Category: General Dahl News

If you’re in the UK, there’s a fabulous Dahl-related event coming up in just over a week!

Aylesbury’s Roald Dahl Festival 2016 takes place on Saturday 2 July from 11am to 4.30pm. The theme for this year’s spectacular community event is the BFG and as ever it will be a day brimful with colour, noise, activities and entertainment for all the family to enjoy, whatever the weather. The popular parade at 11am will feature larger-than-life puppets and colourful artwork made by hundreds of local school children and young people, but this year there will also be exciting new attractions. A Carnival of Characters inspired by the books of Roald Dahl will wow the crowds as children aged five to 11 compete for the best costume. Celebrity CBeebies chef Katy Ashworth will invite visitors to try awfully fabulous recipes inspired by Roald Dahl. Children’s favourites Jim Smith and Andy Stanton will read from their award-winning books and talk about the characters they created. Find out more at www.aylesburyvaledc.gov.uk/dahl or call 01296 585298.

The second official trailer is out for The BFG, and it looks really exciting! Don’t forget to vote in the poll and tell us when you plan to see it.

More reviews are streaming in too!

• Review: Spielberg’s BFG Honors Roald Dahl’s Spirit, Farts and All  from Time
• ‘THE BFG’: DOES SPIELBERG AND DISNEY’S TALL TALE MEASURE UP?   from Newsweek
• Spielberg Delivers One of the Best Roald Dahl Adaptations With ‘The BFG’ from popmatters
• “The BFG” Isn’t As Gloriously Dark Or As Weird As The Book It’s Based On  from Buzzfeed

The BFG has had its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival, and early reviews are now being published online. I’ve just added three to the movie info page:

• “The BFG review: Spielberg and Rylance’s delicate touch proves hugely charming” from The Guardian
• “The BFG: Cannes Review” from The Hollywood Reporter
• “Cannes 2016: Spielberg creates a landscape of astonishments in The BFG“ from The Telegraph

Interestingly, it appears that one of the reporters questioned Steven Spielberg about Dahl’s alleged anti-Semitism. Spielberg claimed that he’d never heard of this when he took on the project, and that he focused simply on the story.

Two Charlie-related links that I found today that amused me:

• “What Children’s Literature Teaches Us About Money: Roald Dahl’s ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’” – a blog post on The Billfold that makes the case that the traditional interpretation of the story (selflessness is rewarded and greed is punished) is not necessarily accurate!
• “The Sequel To Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory That Charlie’s Mother Deserves” – a piece by the brilliant Mallory Ortberg that points out something that always bothered me about the Bucket grandparents…

A Charlie and the Chocolate Factory LEGO set has been proposed and needs your support to be made! Read more here.

Something big is coming. Click to see the first trailer for the upcoming BFG Film.

Check out A Trip to the Chocolate Factory: A Hotel Chocolat Masterclass blog post from Official Theatre!

The BBC published a list of the 11 Greatest Children’s Books of all time. Dozens of critics were polled for the list, and five different Dahl books were nominated (the most by any author!). Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was the highest rated at #8.”

Limited edition prints are available from artist Jill Bennett of some of her illustrations from Danny the Champion of the World and Fantastic Mr. Fox