Wednesday, September 13, 2006

Happy 90th, Roald!

If Roald Dahl were alive today, he'd be 90. Any excuse for a party!

Here's what you should do to celebrate, according to the Roald Dahl Day Challenge website:
  1. Wear something yellow – it was Roald's favourite colour!
  2. Wear one or more items of clothing backwards.
  3. Drop "gobblefunk" into your conversations (the unique language created by Roald and most commonly used bythe BFG).
  4. Swap a Roald Dahl book with a friend.
  5. Talk backwards.
  6. Tell a silly joke – Roald loved swapping these with his kids.
  7. Play an "unexpected" prank.
  8. Give someone a treat – Roald was a great believer in treats, whether it was a bar of chocolate or a lovely surprise.
  9. Write your own revolting rhyme.
  10. Make up an Oompa Loompa dance and get all your friends to join in!
If you suceed in carrying out these tasks, you can print out your own certificate at the website! Good luck and let me know how you score.

(Carry a hard copy of this post in your pocket so you have an alibi if anyone wants to cart you off to the funny farm for Oompa Loompaing in the office.)

Now, me. I'm a huge Roald Dahl fan. I love his kids books (too good for children) but even more so his short stories. So clever. So nicely nasty. (If you've never read them, seek out his Tales of the Unexpected.)

Jeremy Treglown pays tribute to the master of the twisty tale in the Guardian.

Meanwhile, our Ted threatens guerilla-like readings of the good stuff in a bookshop near you. And the British Council and Times are celebrating the event in style.

6 comments:

Ted Mahsun said...

Ooh! I must've missed reading about the Roald Dahl challenge!

But luckily enough... I came to work in my shockingly yellow shirt. Hurrah! That's one down... (Oot sdrawkcab ti raew dluohs i ebyam? Er... Esio Trot, Esio Trot, Teg Reggib Reggib?)

Can't gobblefunk yet though... it's been years...

bibliobibuli said...

sey, uoy dluohs raew ti sdrawkcab, deT

Anonymous said...

All I can say is - good to know he's virgoan. I have his tales of the unexpected but not his children's books (will snitch a read from my son's pile). Zarina

Unknown said...

eht ylno yaw i yfilauq si htiw ym wolley raewrednu ! knnht dog rof taht!!

Allan Koay 郭少樺 said...

gobble de gook

sharanya said...

I evol lhaD! yM evaf sa a dik saw... (eeheeheet)
oisE torT!