Roald Dahl
Page 33
“Dip in the Pool,” 111
Dirty Beasts, 237–39
Disney, Walt, 63–69
Douglas, Kirk, 219
Drabble, Margaret, 265
Drake, Betsy, 168
Dunnock, Mildred, 200
Dyslexia Institute, 273
“Edgar” award, 121
Eggar, Samantha, 148
80 Squadron, 45–46
Einstein, Albert, 89
Eisenstaedt, Alfred, 218
Elm Tree House, 19
Enormous Crocodile, The, 226–27
Epstein, Jacob, 99
Esio Trot, 272
Evening Standard, 219
Fagan, Michael, 238
Fantastic Mr. Fox, 244
Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 260
Farrell, Barry, 250
Fath, Creekmore, 212
Fawcett, Rosemary, 239
Feitel, Mr., 64
Finnis, Valerie, 146
Fisher, Geoffrey, 147
Fleming, Ian, 248
Forester, C. S., 130
Fowler, Virginie, 171
Fox, Colin, 212–13
“Fox, The,” 194–97
Freud, Anna, 207
Furse, Jim, 28
Gallimard (publisher), 191
“Galloping Foxley,” 27
Garner, Grace, 74
Gellhorn, Martha, 248
“Genesis and Catastrophe,” 258
George’s Marvellous Medicine, 266
Gibson, Guy, 71
Gilbert, Lewis, 177
Gill, Brendan, 107
Gipsy House: children’s recollections, 240–41
Giraffe and the Pelly and Me, The, 252–53
Glass, Alice, 77
God Cried, 268
Going Solo, 265
Gollancz, Victor, 29
Goodman, Edmund, 168
Gordon, Archie, 94
Gore-Booth, Paul, 57
Gottlieb, Robert: as editor, 256
Goya, Francisco, 112
Grange Farm, 92
Graves, Charles, 67–68
Graves, Robert, 150
Gray, Dulcie, 267
Great Missenden, 205, 207; see also Gipsy House
Great Ormond Street Hospital, 267
“Great Switcheroo, The,” 165
Green, Candida Lycett, 239
Green, Henry, 121
Greene, Graham, 259
Greenwood, Gillian, 256
gremlins, 91
Gremlins, The (book), 266
Gremlins, The (proposed movie), 174
“Gremlins, The,” (story), 69
Griffin, Merv, 179
Griffith, Valerie Eaton, 208
Grimms Hill, 180
Guardian, 272
Gyldendal (publisher), 121
Haigh, Kenneth, 219
Haines, Claudia, see Marsh, Claudia Haines
Halifax, Lord, 75
Hamish Hamilton, publisher, 160
Hammett, Dashiell, 138
Hampshire, Stuart, 30
Hansen, Leslie (brother-in-law), 182
Harper & Row, 194
Harper’s, 112
Hartford, Josephine, 128
Harwood, Johanna, 176
Hayter, William, 57
Heins, Ethel L., 149
Hellman, Lillian, 110
Hemingway, Ernest, 108
“He Plowed Up $1,000,000,” 94
Heppenstall, Rayner, 65
Hesselberg, Ellen Wallace (grandmother), 13
Hesselberg, Karl (grandfather), 13
Hesselberg, Sofie, see Dahl, Sofie Hesselberg (mother)
Highton, Douglas, 273
Hill, Tom, 74
Hitler, Adolf, 257
Hoban, Russell, 226
Hollywood Reporter, The, 187
Honeys, The, 124
Hopkins, John, 176
Horn Book, The, 202
Horrocks, Jimmy, 37
Houston Post, 120
“How I Became a Writer,” 216
Hud, 161
Hughes, Ken, 183–84
Huston, Anjelica, 272
Hyde, H. Montgomery, 212
Icarus, S.A., 247
illustrators, 193; see also Blake, Quentin; Fawcett, Rosemary
Ingersoll, Ralph, 99
Institute of Pacific Relations, 75
Irons, Jeremy, 272
Isocrates, 89
Itzin, Catherine, 243
“I Want to Grow Up,” 251
Jackson, Glenda, 250
James and the Giant Peach, 247
Jameson, Storm, 145
Jaques, Faith, 193
Jewish Chronicle, 258
John, Augustus, 98
Johnson, Lyndon, 61
Johnson, Paul, 257
Jonathan Cape, publisher, 240, 264; see also Maschler, Tom
Jones, “Tap,” 49
Jong, Erica, 244–45
Jurgens, Curt, 148
Kael, Pauline, 184
“Katina,” 146
Kazan, Elia, 125
Keene, Mary, 54
Kelly, James, 223
Kemp, Peter, 269
Kendall, Carol, 273
Kirwan, Angela, 168
Kiss Kiss, 201
Knopf, Alfred, 265
Knopf, Blanche, 160
Knopf (publisher): beginning of association, 232–33; see also Gottlieb, Robert; Knopf, Alfred; Wang, Arthur
Ladies’ Home Journal, 101
“Lamb to the Slaughter,” 105
