Welcome to History's Not Boring by kidopoly.com. I'm Mira! And I'm Finn! Before we jump into time travel today, we have some very special shout-outs. First, a huge hello to Shane, who is seven years old and lives in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
SPEAKER_00Shane loves drawing comics, writing books, and playing soccer. And he actually asked us for today's specific episode.
SPEAKER_01That's right! This one is entirely for you, Shane. Keep writing those books. We also want to say a gigantic hello to Pranick, who is three, and Priyanna, who is seven, in Kirkland, Washington.
SPEAKER_00They are our absolute biggest fans and listen every single night at dinner. This episode is for both of you.
SPEAKER_01Alright, Finn. What if I told you that one of the most famous children's book authors in the entire world wasn't just a writer sitting at a desk?
SPEAKER_00Wait, what else was he?
SPEAKER_01A pirate? An astronaut? Close. He was a real-life secret spy, and a daring fighter pilot who survived a fiery plane crash in the middle of the African desert.
SPEAKER_00No way! An author was a secret agent and flew warplanes. Who are we talking about?
SPEAKER_01We are talking about the man who invented Willy Wonker, the BFG, and Matilda, the one and only incredible Roald Dahl.
SPEAKER_00The guy who wrote Charlie in the Chocolate Factory was a secret agent. You have to tell me everything immediately.
SPEAKER_01Our story starts on September 13, 1916, in a town called Flanduff in Wales. But Roald's parents, Harold and Sophie, were actually from Norway.
SPEAKER_00So did he speak English or Norwegian?
SPEAKER_01He grew up speaking Norwegian at home, but when Rold was just three years old in 1920, terrible sadness struck his family.
SPEAKER_00What happened?
SPEAKER_01His seven-year-old sister Astri got very sick with appendicitis and sadly passed away. And just weeks later, his father Harold died of pneumonia.
SPEAKER_00Oh man, that is so tough. He was only three.
SPEAKER_01Yes. His mum was suddenly left all alone to raise six children in a foreign country. But she was incredibly strong and made sure Rold got a good education, sending him to strict English boarding schools. Were boarding schools fun back then? Not at all. He was far from home, and the headmasters were notoriously mean. But there was one amazing thing that happened at a school called Repton in Derbyshire.
SPEAKER_00Ooh, did they have secret underground tunnels or a moat?
SPEAKER_01Even better! The famous Cadbury Chocolate Company would sometimes send big grey cardboard boxes full of brand new unreleased chocolate bars to the school.
SPEAKER_00Are you serious? The kids got to be professional secret chocolate testers.
SPEAKER_01Exactly! The boys had to taste 12 different chocolate bars wrapped in foil and give them marks from 1 to 10. Rold used to imagine a secret chocolate inventing room with grown men in white coats mixing bubbling vats of caramel.
SPEAKER_00That has to be where he got the idea for Willy Wonka.
SPEAKER_01You're completely right. That tiny seed of an idea stayed tucked away in his brain for over 30 years before he wrote the book. Fast forward to 1939. Rold was 23 years old and working in Africa for an oil company when World War II broke out. He decided to join the Royal Air Force.
SPEAKER_00Did he get to fly those super fast fighter planes?
SPEAKER_01He did. After training, he flew a plane called a Gloucester Gladiator. It was an enclosed cockpit biplane that could fly at 250 miles per hour. But on September 19, 1940, things went horribly wrong. What happened? Was he in a dogfight? Actually, it was a terrible accident. He was given the completely wrong coordinates for his landing strip. He was flying alone over the scorching western desert in Egypt, and it was getting dark.
SPEAKER_00Oh no. Did he have enough fuel to get back?
SPEAKER_01No. The engine started sputtering. He was completely out of gas over a giant rocky desert, and he had to emergency crash-land in the dark. That's terrifying. Did the plane flip? It hit a boulder at 90 miles per hour and burst into flames. Rold's skull was fractured, his nose was smashed in, and he was temporarily blinded. How did he get out if he couldn't see anything? With pure willpower. Even though he couldn't see, he managed to unbuckle his harness and drag himself out of the burning wreckage just seconds before the fuel tank exploded.
SPEAKER_00Phew! That is literally like an action movie. How long was he blind?
SPEAKER_01For several long, scary days. He was taken to a hospital in Egypt, and it took six whole months to recover. But amazingly, he got better and went right back to flying. This time, in an even faster plane called a Hawker Hurricane. By 1942, Rold started getting terrible headaches and blackouts from his crash injuries. So the doctors told him he couldn't fly anymore.
SPEAKER_00Aw, so his adventure was over?
