# My Favorite Roald Dahl story **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 9, 2002, 8:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-favorite-roald-dahl-story/102639 "2002-04-09T08:09:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![SmackFu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@SmackFu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmackFu)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2002, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-favorite-roald-dahl-story/102639/21 "2002-04-10T14:16:22Z")
I’m with **gallows fodder**. “Henry Sugar” and “The Fingersmith” are two of my favorites. I also really like the prep school biography one, _Boy: Tales of Childhood_. ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2002, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-favorite-roald-dahl-story/102639/22 "2002-04-10T14:45:51Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Dijon Warlock \* > \*\* > Anyone for “Pig”? Now, _there’s_ a bit of random evil. \*\* Ugh. I blocked that one out of my memory. I think it’s funny how Roald Dahl’s childrens’ books are considered so wholesome. As soon as you read some of his adult stuff, you realize what a twisted guy he was, and then you see just how messed up his kids’ books really are. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory? :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2002, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-favorite-roald-dahl-story/102639/23 "2002-04-10T14:49:44Z")
I picked up a copy of _The Collected Short Stories of Roald Dahl_ while trekking in Nepal but didn’t read much of it. I then went to Koh Samui (an island off Thailand), go sick with pneumonia, and spent 2 1/2 days alone in a rural Thai hospital bed reading the book. They made quite an impression on me as the lizards ran around my bed. ---
**Author:** ![Judith\_Prietht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b19c9b/32.png) [@Judith\_Prietht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Judith_Prietht)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2002, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-favorite-roald-dahl-story/102639/24 "2002-04-10T15:24:53Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by longjohn \* > \*\*When i first read it, i thought the tale within a tale within a tale in “Henry Sugar” was awesome. \*\* I even tried to train myself to see through things, with the candle and whatnot. I also love The Boy Who Talked to Animals, in Henry Sugar, and Piece of Cake, about the RAF. The best thing about Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator are . . . drum roll . . . **the Vermicious Knids** ---
**Author:** ![SmackFu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@SmackFu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmackFu)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2002, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-favorite-roald-dahl-story/102639/25 "2002-04-10T17:25:30Z")
I still do that thing with the concentrating on the black part of the candle flame. Never works though. ---
**Author:** ![ianzin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ed655f/32.png) [@ianzin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ianzin)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2002, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-favorite-roald-dahl-story/102639/26 "2002-04-10T17:56:23Z")
Lotsa great stories, but I think “Man From The South” is his finest. Anyone who wants to know how to write short stories should start there, I feel. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2002, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-favorite-roald-dahl-story/102639/27 "2002-04-10T21:44:28Z")
I’m a big fan of the classic _Lamb to the Slaughter_, but I have a certain fondness for _A Parson’s Tale_, about the antique dealer who would pose as a minister and scam the countryfolk out of valuable antiques - only to have a priceless Chippendale armoire smashed to bits as a “favor” to help out a poor innocent minister. One of the few Dahl stories that deals out a fair dose of justice. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Scrivener](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@The\_Scrivener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Scrivener)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2002, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-favorite-roald-dahl-story/102639/28 "2002-04-10T23:16:52Z")
Another vote for “Danny, Champion of the World,” although I was always a bit doubtful about that “toad-in-the-hole” dish. First runner-up: “James and the Giant Peach”. Great illustrations, too! I liked “Charlie and the Glass Elevator” even more than “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”. Those Knids… they really have a way of getting under your skin! He also did some teleplays and screenplays, often adapting his own work – i.e., “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”. He wrote for the “30 Minute Theatre” [U.K. TV] – a show titled “Taste”. Can any U.K. dopers fill us in on this savory [or, “savoury”] lead? James Bond fans can debate the merits of his screenplay for “You Only Live Twice”. Did Dahl ever write anything _bad_? Not to my knowledge. One more question to you all: has anyone read Patricia Neal’s autobio [whazzit called “Me” or somesuch?]? Any interesting insights or tidbits about Dahl from her (they were married for quite a while… 20 or 30 years, although it didn’t end “happily ever after”)? ---
**Author:** ![Eutychus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Eutychus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eutychus)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2002, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-favorite-roald-dahl-story/102639/29 "2002-04-10T23:32:13Z")
Nobody yet has mentioned “The Great Automatic Grammistator” about a computer programmed to write fiction. I can still remember the closing line : “God grant us the strength to let our children starve.” ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2002, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-favorite-roald-dahl-story/102639/30 "2002-04-11T00:39:03Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by The Scrivener \* > \*\*One more question to you all: has anyone read Patricia Neal’s autobio [whazzit called “Me” or somesuch?]? Any interesting insights or tidbits about Dahl from her (they were married for quite a while… 20 or 30 years, although it didn’t end “happily ever after”)? \*\* I only read Neal’s letter to the editor to the _National Lampoon_ implying that Dahl bought a frozen leg of lamb just before she suffered her “stroke.” Sick humor at its finest. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![The\_Scrivener](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@The\_Scrivener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Scrivener)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2002, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-favorite-roald-dahl-story/102639/31 "2002-04-11T01:19:10Z")
