A conker:
The game:
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Conkers, what?
Apparently, they are the seeds from horse chestnut trees. Most children would dry them for a year before playing, but others used shortcuts to help speed the process along. Soaking in vinegar or baking them in ovens also were sufficient means to harden them.
A conker:
A conker:
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
About Roald
Roald was born in Llandaff, Wales on September 13th, 1916, and he died on November 23rd, 1990, at the age of 74.
His father, Harald, died while Roald was still young. His mother Sophie raised his three sisters and two step-siblings.
He immortalized both his parents in two of his books, basing the grandmother in The Witches on his mother and his father in Roald's autobiography, Boy.
Roald was married twice. He had five children with Patricia Neal: Olivia, Theo, Tessa, Ophelia, and Lucy, and accounts them for inspiring him to write children's stories. His second wife, Felicity "Liccy" Crosland bore him no children. Both wives are now good friends.
He and his families suffered through numerous tragedies throughout their lives.
Roald had four main passions in life: orchids, painting, chocolate, and conkers.
He used to hide his secret diary in a tall tree that his sisters would never climb.
While he was in primary school, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was subconsciously being written.
At his proximate boarding school, the headmaster was the base of Miss Trunchball's character in Matilda.
In middle school, he excelled in sports like squash and boxing, but could not manage to effectively write papers.
At 23, he signed up for the Royal Air Force, and was trained to fly the birdplane Gladiator fighters.
After being sent home as an invalid, he was transferred to Washington where he met C S Forester, a writer, who had his first article published in the Saturday Evening Post. C S Forester was the influential person to tip Dahl in the write direction - pun intended.
His first book was The Gremlins. He did not like it very much, but Eleanor Roosevelt did, and he became a frequent visitor to the White House.
The first fifteen years of his career, Dahl wrote adult stories for magazines.
He found it difficult to write children's books because of their lack of attention span in competition with a television.
His father, Harald, died while Roald was still young. His mother Sophie raised his three sisters and two step-siblings.
He immortalized both his parents in two of his books, basing the grandmother in The Witches on his mother and his father in Roald's autobiography, Boy.
Roald was married twice. He had five children with Patricia Neal: Olivia, Theo, Tessa, Ophelia, and Lucy, and accounts them for inspiring him to write children's stories. His second wife, Felicity "Liccy" Crosland bore him no children. Both wives are now good friends.
He and his families suffered through numerous tragedies throughout their lives.
Roald had four main passions in life: orchids, painting, chocolate, and conkers.
He used to hide his secret diary in a tall tree that his sisters would never climb.
While he was in primary school, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was subconsciously being written.
At his proximate boarding school, the headmaster was the base of Miss Trunchball's character in Matilda.
In middle school, he excelled in sports like squash and boxing, but could not manage to effectively write papers.
At 23, he signed up for the Royal Air Force, and was trained to fly the birdplane Gladiator fighters.
After being sent home as an invalid, he was transferred to Washington where he met C S Forester, a writer, who had his first article published in the Saturday Evening Post. C S Forester was the influential person to tip Dahl in the write direction - pun intended.
His first book was The Gremlins. He did not like it very much, but Eleanor Roosevelt did, and he became a frequent visitor to the White House.
The first fifteen years of his career, Dahl wrote adult stories for magazines.
He found it difficult to write children's books because of their lack of attention span in competition with a television.
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