The weekend followed the publication of Dahl’s now-classic Revolting Rhymes, and Joule recalled that he and Bacon were presented with copies.

Recalling the 1982 weekend, Joule said that both Dahl and Bacon were “pleasantly oiled with drink and in a good mood”, and that talk of “red-line postmortem changes to any artist’s work” sparked loud and passionate debate. Responding to the criticism, the publishers announced on Friday that they will publish both the original texts and reworked editions. At a Clarence House reception for her online book club, she told authors: “Please remain true to your calling, unimpeded by those who may wish to curb the freedom of your expression or impose limits on your imagination.” On Thursday, Camilla, the queen consort, appeared to weigh in on the debate. Salman Rushdie, the Booker prize-winning novelist, is among many who have condemned such censorship as “absurd”, while Puffin has been reportedly inundated with complaints from the public. Marx and Lenin commenced this political correctness rubbish way back in 1917, and by God it’s creeping into this country In the new edition of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Augustus Gloop – a glutton for chocolate – is now just “enormous” rather than “enormously fat” in The Twits, Mrs Twit is no longer “ugly and beastly”, just “beastly”, and in The Enormous Crocodile, “we eat little boys and girls” has been changed to “we eat little children”. But his publisher, Puffin, caused controversy this month for hiring “sensitivity readers” to rewrite his books with hundreds of revisions so that they “can continue to be enjoyed by all today”.

The conversation was recorded, with permission from both men, by Barry Joule, who had accompanied his friend Bacon to spend a weekend with the writer.ĭahl, who died in 1990 aged 74, was one of the most successful children’s authors of all time. Illustration by Quentin Blake for Dahl’s The Enormous Crocodile.

The enormous crocodile online book