attention on her older brother. She discovered the ability to move items with her mind and used them to help her teacher Miss Honey against the evil headmistress of the local school. Eventually, her parents fled the country to escape the police and at Matilda’s insistence, left her with the teacher Miss. Honey. I would read and re-read it many times over the years. It had instant appeal, seeing Matilda work out ways to get revenge on those who wronged her and those she cared for.

(the actual copy of Matilda I brought back in 1988)

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At the time, I had no idea he was born during the First World War to Norwegian parents until I read his autobiography.

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My next exposure to the works of Mr. Dahl was in 1989. Following a screening of Star Wars – Return of the Jedi, local UK station TVS (Television South, now Meridian) showed the TV Movie of Danny – The Champion of the World. As many people who have watched adaptations of books know, they can deviate from the written word. Danny, as I later learnt after I brought the book was fairly accurate. There were scenes from the book that didn’t appear in the film and some deviations from scenes. For instance, in the book, Danny and his best friend were caned by teacher Captain Lancaster. In the film, only Danny (Samuel Irons) was caned before the headmaster intervened. Danny lived alone with his father (Samuel’s real life father Jeremy Irons) in an old gypsy caravan. His mother died when he was a baby. He confesses a love for poaching in a forest owned by a nasty man called Hazell (who was played in the film by Robbie Coltraine, now best known as the lovable Hagrid in Harry Potter). Danny comes up with a scheme to poach all the pheasants from Hazell’s forest the day before a shooting event and they win over him. This is another book that I’m glued too for a long time. It also has lasting effects, but more on that later.

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The third book by Roald Dahl to grab my attention was The Witches. It involves an unnamed boy, raised by his grandmother, a former witch hunter, who while on holiday is turned into a mouse by the Grand High Witch, using Formula 86 Delayed Action Mouse-Maker potion. The witches plan to buy sweet shops using counterfeit money created by the Grand High Witch using her own money press. Once they own the shops, they plan to contaminate chocolate with the potion, turning children of the UK into mice. The boy and his grandmother manage to steal the potion and have it put into food due to be served to the witches and turn them into mice. Eventually, the boy, who is never turned back and his grandmother plan to use the potion to turn all the witches of the world into mice. This was turned into a film in 1990 starring Angelica Huston as the Grand High Witch and some big British actors like Rowan Atkinson. It was famously disowned by Mr. Dahl, who disliked the ending in which the boy was turned back into human form.

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In addition to the writings, the second part of the appeal of Mr. Dahl’s books were the illustrations by Sir Quentin Blake. These would be drawn by Mr. Blake based on descriptions or items sent by Mr. Dahl.  These would enhance the experience of the books, being very well designed.

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In addition to writing books, Roald Dahl also wrote screenplays. He wrote the James Bond film You Only Live Twice and the film Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, both based on books by Ian Fleming. In an interview with Playboy magazine, he established many elements of the James Bond formula which would be carried on throughout many films, including the idea that the main love interest (the Bond Girl) would be anti-Bond to start with, finally falling for his charms towards the end of the film. He also wrote episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents.

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Following his death, his writings were turned into films by Hollywood. One of his short stories – The Smoker was filmed for Alfred Hitchcock Presents in 1960 and 1985 and was also adapted by Quentin Tarantino for his segment of the film Four Rooms in 1995. In 1996, Danny DeVito filmed an adaptation of Matilda, starring himself as Mr. Wormwood (Matilda’s dad), retired child star Mara Wilson as Matilda and Embeth Davitz, then known for her role in Schindler’s List, as Miss. Honey. Despite the American’ism of the story, it is really accurate. Mr. Dahl himself plays a part in the film of sorts – a portrait of him is used to represent a picture of Magnus Honey, the deceased father of Miss. Honey. Matilda would be famously turned into a hugely popular musical in 2010 and is still going strong today.

Tim Burton would direct an adaptation of Charley and the Chocolate Factory in 2005 starring Johnny Depp. A previous adaptation was made in 1970 but disowned by Roald Dahl, who refused to allow anymore adaptations of it or it’s sequel  – Charley and the Great Glass Corridor in his lifetime. In 2016, an adaptation of The BFG directed by Steven Spielberg was released. It wasn’t a general success which was a pity because it was a really good film and shows you don’t need bad language, sex or massive explosions to make a good movie.

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It was the writings of Roald Dahl that inspired me to become a writer in the first place. He showed that anyone can be a writer no matter what. In his book Danny – The Champion of the World, he ends it with a message – if you read the book as a child then went on to have children of your own, they don’t need a bad parent but one that was sparky. I swore if I ever had children of my own, I’d do my best to be as good as parent to them as possible.

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With the news of new film adaptations of his works and the continued success of Matilda the Musical, the legacy of Roald Dahl continues to live on and on and for those who have not read one of his books, I recommend you do so at once.