British author Roald Dahl was, without question, one of the greatest children's writers who ever lived.
He wrote books such as Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, The Twits, James And The Giant Peach, George's Marvellous Medicine, The BFG, Matilda, The Witches, The Enormous Crocodile and several more. He even wrote The Gremlins, on which the 1984 Hollywood movie is loosely based.
As a child, Dahl used to visit a sweet shop near his home, in which he sampled its delights - such as sherbet suckers and liquorice bootlaces (the Arctic Monkeys' new single Crying Lightning makes a reference to strawberry liquorice bootlaces).
This shop was the inspiration for The Twits, about a vile and grotesque couple, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
However, he didn't like the female shopkeeper, once putting a dead mouse in a jar of gobstoppers, He ended up being whacked several times by a cane across his bare backside by his headmaster as a result.
It has now been identified as the Great Wall of China takeaway in Cardiff.
Roald Dahl was born in 1916 and served in the RAF during World War II. He suffered a fractured skull after crashing his Gloster Gladiator in Egypt in 1940. Prior to that, in 1939 he served in the King's African Rifles in Tanzania, then a British colony. He also worked for oil giant Shell in the 1930s, where he was posted to Tanzania (then known as Tanganyika).
He died aged 74 in Buckinghamshire in 1990.
Roald Dahl’s sweet shop discovered as Chinese takeaway
Roald Dahl’s childhood sweet shop, thought to be the inspiration for some of his greatest books, has been identified as a Chinese takeaway in the village where he grew up.
By Amy Willis
10 Sep 2009
The Telegraph
Worm spaghetti: Quentin Blake's drawings helped immortalise Roald Dahl characters such as the Twits Photo: QUENTIN BLAKE
British author Roald Dahl, who wrote books such as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and The Gremlins Photo: PA
The Great Wall of China takeaway in Llandaff, Cardiff, will be named next week as the location of Mrs Pratchett’s Sweet Shop – thought to be the inspiration for Roald Dahl’s classic tales The Twits and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
As a child, Dahl’s favourite sweets from the shop were sherbet suckers and liquorice bootlaces.
However, the author was less fond of the shopkeeper than her merchandise. He described the store owner in Boy: Tales of Childhood as “a small skinny old hag with a moustache on her upper lip, little piggy eyes and a mouth as sour as green gooseberry.” He once played a trick on her by putting a dead mouse in a gobstopper jar and was later caned by the school headmaster for his mischief.
Roald Dahl wrote Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
The discovery of the sweet shop was made by heritage group, The Llandaff Society, after several months of research. Chairman Geoffrey Barton-Greenwood said: “Roald Dahl was born in Llandaff and went to school here.
“He and his friends used to call at Mrs Pratchett’s sweetshop fascinated by the delights in there.
“The shop was run by this lady, Mrs Pratchett, and her two scrawny daughters who were extremely dirty. They were the sort of people who had their grubby hands in all the jars.
“They would spend their pocket money and were in awe of the revolting woman that was Mrs Pratchett. But of course Mrs Pratchett wasn’t her real name. Her real name, we believe, was Katy Morgan.”
He added: “We think Roald Dahl would have a real laugh about it being a Chinese takeaway now.”
Mrs Barbara Morgan, a retired civil servant now in her eighties, used to live two doors away from Mrs Pratchett’s sweet shop when she was a child. She said the sweet shop closed around 1926 or 1927 but it gave her great memories.
She said: “The two Miss Morgans, who were known as the 'Kelly Morgans', were two very old eccentric ladies who to a child would really look like two old witches.
“They were very, very poor people who wore long old fashioned skirts and very dirty cream coloured blouses.
“Their hair was always tangled and in a mess and they would scream and shout if anything upset them.
“They really were two very terrifying looking old women, who were, especially to children, just like two old witches.
“I'm sure little boys would be really mischievous to them and would have had a great deal of fun teasing them.”
Roald Dahl’s widow Felicity Dahl also commented on the discovery saying she is pleased the location is being commemorated.
The location will be officially recognised with a blue plaque on September 14 next week, the day after what would have been Dahl’s 93rd birthday. Roald Dahl died in Buckinghamshire at the age of 74 on November 23, 1990 from a rare-blood disorder.
telegraph.co.uk
He wrote books such as Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, The Twits, James And The Giant Peach, George's Marvellous Medicine, The BFG, Matilda, The Witches, The Enormous Crocodile and several more. He even wrote The Gremlins, on which the 1984 Hollywood movie is loosely based.
As a child, Dahl used to visit a sweet shop near his home, in which he sampled its delights - such as sherbet suckers and liquorice bootlaces (the Arctic Monkeys' new single Crying Lightning makes a reference to strawberry liquorice bootlaces).
This shop was the inspiration for The Twits, about a vile and grotesque couple, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
However, he didn't like the female shopkeeper, once putting a dead mouse in a jar of gobstoppers, He ended up being whacked several times by a cane across his bare backside by his headmaster as a result.
It has now been identified as the Great Wall of China takeaway in Cardiff.
Roald Dahl was born in 1916 and served in the RAF during World War II. He suffered a fractured skull after crashing his Gloster Gladiator in Egypt in 1940. Prior to that, in 1939 he served in the King's African Rifles in Tanzania, then a British colony. He also worked for oil giant Shell in the 1930s, where he was posted to Tanzania (then known as Tanganyika).
He died aged 74 in Buckinghamshire in 1990.
Roald Dahl’s sweet shop discovered as Chinese takeaway
Roald Dahl’s childhood sweet shop, thought to be the inspiration for some of his greatest books, has been identified as a Chinese takeaway in the village where he grew up.
By Amy Willis
10 Sep 2009
The Telegraph
Worm spaghetti: Quentin Blake's drawings helped immortalise Roald Dahl characters such as the Twits Photo: QUENTIN BLAKE
British author Roald Dahl, who wrote books such as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and The Gremlins Photo: PA
The Great Wall of China takeaway in Llandaff, Cardiff, will be named next week as the location of Mrs Pratchett’s Sweet Shop – thought to be the inspiration for Roald Dahl’s classic tales The Twits and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
As a child, Dahl’s favourite sweets from the shop were sherbet suckers and liquorice bootlaces.
However, the author was less fond of the shopkeeper than her merchandise. He described the store owner in Boy: Tales of Childhood as “a small skinny old hag with a moustache on her upper lip, little piggy eyes and a mouth as sour as green gooseberry.” He once played a trick on her by putting a dead mouse in a gobstopper jar and was later caned by the school headmaster for his mischief.
Roald Dahl wrote Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
The discovery of the sweet shop was made by heritage group, The Llandaff Society, after several months of research. Chairman Geoffrey Barton-Greenwood said: “Roald Dahl was born in Llandaff and went to school here.
“He and his friends used to call at Mrs Pratchett’s sweetshop fascinated by the delights in there.
“The shop was run by this lady, Mrs Pratchett, and her two scrawny daughters who were extremely dirty. They were the sort of people who had their grubby hands in all the jars.
“They would spend their pocket money and were in awe of the revolting woman that was Mrs Pratchett. But of course Mrs Pratchett wasn’t her real name. Her real name, we believe, was Katy Morgan.”
He added: “We think Roald Dahl would have a real laugh about it being a Chinese takeaway now.”
Mrs Barbara Morgan, a retired civil servant now in her eighties, used to live two doors away from Mrs Pratchett’s sweet shop when she was a child. She said the sweet shop closed around 1926 or 1927 but it gave her great memories.
She said: “The two Miss Morgans, who were known as the 'Kelly Morgans', were two very old eccentric ladies who to a child would really look like two old witches.
“They were very, very poor people who wore long old fashioned skirts and very dirty cream coloured blouses.
“Their hair was always tangled and in a mess and they would scream and shout if anything upset them.
“They really were two very terrifying looking old women, who were, especially to children, just like two old witches.
“I'm sure little boys would be really mischievous to them and would have had a great deal of fun teasing them.”
Roald Dahl’s widow Felicity Dahl also commented on the discovery saying she is pleased the location is being commemorated.
The location will be officially recognised with a blue plaque on September 14 next week, the day after what would have been Dahl’s 93rd birthday. Roald Dahl died in Buckinghamshire at the age of 74 on November 23, 1990 from a rare-blood disorder.
telegraph.co.uk
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