Talk:Roald Dahl/Archive 1

Add to 'to-do' list & Clarification of Nationality

1. Why is there no mention of Dahl having lost a leg when shot down while flying a plane during the war? I would imagine that is rather significant given the arbitrary facts that are listed within the biographical sections of the article. Also, it may be worth listing that he did all his writing in a damp, crampy and uncomfortable garden shed. 2. Firstly, since Roald Dahl was not Norwegian-born but only had Norwegian parents, mention of Norway in this article is also rather superfluous. Several prominent British figures , such as Raj Persaud, Uta Frith and Edward De Bono to name three scientists concerned with aspects of the mind, have foreign parents, but this is not mentioned on their articles. I think the same should follow here, since Dahl's connections to Norway were relatively non-existent throughout his life. Secondly, because Welsh law can prove tricky where issues of nationality are concerned (read Vinnie Jones), Dahl may be referred to having subsisted in a state of undeclared dual-nationality. However, in place with the more common and international conventions on defining nationality, it is safe to say Dahl was English. For the purposes of this article, I propose we continue using British as a definition of his nationality.

Roald Dahl spoke Norwegian, his parents spoke Norwegian at home, he visited Norway regularly, he has himself said that his summer memories from Norway had great influence.

"since Dahl's connections to Norway were relatively non-existent" -dont think so.

An extraordinary statement to make of someone with two Norwegian parents. Drutt 02:13, 3 May 2007 (UTC)

He wanted to rent a house from me in Norway not long before he died. The plan was to bring his family to see the place. I think I met Norwegian cousins when I visited him in England. So there was some continuing interest.Stamboul 17:31, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

He lost a leg? I read Going Solo, and I don't remember anything about that. Also, I read somewhere that his writing shed was cluttered, but not uncomfortable. It was his own place where he could think and imagine. I'm sure he was quite comfortable in it, since he would have been able to fix it if he wanted to- with all the money from the books. I certainly don't think he was forced to write in an uncomfortable place. 208.68.253.184 02:10, 2 August 2007 (UTC)

To-do list

Some things to mention:

• how he fell into writing by accident: his plane crashed, he was asked for rough notes so it could be turned into a (magazine?) article by a staff writer, and the editor told him he would use the story exactly as written
• his short stories for adults were the basis for the TV series tales of the unexpected.

And a great TV series it was, too! I used to be scared stiff (I was, like, 10 years old when it aired in Norway). I would love to see it come for a rerun now after all these years, or be released on DVD. :-) --Wernher 21:23, 7 Aug 2004 (UTC)

• His father's age is shown as 507 in 1920 at the time of his sister's death, this needs to be revised. (DJE 11:53, 7 November 2006 (UTC))

Birthday

Does anyone else think it's not that interesting that he shares a birthday with Milton Hershey? I didn't want to just change it myself. Xyzzyva 17:17, Aug 23, 2004 (UTC)

Unless there's reason to believe it influenced him to write Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (and who knows, maybe it did?), I think it can be cut. Can anyone provide evidence that it made any impact on Dahl? Jwrosenzweig 17:56, 25 Aug 2004 (UTC)

WHO'S MILTON HERSHEY?!Atomic45 09:16, 6 February 2007 (UTC)

Interesting Trivia

I think it would unbalance the article to put this in now, but I know it's up for WP:CoTW, so perhaps it can be worked in once the article develops:

"Had it not been for letters - and their safe storage - we may never have found out that there really was a Willy Wonka who lived in Blue Hill, Nebraska. Nor that he wrote to Roald Dahl who, luckily, kept the letters. 'I really thought I had invented it [the name],' Dahl wrote, explaining that he had a boy-hood boomerang which he called a Skilly Wonka, which had inspired him. 'By changing two letters only, I arrived at Willy Wonka. This is the absolute truth, although I have so far told it to no one but you.' And now, us." [1] (para 8) --[[User:Bodnotbod|bodnotbod » .....TALKQuietly)]] 02:20, Sep 2, 2004 (UTC)

I believe there is a story in Boy which mention that Dahl used to receive free samples from Cadbury when he was in Repton. He said that this was his source of inspiration to write Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. ::--202.58.66.149 12:11, 22 Mar 2005 (UTC)Alamount::

Over-revisions

If you look back at past versions of this page, it seems that half the page was edited out, including most of his biography. Can someone explain why? Can we put it back in? It seems to be all rather well written.--Theloniouszen 04:56, 24 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Welsh or English?

