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We've all been pronouncing 'Roald Dahl' wrong for years and everything is a lie
SO MANY OF US have grown up with the works of author Roald Dahl, which include Matilda, James and the Giant Peach, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
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You’ve probably been going through your whole life saying ‘Row-ald’ or ‘Rolled’ Dahl, haven’t you? And why not. You’ve never known any different.
But you, and all the rest of us, are wrong.
A clip recently emerged of a horror/science fiction TV show Dahl presented in 1961, called Way Out. The author is introduced, quite clearly, as:
Dahl was born in Wales to Norwegian parents in 1916 – ‘Roo-al’ is the correct pronunciation of his Norwegian name, but somewhere along the way someone made a muck of it, and it stuck.
The Mail Online reports that neither his daughter Lucy nor his wife Felicity has ever corrected it in interviews – but that’s probably because the damage was already done.
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Well don’t we feel silly now.
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charlie and the chocolate factory children's author Children's Books horrigust matilda Norway Pronunciation Roald Dahl