Landsberg, Michele, 244
“Last Act, The,” 243
Latuchie, Karen, 231
Lawrence, D. H., 120
Lawrence, T. E., 217
Lazar, Irving, 156
Lee, Laurie, 270
Lemay, Harding, 156
Lessing, Gunther, 71
Levick, George Murray, 33
Library Journal, 156
Life magazine, 173
Lillie, Helen, 77
Literary Review, 257
Little Whitefield, 140
Llandaff, Wales, 209
Lobrano, Gustave, 123
Logsdail, John (brother-in-law), 128
Longlea, 60
“Love,” 101
Luce, Clare Boothe, 75
McLean, Evalyn Walsh, 61
McLuhan, Marshall, 202
Macmillan (publisher), 150
Magic Finger, The, 228
Maibaum, Richard, 184
“Man from the South,” 112
Mankowitz, Wolf, 176
Marsh, Alice, 81
Marsh, Antoinette, 59
Marsh, Charles: advises Neal, 6
Marsh, Claudia Haines, 199
Martha’s Vineyard, 219–20
Maschler, Tom, 255
Matilda, 268
Maxim coffee, 208
Mayer, Peter, 276
Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP), 257
Memories with Food at Gipsy House, 254
“Menace, The,” 93
Merv Griffin Show, The, 179
Miles, Ashley, 145–46
Military Hospital for Head Injuries, 84
Minpins, The, 272–73
Moby Dick (movie), 174
Modern Library, 201
Moorehead, Alan, 205
More Tales of the Unexpected, 248
Moss, Elaine, 193
Moyns Park, 128–29
“Mr. Feasey,” 111
Murdoch, Iris, 265
Mussolini, Benito, 40
“My Lady Love, My Dove,” 111
Mystery Writers of America, 121
My Uncle Oswald, 269
Neal, Patricia: autobiography, As I Am, 223–24
Neal, Peter (brother-in-law), 116
Nest in a Falling Tree, 186
Neustatter, Angela, 219
Newby, P. H., 106
Newhouse, Si, 247
Newman, Paul, 148
New Republic, The, 258
Newsweek, 255
New Yorker, The: publishes “T
he Champion of the World,” 199
New York Times, The, 159
New York Times Book Review, The, 244
Night Digger, The, 190
Northwestern University, 103
Norway, 199
“Nunc Dimittis,” 243
Oakwood, 93
Ogilvy, David, 212
O’Neill, Eugene, 103
“Only This,” 69
Orkin, Harvey, 138
Over to You, 248
Page, Anthony, 250
Pantheon Books, 195
“Parson’s Pleasure,” 131
Pat and Roald, 250
Patricia Neal Story, The, 250
Patterson, Cissy, 61
Patterson, Paul, 275
Pattle, Thomas, 46
Pearce, Perce, 66
Pearl, Dennis, 214
Pearson, Drew, 57
Pearson, John, 175
Peel, Major, 47
Pegg, Antony, 36
Pell, Claiborne, 109
Penguin, 260; see also Viking Penguin
“People Nowadays,” 93
Perkins, Max, 264
Phelps, Robert, 132
Pick, Charles, 160
“Picture for Drioli, A,” 93
“Piece of Cake, A,” 43
“Pig,” 239
Playboy, 260
“Poison,” 112
Pollinger, Laurence, 160
Pollinger, Murray, 263–64
“Porcupine, The,” 239
Powell, Enoch, 268
Power, Tyrone, 108
Powling, Chris, 250
“Princess and the Poacher, The,” 260
“Princess Mammalia,” 260
Pritchett, V. S., 248
Public Welfare Foundation, 275
Publishers Weekly, 270
Pudney, John, 71
Queen Elizabeth II, 238
Quennell, Peter, 248
racism, 201–3
Random House, 248
Rankin, Ian, 212
“Ratcatcher, The,” 111
Reagan, Ronald, 103
Reid, Alastair, 189
Repton School, 22–31
Revolting Rhymes, 239
Reynal and Hitchcock (publisher), 85
Ritt, Martin, 163
Roald Dahl (book), 250
Roald Dahl Foundation, 275
Roald Dahl Newsletter, 272
Robinson, Robert, 205
Rodgers, Richard, 104
Rogers, Millicent, 60
Roosevelt, Eleanor, 71
Roosevelt, Franklin D., 76
Rose, Stuart, 92–93
Rothman, Sydney, 96
Roxburgh, Stephen, 249
Royal Air Force, 62
Royal Dutch Shell, 37–38
Rubin, Steven Jay, 177
“Rummins,” 105
Runyon, Damon, 36
Rushdie, Salman, 270
Saltzman, Harry, 175
Saturday Evening Post, The, 92
Saturday Review of Literature, The, 86
Saunders, Wally, 225
Savory, Gerald, 147
