Roald Dahl

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Antisemitism Apology Greets Visitors to Author's Museum

Statement calls Roald Dahl's racism undeniable

(Newser) - A museum that celebrates the writings of Roald Dahl is making clear that it doesn't celebrate everything the British author said and did. The Roald Dahl Museum and Story Center near London has installed a sign apologizing to visitors for Dahl's antisemitic statements, the Bucks Free Press reports....

Roald Dahl's Publisher Is Releasing Unaltered 'Classic' Versions

Move follows uproar over changes

(Newser) - The controversy over edits to Roald Dahl's children's books has been resolved in a way that would probably have amused the wry author himself: Publisher Puffin says it will sell two versions of the books and the 16-book Roald Dahl Classic Collection, with the original text, will "...

Roald Dahl's Books Stripped of Words Like Fat, Ugly

Inclusivity is the aim, though Salman Rushdie decries 'absurd censorship'

(Newser) - Adults who revisit Roald Dahl's fictional worlds will now find them a tad bit changed from decades past. With its new editions, publisher Puffin, a division of Penguin Random House, has rewritten some of Dahl's children's books to remove what it sees as offensive language, reports the...

Netflix Signs Biggest Content Deal Yet

Streaming service buys Roald Dahl's entire catalog, plans 'unique universe'

(Newser) - Netflix has acquired the rights to the estate of Roald Dahl, the late British novelist who brought us some of the most beloved children's books of all time, with plans to create a "unique universe" of offerings based on those works. The company has purchased the Roald Dahl...

3 Decades Later, Roald Dahl's Family Addresses His Anti-Semitism

Calls it 'incomprehensible' to them

(Newser) - Roald Dahl may have produced some of the most beloved children's books of all time, but the author also issued a number of anti-Semitic comments. Now, his family is issuing what NPR calls a belated apology. "The Dahl family and the Roald Dahl Story Company deeply apologize for...

Hathaway Apologizes for 'Pain' Her Character Is Causing

People with limb differences are pushing back on how characters are depicted in 'The Witches'

(Newser) - Anne Hathaway newest movie, The Witches, based on Roald Dahl's dark fantasy novel from the '80s, came out on HBO Max last month. But it hasn't been receiving the reaction Hathaway and Warner Bros. had hoped for. The main problem: Hathaway's character and the other "...

Willy Wonka Star Dies at 62
Willy Wonka Star Dies at 62
OBITUARY
Jul 11, 2019 9:45 AM CDT

Willy Wonka Star Dies at 62

Denise Nickerson, who played spoiled Violet Beauregarde in 1971 film, had had pneumonia

(Newser) - "She's gone." That was the short Facebook post by Denise Nickerson's family early Thursday, announcing the death of the actress most people remember as the gum-chewing Violet Beauregarde in 1971's Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory. The BBC and the Wrap report Nickerson was 62....

'Charlie' of Chocolate Factory Was Supposed to Be Black

Roald Dahl gave in to 'the American sensibility' when he made hero white

(Newser) - The young hero of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was originally black, but author Roald Dahl changed his race to white, NPR reports. "His first Charlie that he wrote about ... was a little black boy," Dahl's widow, Felicity Dahl, tells the BBC's Radio 4 . Dahl's...

The BFG Is Spielberg's Biggest Flop Since 1979

At least that's how it's shaping up for the famous director

(Newser) - With a $140 million budget and an opening weekend take of only $24 million, The BFG is poised to be Steven Spielberg's biggest flop in 37 years, Rolling Stone reports. That's left people wondering if the man who essentially invented the summer blockbuster with Jaws has lost his...

Inside Roald Dahl's Own Measles Tragedy
 Inside 
 Roald Dahl's 
 Own Measles 
 Tragedy 
in case you missed it
Feb 7, 2015 4:24 PM CST

Inside Roald Dahl's Own Measles Tragedy

In late '80s, author shared the story of daughter Olivia

(Newser) - In recent weeks, hardly a day has passed without a big measles-related headline, but one of the most-talked-about stories to surface actually dates to 1988—and, before that, 1962. In that earlier year, famed children's book author Roald Dahl lost his 7-year-old daughter to measles encephalitis, which the Washington ...

Read a Lost Chapter of Dahl's Willy Wonka Book

'Guardian' publishes unused early draft about the famous chocolate factory

(Newser) - An unused chapter of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory has been released, 50 years after Roald Dahl's much-loved children's novel was first published. (The book may be better known by the title of its movie version, Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory.) The best part: You can...

2 Oompa-Loompas Attacked Man: Police

Yes, seriously

(Newser) - Bizarre but true: UK police are looking for two men who allegedly assaulted a 28-year-old man—while both were dressed as Oompa-Loompas. The Telegraph reports that they had dyed green hair and orange painted faces, and were joined by a woman in a dress and a man in normal clothes....

Remembering Roald Dahl, 'Benevolent Sadist'

Beloved author was both 'nasty' and 'charming'

(Newser) - As the 20th anniversary of Roald Dahl's death approaches, Sam Anderson takes a look at the complicated, yet beloved, children's author. Dahl's fiction is "simultaneously thrilling and absurd and puzzling and oddly disturbing"—much like the author himself, Anderson writes in New York , noting that as one reads...

Patricia Neal's Tragic Life Ends at 84

Beloved actress overcame crippling strokes, tragic losses

(Newser) - Patricia Neal, the Academy Award-winning actress who persevered through a life of numerous personal tragedies, died yesterday at the age of 84. Neal arrived on Broadway as a young talent in the 1940s, only to languish in a series of lackluster films and a doomed affair with actor Gary Cooper....

Look Out, Pixar: Mr. Fox Is Fantastic
 Look Out, Pixar: 
 Mr. Fox Is Fantastic 
MOVIE REVIEW
Nov 13, 2009 12:27 PM CST

Look Out, Pixar: Mr. Fox Is Fantastic

Is it a film for kids? Who cares! gush critics

(Newser) - Wes Anderson is winning raves for his stop-motion take on Roald Dahl's classic Fantastic Mr. Fox, with voices by a raft of stars including Meryl Streep and George Clooney:
  • It's so good, David Edelstein forgot himself. When the flick ended, he writes in New York , he wished "the whole
...

Winning Blago Book Name: Rod and the Giant Impeach

(Newser) - The people of Illinois have voted in a Chicago Tribune contest to name Rod Blagojevich’s upcoming memoir, and the winner is: Rod and the Giant Impeach. “I thought of the impeachment of the governor, and about my childhood,” the winner said of his inspiration, which scored him...

Widow Opens Up About 'Ratty' Dahl

On eve of Roald Dahl Funny Prize, Felicity Dahl grants an exclusive interview

(Newser) - Tears reach Felicity Dahl's eyes as she walks to the work hut of her famous ex-husband, Roald. She's not alone, either: Director Tim Burton burst out crying when he saw it. "People have strong reactions to this house," said the widow of the acerbic scribe who...

Teams Fail to Build Elevator to Heaven

Contestants still struggling to realize Willy Wonka fantasy

(Newser) - The race was on and the wind was up, which was something of a problem because contestants in the second annual Space Elevator Games in Utah yesterday were vying to send a vehicle 400 feet up a vertical cable attached to a crane. The prize of $500,000 in NASA...

18 Stories