SPEAKER_01Not even close! The British government sent him across the ocean to Washington, DC, in America. His new job? Working as a spy.
SPEAKER_00A real spy? Did he wear tuxedos and have secret laser watches?
SPEAKER_01No lasers. But he did pass secret information to the British government. Oh, and get this! He was six foot six inches tall, a giant of a man, and he worked in a spy network with another famous agent named Ian Fleming.
SPEAKER_00Why is Ian Fleming famous?
SPEAKER_01Because Ian Fleming is the author who later invented James Bond. The creator of Willy Wonker and the creator of James Bond were real spies together.
SPEAKER_00That is the coolest fact I've ever heard in my entire life.
SPEAKER_01Right? While in America, a famous writer asked Roald to jot down some notes about his airplane crash. Rold wrote the story so perfectly, the magazine published it exactly as it was and paid him $1,000.
SPEAKER_00So he just became a children's writer after that?
SPEAKER_01Nope. He wrote scary and twisty short stories for adults for 15 years. It wasn't until he had kids of his own that he started making up bedtime stories. In 1961, one of those bedtime stories became his first big kids' book.
SPEAKER_00Was it about the chocolate factory?
SPEAKER_01Not yet. It was about a boy named James, some giant magical bugs, and a massive piece of fruit. The book was called James and the Giant Peach. Rold had a very specific way of writing. He worked in a tiny brick hut in his garden in England. He sat in an old ripped armchair, tucked his legs into a sleeping bag to stay warm, and rested a green felt board on his lap.
SPEAKER_00A sleeping bag?
SPEAKER_01That's such a cosy way to work. Very cozy. In that little hut, he finally wrote Charlie and the Chocolate Factory in 1964. Then came Matilda, the BFG, The Witches, and Fantastic Mr. Fox. His books are the best. How many did he sell? Over 300 million copies worldwide. They have been translated into 68 different languages. That means kids in Japan, Brazil, and Iceland are all reading about Willy Wonka.
SPEAKER_00300 million books? If you stacked all of those, they would definitely reach out of space.
SPEAKER_01They probably would. And we have to mention his amazing illustrator, Quentin Blake. His scratchy, messy, perfect drawings brought Rold's wild characters to life.
SPEAKER_00Okay, I need some weird facts. What's the strangest thing about him?
SPEAKER_01Well, Rold loved making up his own language. He invented over 500 new words. He called this language gobblefunk.
SPEAKER_00Gobblefunk? Like what kind of words?
SPEAKER_01Words like snozcumber, which is a gross, bumpy vegetable the BFG eats. Or scrum diddlyumptious, which means incredibly delicious.
SPEAKER_00He even invented the word umpa loompa! Scrum diddlyumptious? I'm absolutely going to use that at dinner tonight.
SPEAKER_01You totally should! Also, he only ever wrote with yellow Dixon Ticonderoga pencils. He sharpened exactly six every morning and threw them away when they got too short. Alright, Finn, it's quiz time. Let's see how much you remember about our favourite storyteller.
SPEAKER_00Okay, I'm ready. Bring on the questions.
SPEAKER_01First question. What was the name of the candy company that sent secret chocolate boxes to Rold's school? Next one. What kind of vehicle did Rold crush in the Western desert during World War II? Question 3. Who did Rold work with when he was a spy in America? Here's number four. How many millions of books has Rold Dahl sold worldwide? Last question. What did Rold call the made-up language he used in his books? With words like Snozcumber. Great job, let's see how you did. The first answer is the Cadbury Chocolate Company. For question two, he crashed an aeroplane, specifically a Gloucester Gladiator fighter plane. The answer to question three is he worked with Ian Fleming, the creator of James Bond. For number four, his books have sold over 300 million copies. And the final answer is he called his made-up language Gobblefunk. I still can't believe the guy who wrote about Willy Wonker was a real fighter pilot and a towering six foot six spy.
SPEAKER_00I just want a secret chocolate testing room at my school. That is the real dream. It really is.
SPEAKER_01Hey listeners, if you loved learning about Roll Doll today, please leave us a five-star review.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, just scroll down on your podcast app and tap the five stars. It would be absolutely scrummedly yumptious if you did.
SPEAKER_01Oh, and don't forget to head over to our site, kidopoly.com. We've got tons of fun learning games and amazing activities for you to explore there.
SPEAKER_00And if you want a shout out on the show, like Shane, Pranik, and Priyanna, just send us an email at hello at kidopoly.com. Thanks for listening, everyone.
SPEAKER_01See you next time on History is not boring. Bye.