Schindelman, Joseph, 152
Scribner’s, 94
Secker & Warburg, 121
Sellers, Peter, 210
Sells, David, 29
Seltzer, David, 190
Selznick, David O., 104
Sendak, Maurice, 152
Sereny, Gitta, 212
Shale, Richard, 67
Shawn, William, 199
Shell Oil Co., 37–38
“Shot Down over Libya,” 70
Sibley, Brian, 266
Simeon, Michael, 193
Sinclair, Archibald, 55
Siodmak, Curt, 123
“Skin,” 111
Slavetin, Susan, 219
Smith, Matthew, 129
“Smoked Cheese,” 228
Society of Authors, 269
“Soldier, The,” 86–87
Someone Like You, 248
“Someone Like You,” 85
Sometime Never, 256
“Sound Machine, The,” 101
Southern Coal and Coke Company, 103
sparkiness, 206
Spectator, The, 257
Stears, John, 176
Stephenson, William, 80
Stewart-Liberty, Elizabeth, 274
St. Peter’s School, 19–22
Straight, Michael, 86
Strategic Intelligence Service, 73
Straus, Roger, 258
Strauss, Harold, 111
Stuart, Mel, 190
Sunday Express, 270
Sunday Times, The, 131
“Surgeon, The,” 260
“Swan, The,” 273
Switch Bitch, 201
“Sword, The,” 111
Tales of the Unexpected, 258
Tanganyika, 41
Tanzania, see Dar es Salaam
“Taste,” 110–11
Taylor, Claud, 126
Taylor, Judy, 161
Terraine, John, 44
“They Shall Not Grow Old,” 72
Third Programme, 93
36 Hours, 174
This Is Your Life, 218–19
Throckmorton family, 225
Till, Kenneth, 148
Tilley, R. Sugden, 64
Time magazine, 124
Times, The, 193
Times Educational Supplement, The, 243
Times Literary Supplement, The, 131
Tolkien, J.R.R., 192
Town and Country, 112
Tremain, Rose, 270
Tucci, Maria, 199–200
“Tummy Beast, The,” 239
Twits, The, 238
Ty Gwyn, 13
Ty Mynydd, 14
Uncle Oswald, 216–17
Unwin, Camilla, 191
Unwin, Rayner, 236
Updike, John, 265
“Valley of the Dahls,” 82, 118; see also Great Missenden
Varga, Judy, 69
Variety, 187
Vicar of Nibbleswicke, The, 272
Vidal, Gore, 268
Viking Penguin, 270
Villa Marie, 13
“Visitor, The,” 201
Volunteer Stroke Scheme, 208
Wade, Stanley, 143–44
Waldrop, Frank, 61
Wallace, Ellen, see Hesselberg, Ellen Wallace
Wallace, Henry, 87
Wallace, Sir William, 13
Wallis, Ken, 177
Walt Disney: The Gremlins, 69
Wang, Arthur, 85
Warburg, Frederick, 145
Washington, D.C., RD in, 80–81
Watkins, Ann, 111
Waugh, Auberon, 269
Wavell, General A. P., 48
Wayne, John, 219
“Way Up to Heaven, The,” 244
Weidenfeld, George, 160
Welch, Denton, 27
Wells, H. G., 88
Whitbread Prize, 267
White, Katharine S., 129
Whitefields, 140
“William and Mary,” 244
Willkie, Wendell, 4
Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, 191; see also Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
“Wish, The,” 111
Wistaria Cottage, Amersham, 87
Witchball, The, 210
Witches, The, 272
Wollheim, Richard, 26
Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar, The, 216
Wonka, Willy, see Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Wright, Michael, 56
Young, Freddie, 177
You Only Live Twice, 174–79
Further Acknowledgments
Apart from those mentioned at the beginning of this book, I am grateful to many individuals who assisted in various ways, not least by answering letters, responding to advertisements, or simply getting in touch with information about Roald Dahl. I can’t mention them all individually. For example, large numbers of Reptonians and former members of 80 Squadron, RAF, replied to circular letters from me, apologi
zing for the fact that they had no memories of Dahl; and I had scores of answers (the first of them, from Francis Wyndham) to a published inquiry about the original publication of Curt Siodmak’s “Donovan’s Brain.”
