Page 148 - The Secret Museum

scripts, some television shows and a play. However, it was not until he moved to

Buckinghamshire, asked a man named Wally Saunders (said to be the inspiration for
the BFG) to build his hut and began writing fantastical children’s stories that his
career really took off. How lucky that Forester popped in to meet Dahl, and Matson
wrote this letter, number 1 in the archives, that set the wheel of stories, letters and
ideas in motion.

His children’s stories are still loved by children of all ages. On my way from
London to Buckinghamshire to visit the museum, I stopped for petrol. The Indian man
at the till asked me:

‘Going anywhere nice today?’

I told him, ‘I’m going to the Roald Dahl Museum.’
‘Oh,’ he said, perking up. ‘I love that guy! I love his stories.’
‘So do I,’ I said. ‘Which is your favourite?’
‘Oh, the one with the boy who puts white powder in the drink.’
‘George’s Marvellous Medicine?’
‘That’s the one,’ he said, lifting his hands to the heavens and laughing. ‘That one

could have me giggling all day.’