How September Celebrated The Centenary Of The World's Best And Most Loved Storyteller Roald Dahl

On the occasion of this month being Roald Dahl's centenary I thought I would supply links that have popped up online related to the subject at hand (one's I've particularly enjoyed). Do let me know of others you may have come across too...

The Chinese Connection:
It should come as no surprise that the creator of 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory' should have a favourite sweetshop. I, for one, would have been disappointed to learn otherwise. It's on 11 High Street in Llandaff in Wales which is Dahl's birthplace. But if you're getting your hopes up to sampling some of his favourites, think again! it's a Chinese takeway now! Dumplings anyone?

photo is from llandaffcity.co.uk website

The Oxford Connection:
What do you give someone who's been given everything for their centenary? A dictionary of course! and that's just what the clever people behind Oxford English Dictionary have decided to do in celebration of the author, and screenwriter. They've also put his name on it and called it the 'Oxford Roald Dahl Dictionary' and it's written in a new language: Dahlesque. Yes. Really. See HERE.

They've gone one step further and have in their latest update of the 'Oxford English Dictionary' included all the delightful words that he created entirely for his books but then as if by magic these words found their way in to the real world and became part of our everyday repertoire: frightsome, scrummy, scrumptious, splendiferous) in addition to Oompa Loompa and the 'witching hour'. To see all words and revised phrases, click HERE.

Roald Dahl never used the term gobblefunk to describe his made-up language. The word appears in The BFG only as a verb, where the giant gently chides Sophie for gobblefunking (i.e playing around) with words. But that is now the accepted name for the lexicon of words that he invented: all 393 of them, as counted for the Oxford Roald Dahl Dictionary. 

The Fruit Connection:
In Cardiff, a giant peach took to the streets of Cardiff this weekend to mark Roald Dahl's centenary and many dressed up in outfits of his book characters. It's heart warming to watch that peach roll turning Cardiff into a magical 'city of the unexpected'! To read the BBC report and find out how the peach was painted, click HERE.