Others, however, were too helpful to go unnamed.
Kaare Hesselberg kindly corresponded with me about the family of his kinswoman, Sofie Dahl, Roald’s mother.
The Secretary of the Old Reptonian Society, J.F.M. Walker, helped in various ways, particularly by putting me in touch with the following contemporaries of Dahl’s at the school (other than those named on pp. vii–x), who wrote to me or talked to me about their memories: R. R. Acheson, John F. Barclay, J.T.J. Dobie, T. B. Ellis, Jim Furse, I. B. Mackay, J. F. Mendl, A.P.D. Montgomery, B.L.L. Reuss. I must also thank Michael Stones, currently Housemaster of Priory House; J. C. Knapp, Headmaster of The Cathedral School, Llandaff; and Col. W. J. Hotblack, whose grandfather founded St. Peter’s School, Weston-super-Mare.
The following people associated with 80 Squadron, RAF, provided useful information: Alex Angus, Roy Ballantyne, Squadron Leader C. J. Bartle, Gregory F. Graham, Air Marshal Sir Edward Gordon Jones, Wing Commander G.V.W. Kettlewell.
Many others who knew Dahl or came into contact with him gave assistance, other than those mentioned in the Preface. I am especially grateful to: Jane Adams, Martin Amis, Roger Angell, Maarten Asscher, Lynn Barber, Patrick Benson, Solveig Bøhle, Mrs. Butler (of Great Missenden), Michael di Capua, Peter Carson, Emma Chichester Clark, Fabio Coen, Brian Cox, Carl Djerassi, R. T. Fisher, Michael Foreman, Brendan Gill, Charles Gray, Richard Hough, Stephen Koch, William Koshland, Hermione Lee, Mark Lefanu, Helen Lillie, Penelope Lively, Anne Lømo, Koukla MacLehose, Susan Mayes, Arthur Miller, Peggy Miller, Caroline Moorehead, John Mortimer, Anthony Page, Murray Pollinger, Michael Rosen, Salman Rushdie, Caroline Seebohm, Gitta Sereny, Brian Sibley, Elizabeth Stewart-Liberty, Bing Taylor, Judy Taylor, Ann Thwaite, Alice K. Turner, Claudia Warner, David Wolton, and Sebastian Yorke.
For making suggestions or answering inquiries of various kinds, I must also thank the following: Erik Arthur, Margaret Baxter, Graham Binns, Nick Collins, Saul Cooper, Mrs. Ferris (of Llandaff), Colin Greenland, Sir Stuart Hampshire, Hans Georg Heepe, Carolyn Hemmings, Katherine Nouri Hughes, Angela Huth, Marjut Karasmaa, Daniel J. Kevles, Eric Korn, John Lawrence, Blake Morrison, J. R. Prawer, Tony Ross, Ben Sonnenberg, Jean Stein, Dinah Stroe, Vavi Toran, Jessica Warner, Marina Warner, Auberon Waugh, Tony Wilmot.
I had invaluable help from the staff of various libraries and institutional archives, particularly the BBC Written Archives in Reading; the TV Archives of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation; the Glamorgan Archive Service and South Glamorgan County Library, Cardiff; the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center at the University of Texas at Austin; the Margaret Herrick Library of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Los Angeles; the Ministry of Defence RAF Personnel Management Centre; the Osborne Collection of Early Children’s Books, Toronto Public Library; the Police Complaints Authority; the Public Record Office; the publishers’ archives collection in the Reading University Library; the library of the Royal Air Force Museum, Hendon; the archives of Shell Centre, London; the Principal Registry of the Family Division, Somerset House; the Department of Special Collections, University of California, Los Angeles; the Walt Disney Archives, Burbank; the Welsh Industrial and Maritime Museum, Cardiff; and Woodspring Central Library, Weston-super-Mare.