Looking at the categories he is in, we can't make up our minds whether he was Welsh or English. I would consider him Welsh (Norwegian descent) by upbringing --MacRusgail 00:53, 11 July 2005 (UTC)

As he was born in Wales, I'd say he was Welsh/British. --Jenblower 20:24, 11 July 2005 (UTC)

Is there wikipedia policy on this? I tend to go towards either formative years (early schooling) or identification, and sometimes I put someone in both. I'd say Diane Duane would need to be categorised as both Irish and American, for example, for both her current and former nationality have a massive effect on her work and self-identification. But if policy is "nationality you had at birth" or "nationality you had at death", we should go with that. (I have similar questions about people who were born Soviet but died Russian/Ukranian /what-have-you. Does it depend on how influenced by the Soviets their work seems to critics? Heck, without a standard the categorization scheme almost counts as orginal research.) Deborah-jl _Talk 15:56, 10 March 2006 (UTC)

Leave both; both are defensible. That's what cats are for. Both are supported by the article text, which explains what is going on here. Septentrionalis 21:14, 10 March 2006 (UTC)

I'm not terribly bothered whether he's classed as Welsh, English or British. However, this sentence does bother me: "His mother, however, rather than move back to Norway to live with her relatives, decided to stay in England - it had been her husband's wish to have their children educated in English school". This is referring to a period when I presume the family were still living in Llandaff/Cardiff. If they were in Cardiff, they were not in England. They were in Wales. This is easy to fix. But I don't know what to do with the end of the sentence. Was it her husband's wish that they were educated in English-language schools, schools in England, British schools, or local schools (which in fact would have been Welsh)? Someone who has a biography or other source needs to clarify this, because I would just be guessing. Telsa (talk) 18:17, 23 July 2006 (UTC)

I seem to remember from Boy that his father had thought "English schools were the best in the world - even better than Welsh schools", or something of the sort. I'm not sure about where his mother wanted to live though. garik 16:02, 12 August 2006 (UTC)

I changed "British" to "Welsh". I guess if anyone has a problem with this, change it back. OKTerrific 15:44, 13 December 2006 (UTC)

Roald Dahl's Guide to Railway Safety, illustrated by Quentin Blake

In which category would the above book appear in, if worth mentioning? --Jamdav86 11:49, 6 August 2005 (UTC)

It is already listed under non-fiction. --mervyn 16:11, 6 August 2005 (UTC)

Doubts over some biographical details

Recently I saw a documentary on Dahl's life that cast doubt on certain details of his past, including (by his own admission) the air-crash story. The suggestion was that Dahl habitually reinvented his past, even in his own autobiography. I can't find any references to back this up, though, so I won't make any edits. --The-stickman 11:32, 7 September 2005 (UTC)

Narrative

The article as a whole seems a bit unecessarily narrative - anyone agree/care to revise?

I do agree. How could anyone know if the following description is correct? "owned by a loathsome, mean old woman called Mrs Pratchett"

I think someone's been basing his early life bit entirely on "Boy" and "Going Solo"; Mrs. Pratchett was described nearly exactly in those terms in "Boy." Article could definitely use a lot of revision.--Yubishines 01:12, 18 September 2007 (UTC)

Children's story

Should Mrs. Bixby and the Colonel's Coat (1959) be classed as a children's story in the list of works by Dahl?

another hitchcock episode

i'm certain that Lamb to the Slaughter (another short story of dahl's) was also adapted to screen for Alfred Hitcock theatre or whatever that show is called. maybe someone would add it in. Amirman 20:00, 6 March 2006 (UTC)

