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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Entertainment
Dalya Alberge

Roald Dahl threatened publisher with ‘enormous crocodile’ if they changed his words

Roald Dahl talks to Francis Bacon, both seated, with Barry Joule holding a billiard cue next to them
From left: Roald Dahl, Francis Bacon and Barry Joule during a weekend in 1982 at Dahl's home in Great Missenden, Buckinghamshire. Photograph: Barry Joule

One of Roald Dahl’s best-known characters was the Enormous Crocodile, “a horrid greedy grumptious brute” who “wants to eat something juicy and delicious”.

Now a conversation the author had 40 years ago has come to light, revealing that he was so appalled by the idea that publishers might one day censor his work that he threatened to send the crocodile “to gobble them up”.

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