Fantastic imagination of Roald Dahl
Nalaka Gunawardene & Vindana Ariyawansa
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Former us First lady, eleanor roosevelt
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Roald Dahl-(1916-1990) |
“Children’s books are harder to write. It is tougher to keep a child
interested because a child does not have the concentration of an adult.
The child knows the television is in the next room. It is tough to hold
a child -- but it is a lovely thing to try to do.”
So said children’s author Roald Dahl (1916-1990), who has been voted
many times as Britain’s all-time favourite author. One reason why Dahl’s
children’s stories became so popular is that they are told from the
point of view of a child. The stories typically involve adult villains
who hate or mistreat children, but there is at least one “good” adult to
counteract the villain(s). Good triumphs over evil in the end.
His books are translated into more than 50 languages and have sold
over 100 million copies worldwide. Many of his books have also been
adapted for film and television. Upon his death, he was described by The
Times of London as “one of the most widely read and influential writers
of our generation.”
1. Roald Dahl’s autobiography came out in two separate volumes. The
first, titled Boy: Tales of Childhood (1984) covered his childhood and
youth up to the age of 20. Two years later, in 1986, he published the
second volume that recalled going to work for the Shell company in
eastern Africa before joining Britain’s Royal Air Force (RAF) during
Second World War as a pilot - he was one of the last Allied pilots to
withdraw from Greece during the German invasion. What title did he give
this second volume?
2. Roald Dahl was never seen as a particularly talented writer during
his school days. Even he did not realise he had a talent for writing
until another writer accidentally discovered it. In 1942, when Dahl was
posted to Washington DC during the Second World War, a British novelist
asked Dahl to write down some RAF anecdotes to edit them into a story
promoting the war effort. After this novelist read the draft that Dahl
sent him, he decided to publish the story without any editing.
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Boy:Tales of Childhood book cover |
The piece appeared anonymously in the Saturday Evening Post in August
1942, with only the title changed to Shot Down Over Libya. Who thus
discovered Roald Dahl as a writer?
3. Roald Dahl’s first book for children was a picture book published
in 1943. It was adapted from a script he originally wrote for Walt
Disney, who had invited the 25 year-old Roald to Hollywood. The story
was about mischievous spirits that, according to Britain’s RAF legend,
caused engine failures in aircraft.
Eventually Disney did not make a movie out of it, but the story was
published in book form. Even though the author did not think of it as a
children’s book, it interested the United States (US) First Lady Eleanor
Roosevelt, and Dahl became a frequent guest at the White House. What was
the story’s title?
4. Roald Dahl wrote for grownups during the first 15 years of his
writing career, before concentrating on children’s stories from the
1960s onwards. He was inspired to writing children’s books by having to
make up bedtime stories for his two daughters, Olivia and Tessa. Which
book, first published in America in 1961 and in the United Kigdom (UK)
in 1967, established his reputation as an imaginative writer for
children?
5. Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, first published in
1964, was about a poor English boy named Charlie Bucket who won the rare
chance to visit the chocolate factory of eccentric chocolatier Willy
Wonka. It remains one of the most popular Dahl stories of all time, and
has been twice adapted into major motion pictures.
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Charlie and the Chocolate Factory book cover |
The first film was named Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971),
and the second, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory came out in 2005. The
first movie had Gene Wilder acting as Willie Wonka. Name the American
actor, producer and musician who played the same role in the 2005 movie
directed by Tim Burton.
6. In 1972, Roald Dahl wrote a sequel to Charlie and the Chocolate
Factory. It begins with Willy Wonka giving Charlie Bucket the ownership
of his chocolate factory, and they crash through the roof of Charlie’s
house with a flying elevator to inform his family of the good news. Dahl
reportedly disliked the 1971 movie adaptation of the first book (saying
it placed too much emphasis on Willy Wonka and not enough on Charlie)
that he refused to allow the producers to adapt the sequel. What was the
sequel’s title?
7. The Child Catcher is an adult villain created by Roald Dahl for
the movie adaptation of a book by another famous British author. In a
2005 survey, the Child Catcher was voted as “the scariest villain in
children’s books” in the UK, despite it not actually featuring in the
original book.
