Category: Media

Songs and Verse

Sections: Information | Description | Covers

Information

Information on identifying editions is from Richard Walker’s “Roald Dahl – A Guide to Collecting His First Editions”.

  • First editions:
    • Jonathan Cape, 2005, UK.
      • To identify: Used a number line and was published with a dust jacket priced at £14.99.
  • Published in USA as: Vile Verses

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Description

Think of your favourite Roald Dahl moment and surely a song or verse cannot be far away… SONGS AND VERSE has seven sections bursting with rhymes about monsters, magical creatures, gruesome children, ghastly adults as well as a few unusual surprises. From the strange and scrumptious dishes enjoyed by James’s Centipede to George and his marvellous medicine, and from greedy Augustus Gloop to the Giraffe and the Pelly and Me there are many classics here together with some previously unpublished treats. With a foreword and opening illustrations by Quentin Blake, and illustrations throughout from other award-winning artists such as Babette Cole, Lauren Child, Chris Riddell, Alel Scheffler and Tony Ross, you will find a touch of magic on every page.

Covers

Roald Dahl’s Whizzpopping Joke Book

Sections: Information | Description | Covers

Information

Description

Roald Dahl’s Whizzpopping Joke Book is a collection of hundreds of great jokes would make even the Trunchbull laugh! Inspired by Roald Dahl’s wonderful world, these gigglesome gags are guaranteed to raise a chuckle from human beans young and old.

Covers

 

Roald Dahl’s Glorious Galumptious Story Collection

Sections: Information | Fun Stuff | Covers

Information

  • First editions: Puffin, 2009
  • Illustrated by: Quentin Blake

Fun Stuff

Covers

Roald Dahl’s Fantabulous Facts

Sections: Information | Description | Covers

Information

  • First edition:
    • Puffin Books, 2012, UK
  • Illustrated by: Quentin Blake
  • Published for World Book Day 2012

Description

It’s a trip through a year; with letters and observations by Roald Dahl himself about everything under the sun – from what he got up to as a boy and the best time of the year for conkers, to why he hated Christmas. Jam-packed with weird and wonderful facts (find out what the most expensive food in the world is, and how to cook savoury crocodile), plus jokes, quizzes and top tips, here is the stuff that every Roald Dahl fan should know.

Covers

Roald Dahl’s Incredible Chocolate Box

Sections: Information | Description | Covers

Information

  • First edition:
    • Puffin Books, 2005, UK
  • Illustrated by: Quentin Blake
  • Published for World Book Day 2005

Description

Includes a top-secret missing chapter from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory in mirror writing.

Covers

Roald Dahl’s Heroes and Villains

Sections: Information | Fun Stuff | Covers

Information

  • First editions:
    • Jonathan Cape Ltd., 2013
  • Illustrated by: Quentin Blake

Fun Stuff

Covers

Fantastic Mr. Fox

Sections: Information | Description | Cast/Crew | Reviews | Fun Stuff | Posters

Information

  • Opera composed by Tobias Picker
  • Productions:
    • Los Angeles Opera, December 9, 1998 (World premiere)
    • DiCapo Opera, New York, 2009
    • Opera Holland Park, 2010 (World premiere of reduced version)
    • English Touring Opera, 2011 (European premiere)
    • Microscopic Opera Company, September 2011
    • Opera San Antonio, 2014
    • Boston Modern Orchestra Project, 2014

For more information, see Music Link International.

Description

Fantastic Mr. Fox is an opera in three acts composed by Tobias Picker to a libretto by Donald Sturrock based on Roald Dahl’s children’s novel of the same name. It was premiered by Los Angeles Opera at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion on December 9, 1998.

A modern fable, Fantastic Mr. Fox is a story about good vs. evil, animal vs. human, and nature vs. technology. With the help of the other creatures of the forest, Mr. Fox must outwit his enemies to keep his family safe. Mr. Fox finds that he may have stolen one hen too many from the henhouse, as the meanest farmers anywhere — Boggis, Bunce, and Bean (one fat, one short, one lean) — conspire to rid their lands of the Fox family once and for all. The Foxes are able to evade capture with the help of some woodland friends, leaving the farmers laying in wait while the animals help themselves to the fruit of the farmers’ lands. Having had their revenge, the animals return for a sumptuous feast far from danger in the Foxes‘ new home, while the farmers continue to wait in the rain. The opera is available in a singable German version as well.