I just realized… Dahl’s marriage to P. Neal made for a two-degree separation from Ayn Rand (through “The Fountainhead”). Hard to imagine two more disparate writers. What was “Pig” about? Sounds like it might’ve been similar to Patricia Highsmith’s acid takes on animal behavior (she wrote a collection of stories in which the animal kingdom beats mankind at our own murderous games). Did the pig exact revenge upon a farmer, by any chance? ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2002, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-favorite-roald-dahl-story/102639/32 "2002-04-11T02:00:23Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by The Scrivener \* > **Another vote for “Danny, Champion of the World,” although I was always a bit doubtful about that “toad-in-the-hole” dish.** Yeah, but aren’t you dying to get your hands on a Cox’s Orange Pippin? p.s. PLEASE DO NOT POST SPOILERS FOR _PIG_ ! (Some things are really worth reading!) A hominy cutlet with a side of lovage, anyone? ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2002, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-favorite-roald-dahl-story/102639/33 "2002-04-11T02:03:54Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by The Scrivener \* > \*\*it might’ve been similar to Patricia Highsmith’s acid takes on animal behavior (she wrote a collection of stories in which the animal kingdom beats mankind at our own murderous games). \*\* _The Animal Lovers’ Book of Beastly Murder_ (1975), first U.S. edition, 1987. ---
**Author:** ![ninevah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/46a35a/32.png) [@ninevah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ninevah)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2002, 10:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-favorite-roald-dahl-story/102639/34 "2002-04-11T10:04:22Z")
I loved his _Revolting Rhymes_, especially his version of Cinderella. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2002, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-favorite-roald-dahl-story/102639/35 "2002-04-11T16:01:01Z")
At the moment. Sadly, that collection is all I’ve read of his adult material. ``` The Way Up To Heaven-A tale of insanity, sadism, and revenge all delivered neatly, politely and very quietly ``` Cant Remember Title-Student on holiday. Woman who stuffed her dead dog. I love all the stories in Kiss Kiss, but that style is my favorite. It’s like coming home after visiting Dahl for tea and discovering that he skinned a victim alive on the kitchen table when he went to get the cream and sugar. Semi-Hijack-Shel Silverstein wrote such children’s classics as The Light In The Attic, Where The Sidewalk Ends, and The Giving Tree. He was over 6 feet tall. He shaved his head and grew a large beard. He often wore leather boots, leather pants and a leather jacket. The contrast between those two sides of his personality reminds me a lot of Dahl. ---
**Author:** ![OxyMoron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e9a140/32.png) [@OxyMoron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OxyMoron)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2002, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-favorite-roald-dahl-story/102639/36 "2002-04-11T17:34:47Z")
A small hijack, since we’re on the subject of Dahl: I remember a novel (I think it was a novel, or it might have been a collection of stories), set in 1912, based on the following two premises: An incredible, new, supremely powerful aphrodisiac, and new technology for freezing sperm - in this case, _human_ sperm. It’s a classic get-rich-quick scheme - man and woman team up to create a sort of celebrity sperm bank. She seduces the celebrities, collects their sperm in a specially designed condom, then delivers it to the man, who divides it into doses and freezes it. By setting the novel in 1912, Dahl was able to provide supporting roles for an astonishing number of European crowned heads and such contemporary luminaries as Proust and Monet. Am I imagining this was Dahl? ---
**Author:** ![OxyMoron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e9a140/32.png) [@OxyMoron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OxyMoron)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2002, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-favorite-roald-dahl-story/102639/37 "2002-04-11T18:09:34Z")
And of course it dawned on me to run a google search on “Roald dahl sperm,” and it came up…_ **UNCLE OSWALD?** _ :mad: :rolleyes: :mad: :rolleyes: . _That’s_ the freaking title? It’s been almost 20 years since I read it so forgive me. But I kept trying to find the story in “Switch Bitch” or “Kiss Kiss,” both of which titles sound more likely to be relevant, and never even _considered_ that something called “Uncle Oswald” could be what I was looking for. God I feel dumb. :wally ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2002, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-favorite-roald-dahl-story/102639/38 "2002-04-11T18:21:52Z")
How many of the stories in Kiss,Kiss are what the title would seem to indicate? William and Mary Pig Parson’s Pleasure The Way Up To Heaven Only The Colonel’s Coat (or was it Colonel Bixby’s Coat?) and Royal Jelly have names that are obviously connected to the stories. ``` Your only mistake in searching was not thinking like a demented ex-fighter-pilot. ``` ---
**Author:** ![booklover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/85f322/32.png) [@booklover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/booklover)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2002, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-favorite-roald-dahl-story/102639/39 "2002-04-11T21:09:56Z")
Wow, I have to check out “Kiss Kiss”. My favorites are “Galloping Foxley”, “Parson’s Pleasure” and “Umbrella Man”. Also, the one about the man who guesses the vintage of wines? Don’t remember the title (dinner party host bets “anything” that he’ll never be able to guess a certain wine—pledges his daughter’s hand in marriage). ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2002, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-favorite-roald-dahl-story/102639/40 "2002-04-12T01:20:31Z")
That would be “Taste,” an excellent little tale, and the chosen favorite of our beloved **Winkelried** (see above). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-favorite-roald-dahl-story/102639.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-favorite-roald-dahl-story/102639.md?page=3)