- guardian.co.uk, Sunday July 24 2005 01.18 BST
- The Observer, Sunday July 24 2005
81-83 High Street, Great Missenden, Bucks
The new Roald Dahl museum in Great Missenden (the village in Buckinghamshire where Dahl lived) reviews itself. On its mauve brick facade, there is a list of his superlatives: 'swizzfigglingly flushbunkingly gloriumptious'.
Actually, the museum is an elegant story in three parts: the first room (complete with tasty-looking chocolate doors) is devoted to Dahl's boyhood, the second to his adult life (complete with the sweat-stained leather helmet he wore as an RAF pilot) and the third - the story centre - is about the workings of imagination (and aims to kick-start children into doing their own storytelling).
After a visit, if you are an adult, you will feel you have met Dahl. If you are a child, you may dream of becoming like him. (The museum is keen on promoting children's hopes. There is even a seductive little machine which records dreams and whispers them back like prophecies.)
I loved the film of Dahl driving along an open road - patrician profile, distant look in his eye - talking about the hours that passed like minutes when he was writing. And my son, Ted, adored creating his own Dahlesque composite out of sticky paper (he dubbed her 'Slug Girl').
Only one criticism: the museum must move the machines for stamping images of Dahl's characters on card. Although fun, the noise they make is like a blacksmith's hammering and makes it a struggle to hear the excellent films playing in the same room.