Cast/Crew

  • Cast:
    • Mrs. Fox: Suzanna Guzmán
    • Bennie Foxcub: Jason Housman
    • Lennie Foxcub: Theo Lebow
    • Jennie Foxcub: Lauren Libaw
    • Pennie Foxcub: Amy Recinos
    • Farmer Boggis: Louis Lebherz
    • Farmer Bunce: Doug Jones
    • Farmer Bean: Jamie Offenbach
    • Fantastic Mr. Fox: Gerald Finley
    • Agnes the Digger: Jill Grove
    • Mavis the Tractor: Lesley Leighton
    • Miss Hedgehog: Sari Gruber
    • Badger the Miner: Malcolm MacKenzie
    • Burrowing Mole: Jorge Garza
    • Rita the Rat: Josepha Gayer
    • Porcupine: Charles Castronovo
  • Crew:
    • Conductor: Peter Ash
    • Director: Donald Sturrock
    • Costume designer: Gerald Scarfe
    • Stage designer: Gerald Scarfe

Reviews

Fun Stuff

  • Watch online:

Posters

Roald Dahl: In His Own Words

Sections: Information | Description | Fun Stuff | CD Cover

Information

  • Documentary that aired on BBC Radio 4’s Archive on 4
  • Originally aired on July 2, 2016
  • Presented by Sophie Dahl
  • Producer: Dixi Stewart

Description

With the help of his granddaughter Sophie, Roald Dahl tells his own remarkable story in the style of one of his much-loved books. Illustrated with newly discovered archive recordings and songs and music exclusively recorded by the cast and musicians in the Royal Shakespeare Company’s Matilda The Musical at the Cambridge Theatre in London, this Archive on 4 marks the centenary of the writer dubbed ‘the best storyteller in the world’.

The programme contains excerpts from interviews with Roald Dahl on NRK, Op Reis with Ivo Niehe, Desert Island Discs with Roy Plomley, Parkinson, Wogan, Saturday Matters With Sue Lawley, Pebble Mill at One, Saturday Superstore, Whicker’s World, Start The Week, Bookmark, The World of Books, Meridian, The Friday Serial, The Many Lives of Roald Dahl, A Dose of Dahl’s Magic Medicine, Treasure Islands, PM & BBC News.

Fun Stuff

  • Clips from the episode:

CD Cover

Roald Dahl’s Language

Sections: Information | Description | Fun Stuff

Information

  • Documentary that aired on BBC Radio 4 program Word of Mouth
  • Originally aired on May 3, 2016
  • Presented by Michael Rosen
  • Producer: Beth O’Dea

Description

Michael Rosen on a new Roald Dahl dictionary collecting the amazing words he invented – like squackling, and wondercrump! With Dr Laura Wright and dictionary editor Dr Susan Rennie.

Fun Stuff

Roald Dahl: A Gremlin in the Works

Sections: Information | Description | Fun Stuff

Information

  • Documentary that aired on BBC Radio 4 program Seriously…
  • Originally aired on July 7, 2016
  • Presented by Gerald Scarfe
  • Also featuring Donald Sturrock
  • Wise Buddah production

Description

The cartoonist and illustrator Gerald Scarfe tells the story of one of the greatest movies never made.

Walt Disney sent a telegram to Roald Dahl saying he wanted to make a film based on Dahl’s 1942 book The Gremlins – $50,000 was invested, more than a year of pre-production time was spent but, in the end, the story of little creatures who sabotaged wartime planes never made it into our cinemas.

Gerald Scarfe, who has provided illustrations for both Dahl’s and Disney’s works, paints a picture of how an RAF myth nearly became a Disney classic alongside The Jungle Book or Mary Poppins. He reveals the factors that eventually became the project’s own ‘gremlins in the works’.

The programme features Dahl’s official biographer Donald Sturrock, who also directed Fantastic Mr Fox for TV, and Gerald was also given exclusive access to some of Roald Dahl’s original papers.

Fun Stuff

  • Instagram posts from the production company: