Parenta Magazine September 2019

ROALD DAHL DAY
Most people know Roald Dahl was a children’s author – but did
you know that he was also a “spy, ace fighter pilot, chocolate
historian and a medical inventor?” Then read on to discover more
about his life and legacy, and join millions of others around the
world celebrating Roald Dahl Day on September 13th.
Roald Dahl was born in Llandaff, Wales
in 1916 to Norwegian parents. He
attended boarding school in Repton,
Derbyshire, and many events during his
time there were later recounted in his
book, “Boy”. At Repton, students were
invited to trial chocolate bars, which
inspired one of his best-loved stories,
“Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”.
At the age of 23, he enlisted in the
Royal Air Force, but sustained injuries at
the start of World War II which left him
temporarily blind. He recovered and
returned to active service as a fighter
pilot, not only surviving the war, but
also writing about his experiences in
his first piece of paid writing, published
in 1942. “The Gremlins” (1943) was his
first children’s story, and was based on
RAF folklore in which small, destructive
creatures were responsible for a variety
of technical problems facing RAF pilots.
After the war, Dahl worked in the
diplomatic and intelligence services
where he was introduced to the creator
of James Bond, Ian Fleming, and the
director, Alfred Hitchcock.
In 1960, his son was injured in an
accident in New York, and Dahl helped
invent the Wade-Dahl-Till valve, which
QUOTE 1
I’m right and you’re
wrong, I’m big and
you’re small, and
there’s nothing you
can do about it!
subsequently helped alleviate head
injuries in thousands of children.
Despite his colourful early life, Dahl
is best known for writing children’s
stories, which have themselves inspired
generations of children to read and
write, and have been made into films,
animations and hit musicals.
QUOTE 2
Never grow up...
always down.
Each year on his birthday, people
celebrate his incredible life and work,
so why not join them this September
13th and have some ‘hopscotchy’
(cheerful) fun?!
One of the things Roald Dahl is famous
for is his use of language – or more
specifically, for making up his own
language. It’s called Gobblefunk and
The Oxford Roald Dahl Dictionary has
been published to prove it. We’ve listed
a few of our favourites below, as well
as some whoopsy whiffling (great)
ways to celebrate Roald Dahl Day in
your setting:
GOBBLEFUNK WORD
Hopscotchy
Ucky-mucky
Quogwinkle
Squibbling
MEANING
Cheerful
Messy
An alien from
outer space
Writing
WAYS TO GET INVOLVED
1. Dress up as your favourite character.
There are so many wonderful
characters to choose from: The BFG,
Matilda, Miss Trunchball, Willy Wonka,
The Twits, Fantastic Mr Fox, and The
Enormous Crocodile to name but a
few. You could also raise money for
Roald Dahl’s Marvellous Children’s
Charity at the same time by asking
for a small donation on your mufti
day. The charity was set up after
Dahl’s death in 1990, and funds Roald
Dahl Specialist Children’s Nurses in
communities across the UK. These
nurses support children with rare
and serious illnesses and help their
families in times of need.
2. Read some of Dahl’s stories. There
are so many stories and most of
them have a moral core as Dahl
championed children and often set
them against cruel or repugnant
adults, who luckily, always get their
comeuppance.
QUOTE 3
One child a week is
fifty-two a year. Squish
them and squiggle them
and make them
disappear.
3. Teach numeracy, art or sensory
craft by using some of the free,
downloadable lesson plans from the
official Roald Dahl website. There are
special lessons designed for preschoolers
helped by The Enormous
Crocodile. You can download them
here but beware - The Enormous
Crocodile is grumptious (bad and
greedy) and loves to dine on little
chiddlers (children)!
4. Get crafty and create some
delumptious (delicious) new sweets for
Willy Wonka. You can get the children
to draw them, paint them or use real
ingredients to create something edible.
Let their imagination run riot and see
what amazing inventions they come
up with.
5. Visit the museum. If it’s not too far to
travel, visit the Roald Dahl Museum at
Great Missenden in Buckinghamshire.
Be prepared to spend a few mintinks
(minutes) there as it’s razztwizzler
(exciting and enjoyable).
6. Make up some new Gobblefunk
words. Ask the children what they
would call different things and make
a display of their suggestions. You
could end up with some rommytot
(nonsense) or something giganticus
(grand and spectacular). Whatever
you get, it’ll be a great way to
engage their creative brains and
imaginations.
QUOTE 4
You should
never, never doubt
something that no
one is sure of.
7. Hold a quiz. We’ve put 5 famous
Dahl quotes around this article,
but can you identify which book
they are from? Answers are at the
bottom of the article but there are
more fun quizzes on the main Roald
Dahl website that you could use to
challenge the children, parents or
your staff too. They may even end up
all biffsquiggled (confused or puzzled)!
WIN ROALD DAHL GOODIES!
We love Roald Dahl here at Parenta and
to celebrate his day on 13th September,
we are giving you the chance to win a
fabulous prize!
To enter, simply send an email to
marketing@parenta.com - telling us
what your setting’s favourite Roald Dahl
book is - and you will be entered into
a prize draw to win some Roald Dahl
goodies.
Closing date for the prize draw is Friday
20th September and the winner will be
announced in October’s magazine. Don’t
forget to include your postal address too!
And whatever you do, have a
gloriumptious (glorious and wonderful)
day!
For more information on the day,
free downloads and a party pack full
of activities, party invites, stickers,
certificates and more, see:
www.roalddahl.com
QUOTE 5
I cannot be right
all the time. Quite
often I is left
instead of right.
30 Parenta.com Answers to quiz: 1. Matilda 2. George’s Marvellous Medicine 3. The Witches 4. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory 5. The BFG September 2019 31
Photo by Flickr member Wee Sen Goh