Monty Don wades into Roald Dahl row as he hits out at bad pubulisher

Camilla Tominey hits back at idea of re-editing Roald Dahl books

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Gardeners’ World host Monty Don has weighed in on the backlash after Puffin publishers opted to update the popular author’s much-loved books. Roald Dahl’s estate and publisher, Puffin Books, said works including The BFG and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory had been updated to be more suitable for modern audiences.

Some of the changes to Dahl’s novels include Augustus Gloop, from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, which is now described as “enormous”, with the word “fat” removed from every book, according to the Telegraph.

Other amendments include Mrs Twit, from the Twits, is no longer “ugly and beastly”, but simply “beastly”.

A threat to “knock her flat” in Matilda has become “give her a right talking to”.

The Gardeners’ World presenter, 67, reacted to a Twitter post from Times Radio host, Stig Abell, who branded the move “laughably pointless”.

He shared a screenshot taken from the 2001 edition of the novel, The Witches compared to the 2022 edition.

It read: “‘Don’t be foolish,’ my grandmother said. ‘You can’t go round pulling the hair of every lady you meet, even if she is wearing gloves. Just try it and see what happens.'”

The updated version read: “‘Don’t be foolish,’ my grandmother said. ‘Besides, there are plenty of other reasons why women might wear wigs and there is certainly nothing wrong with that.'”

Stig captioned the post: “This change to Roald Dahl is so preposterously, laughably pointless it makes you wonder whether the publisher is aware that fiction is an act of creatively making things up.”

Monty took the opportunity to react the post as he branded it a “bad” move.

He wrote: “Presumably this can only be done with permission from the Roald Dahl estate. However, the publisher is mad or bad to even consider it.”

His 295,000 followers reacted to the tweet as many took issue with the change.

Sarah tweeted: “I am so sick of all this changing of narrative, titles to accommodate the craziness of the PC [politically correct].”

Matt Peskett commented: “Employing ‘sensitivity readers’ for a range of children’s books that are deliberately and entertainingly insensitive sounds bonkers. But I’m open minded on whether removing negative connotations of ‘fat’ could have some tiny impact on eating disorder diagnoses in a decade.”

Miss Ashleigh wrote: “So happy to see you’re not keen, Monty!”

QRSTUV remarked: “They are afraid of being on the wrong side of history. But I still have his books, and my young children still cherish them as they are (warts and all).”

Louise added: “The thing is he meant to be a little bit naughty and ruffle a few feathers. I thought that was the point.”

Puffin insisted the changes to the author’s books were “minimal” – despite them running into the hundreds – and said the stories remained “unchanged”.

A spokesman for the publishing house told The Bookseller: “Children as young as five or six read Roald Dahl books, and often they are the first stories they will read independently. With that comes a significant responsibility, as it might be the first time they are navigating written content without a parent, teacher or carer.

“It is not unusual for publishers to review and update language, as the meaning and impact of words changes over time.

“Over the course of the last year, Puffin has published updated editions of 16 of Roald Dahl’s books, in close partnership with the Roald Dahl Story Company as the custodian of his legacy. These included a relatively small number of textual edits, as well as routine changes to covers and inside layouts, to bring them up to date.”

Gardeners’ World airs tonight on BBC Two at 8pm.

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