The wonderful whacky world of Roald Dahl

By Luke Chapman | Activities, Author, Family, Recommended Reads, Teachers

Its Roald Dahl day so we thought we’d introduce you into the crazy world of the man himself

Crodscollop, fizzlecump and wimplesquiffer... Any idea? Me neither! Roald Dahl was known for countless things and his inventive use of made-up words was definitely one of them.

The iconic writer created 21 children's books in total and lives on today as one of the greatest children's authors of all time. From Charlie and the Chocolate Factory to James and the Giant Peach, Dahl's creative genius left us with many of the books we cherish most today.

Fun Facts

• Did you know Roald Dahl was a fighter pilot during the Second World War?
• Roald wouldn't go to the cinema as he was too tall for the seats! He found them too uncomfortable
• Roald wrote only with pencil on yellow paper
• He had TWO metal hips and six operations on his spine!

Books

I'm not even sure where to start with this! Writing 21 children's books in total, Roald really did leave a mark on the world with books such as The Twits, Matilda, The BFG, Fantastic Mr Fox and so many more. Our recommended reads would be all 21, so we thought we'd just highlight each of the our favourites:

• Luke- James and the Giant Peach
• Reta- Matilda
• Morgan- The Witches
• Lynsey- Esio Trot

Made-up Words

• Rommytot- You're talking rommytot! This just means you're talking nonsense
• Phizz-whizzing- Meaning wonderful, or splendid
• Trogglehumper- This is the worst kind of dream you could ever have, any word beginning with 'trog' from Roald are negative
• Zozimus- Zozimus is what dreams are made of

Characters

The wonderful world of Roald Dahl didn't just end with his made-up words, his characters were all phizz-whizzing creations we've learned to love. Some of the famous characters Roald created include:

• The BFG- Everybody's favourite giant! The big friendly giant is a name everyone recognises and influenced so much of the modern pop culture we see today
• Oompa Loompas- Who doesn't love these little round orange balls of fun and song. Making the Chocolate Factory come to life, the Oompa Loompa's are surely a favourite part of Charlie's adventures
• Matilda- Showing us all our strength at any age, a staple in literature and an inspiration to all
• Alfie- The mysterious "shape-shifting" tortoise in Esio Trot who helps two lovers get married

That's not all we have for you, download our free Roald Dahl pack here for sheets full of more information about Roald, a quiz, fact sheet, Wordsearch and a writing workshop. Happy Roald Dahl Day!