Dislike for public schools

The impression that I got, from the autobiographical works as well as some of his short stories (and possibly his children's stories) was that Dahl was strongly critical of 'public schools' (i.e. private/independent schools) and the culture surrounding them. This appeared to be strongly influenced by his experience. However the article currently only mentions a few bad experiences and doesn't really mention this aspect at all. If my impressions are right and supported by other sources on Dahl, then these need to be mentioned Nil Einne 10:47, 8 June 2006 (UTC)

Dahl & knighthood

I believe Dahl was offered something, MBE perhaps which is backed-up by some some paper which listed people who had rejected British honours/awards. He rejected it and it's widely believe to be because he felt he deserved a knighthood. We should mention this (at least the bit about what he was offered since I believe it's backed-up by a reliable source Nil Einne 10:51, 8 June 2006 (UTC)

Conjecture: Children's Fiction

I hate editing out people contributions so have added my comment to this talk page. I disagree with the tone of the subsection "Children's Fiction". I have scanned and re-scanned this portion and find most of it to be rather flimsy in substance. I am no literary buff but I have read much of Dahl's Children's Fiction and find that there is little gender difference with regard to the Agonist or Villain/Villainness. Also I find the remark that the agonist is :- "perhaps a reference to the abuse that Dahl himself experienced in the boarding schools he attended" speculation in its purest form.

IPA pronounciation

the IPA does not come up correctly on my screen. I am not sure it if is because of my PC settings, or because some one made in incorrectly. I does not look good and should be deleted (IMO).Digital20 22:44, 12 October 2006 (UTC) —Digital20 ^talk

Why?

I found something wrong in the page. Its said Roald Dahl was died in the year of <1990>, but the page saids that some book writen by Roald Dahl <were finished in 1991>. --Mikelau97 08:52, 5 November 2006 (UTC)

I think it is correct -- the books had been written but not published by the time of his death -- they were released posthumously by his publisher. --mervyn 10:47, 5 November 2006 (UTC)

Comments

Comments

Roald Dahl, an inspiring author WikiMan53 T/C 17:39, 7 December 2006 (UTC)

Lack of Citation

There is not a single citation in the Biography section, and only one citation at the very end in the World War II section. Nearly all of the Family section is uncited (for one example out of many: the direct quotation from Sophie Dahl at the end of this section goes entirely uncited -- what article/interview/book is this quotation from?). There is also no citation in the entire Writing section.

To sum up, for an article of this length, there are only eight citations throughout the entire article. Only three of these citations are found outside of the anti-semitism section. Rikome 06:13, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

True. Much of the biographical fact as a whole can be checked against the main Source given -- the ODNB article -- but certainly it would benefit from citations at specific points. --mervyn 09:00, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

Perfect Bedtime Stories For Sleepless Nights

I can't find this book listed anywhere in the article? It's an omnibus though and I'm not sure of wikipedias policy on this, should it be added? 131.111.228.251 19:55, 3 February 2007 (UTC)

The Mildenhall Treasure

I have always believed 'The Mildenhall Treasure' (the short story - not the collection) was non-fiction, yet it is listed in the article under Dahl's fiction works. Wolfgang Cash 11:58, 25 June 2007 (UTC)

Yes, thanks, have corrected this. --mervyn 08:15, 27 June 2007 (UTC)

Playboy

Roald Dahl also took photos for Playboy, did he not, including the "007's Oriental Eyefuls" pictorial based on the Japanese women featured in You Only Live Twice? 76.1.71.170 00:48, 18 July 2007 (UTC)

Assessment comment

The comment(s) below were originally left at Talk:Roald Dahl/Comments, and are posted here for posterity. Following several discussions in past years, these subpages are now deprecated. The comments may be irrelevant or outdated; if so, please feel free to remove this section.

Lots of text but only one image KGV 09:15, 22 February 2007 (UTC) Much more than a "start" but needs precision. High vandalism target. "Top" importance for Children's literature. --mervyn 11:26, 30 October 2007 (UTC) Rated A on novels and childrens litreture. Meets criteria from my point of view. Still vandalism target. B class on Wales. High importance still on Wales. 4:50, 18 February 2010 (UTC) User:Alihmo

Last edited at 16:51, 18 February 2010 (UTC). Substituted at 20:25, 2 May 2016 (UTC)