The character is employed by the despotic and megalomaniacal ruler of
the fictitious European kingdom of Vulgaria that has outlawed the
raising of children. The Child Catcher can smell out any children, who
are then snatched and imprisoned. For which beloved story’s 1968 movie
adaptation did Roald Dahl create this character?
8. From 1975 to 1990, all of Roald Dahl’s children’s books were
illustrated by one of Britain’s leading illustrators and cartoonists who
is himself a children’s author of three dozen books. It was this
illustrator who imagined how Willy Wonka, the Big Friendly Giant,
Matilda and a host of other fictional characters looked to millions of
Dahl readers around the world. He has become so closely associated with
Dahl and his fantastic stories and characters. Who is this accomplished
illustrator?
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Matilda book cover |
9. In 1988, Roald Dahl wrote a novel named Matilda. It was about an
extremely intelligent girl named Matilda Wormwood who has spiteful and
ignorant parents who neglect and even mistreat her, never realizing how
gifted their daughter is. While her parents are obsessed with making
money and watching television (TV), Matilda teaches herself to read,
excels in school and develops telekinetic powers (ability to move
physical objects with her mind).
The story was adapted as a Hollywood film in 1996 by an American
actor, comedian, director and producer who also played the role of
Matilda’s unscrupulous businessman father, Harry Wormwood. Who directed
Matilda?
10. Roald Dahl invented many and varied animal characters - some big
and ferocious, others small yet colourful in their own way. Memorable
ones include the lead characters in Fantastic Mr Fox, The Enormous
Crocodile and Pelly the Pelican. One of his last stories, first
published in 1989, was titled Esio Trot. It was the charming tale of an
elderly man and woman who were neighbours and who were united through a
creature named Alfie.
The character was inspired by a pet that Dahl himself kept in his
garden when his own children were young. What kind of a creature was
Alfie?
11. Roald Dahl not only created lively animal characters, but also
other fantastic or horrible characters that included giants and witches.
In his last book, published posthumously in 1991, a young boy named
Little Billy goes exploring the nearby forest, climbs up a tree and
discovers a whole city of little people living inside the tree. The name
of these little people was also the name of the book. What was it?
12. When he was just three, Roald Dahl lost his father, Harald. It
was his mother, Sofie, who raise two stepchildren and her own four
children among whom Roald was her only son. He later recalled how his
mother as “a real rock, always on your side whatever you had done. It
gave me the most tremendous feeling of security.” Years later, as a
literary tribute, Dahl based a grandmother’s character in one of his
stories on his own mother. In which Dahl’s books was this character
found?
13. An Australian billionaire, who made his money in mining, has
commissioned a Chinese state-owned company to build a 21st Century
version of the Titanic. Construction is to start in 2013, and it is
expected to be ready to set sail in 2016. “It will be every bit as
luxurious as the original Titanic but of course it will have
state-of-the-art 21st Century technology and the latest navigation and
safety systems,” he said in April 2012, announcing the project on the
centenary of the original Titanic’s sinking. Who is this billionaire?
14. Name the American author, cartoonist and celebrated wit who once
said: “The wit makes fun of other persons; the satirist makes fun of the
world; the humourist makes fun of himself.”
15. He was a soccer player who made a stunning impact on the 1990
FIFA World Cup at the age of 38. Having made 80 appearances for
Cameroon, he was persuaded out of retirement and helped Cameroon become
the first African country to reach the quarter finals. He scored four
goals, becoming the oldest player to do so in a World Cup. Incredibly,
he bettered that feat in 1994, when he came on as a substitute to score
against Russia at the age of 42. Who is he?
Last week’s answers
1. Australia and New Zealand
2. Chris Gayle
3. Brett Lee
4. Stuart Broad
5. One minute and 30 seconds (or 90 seconds)
6. Richard Levi
7. Out of the Ashes
8. Indian Cricket League
9. Antoine de Saint- Exupéry (1900-1944)
10. AT&T Bell Laboratories
11. Pierre Rissient
12. Sir Arthur C Clarke
13. Muhammad Ali
14. Arabic script/alphabet
15. Boris Johnson |
