Changes: Danny, the Champion of the World

Revision as of 22:32, 21 May 2020

Danny, The Champion of the World is a novel by Roald Dahl.

Plot Summary

Danny is only four months old when his mother suddenly dies; and at the beginning of the story, he lives with his widowed father, William, in a gypsy caravan, where William operates a filling station and garage. When Danny is nine years old, he discovers that William has habitually taken part in poaching pheasants from the estate of local magnate Mr. Hazell (Whom William Hayes because he once threatened to beat Danny). One night, at 2:10 a.m., Danny discovers William's absence and, fearing some misfortune, drives an Austin Seven to Hazell's Wood, where he eventually finds his father in a pit-trap, disabled by a broken ankle, and brings him home. While William is recovering from his injury, he and Danny learn that Mr. Hazell's annual pheasant-shooting party is approaching, which he hosts for dukes, lords, barons, baronets, wealthy businessmen etc., and decide to humiliate him by capturing all the pheasants in the forest. To this end, Danny suggests that he and William should put the contents of sleeping pills prescribed by their surgeon Doc Spencer inside raisins which are then scattered in the woods.

Having poached 120 pheasants from Hazell's Wood, William and Danny hide them at the local vicar's house, while they take a taxi home. The next day, Mrs. Clipstone, the vicar's wife, delivers the sleeping pheasants in a specially-built oversized baby carriage; but the narcotic effect ceases, and many of the pheasants attempt to escape. Still drugged, they all perch around the filling station, just as Mr. Hazell himself arrives. With the help of Sgt. Enoch Samways, the local constable, William and Danny herd the groggy pheasants onto Mr. Hazell's Rolls Royce; but when they have woken up completely, the birds escape, and Mr. Hazell drives off in disgrace. The book ends when Danny is hailed as "the champion of the world" by William, Doc Spencer, and Sgt. Samways, of whom most acquire two pheasants each of which has died of a drug overdose. William and Danny then walk towards town, intending to buy a new oven to cook their pheasants.

Characters

Danny - The main character. He lives with his widowed father in a gypsy caravan.

William - Danny's widowed father. He operates a filling station and garage. He tells his son stories about the BFG and makes fire lanterns. He smiles with his eyes not his mouth. He likes poaching pheasants but angrily hates people who hit Danny.

Victor Hazell - The main antagonist of the book. Described as a snobby, rich pheasant owner. He threatened to beat Danny starting off William’s hatred of him.

Lord Claybury - The lord of Claybury.

Dr. Spencer - Gives Danny the idea of using sleeping pills

Captain Lancaster - Danny's teacher, and a strict disciplinarian who enjoys corporal punishment. When William finds out he caned Danny he threatens to beat him up.

Miss Hunter - Social worker

Mr Snoddy - The schools headmaster, he has a red nose and is always drinking 'water'. However William believes he is actually drinking vodka and having fun with girls.

Sgt. Samways - The local policeman, who always leaves off H's at the beginning of words they belong to and adds H's where there shouldn't be.

Film Version

A film version starring Jeremy Irons and his son Samuel Irons was released in 1989.

Readers review

Danny, the Champion of the World is a fantastic read, centred round a little boy, Danny, who lives with his father in a gypsy caravan. The close bond between father and son develops as Danny begins to discover there is more to his already wonderful and enchanting father than he ever knew. The story navigates through various different happenings in the life of Danny and his father from meeting the BFG, lighting hot air balloons and creating kites. Until Danny wakes up one night to find his father is missing from the caravan and discover his father’s weakness-poaching pheasants! They set out together on a journey to poach as many pheasants as they possibly can off of the greedy land owner Mr Victor Hazell, will they succeed in doing so? Well you’ll have to read on to find out and it is well worth doing so!

An old time favourite amongst young and old, this book will make you feel excited with anticipation and desperate to turn over the next page. The book is great to read to key stage 2 as a treat in chapters as you’ll keep everyone’s attention in doing so. The story reflects on family, community and wildlife issues and will allow children to understand the problems surrounding these. The unusual illustrations by Quentin Blake make this also a light-hearted read with the children having the opportunity to create their own drawings of passages in the book. That said there are many people out there who much prefer Jill Bennett's original evocative artwork, and it may worth seeking out a second-hand older copy if possible. The film tie-in edition retained the original artwork by Jill Bennett.

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+[[File:109082.jpg|thumb]]
+'''''Danny, The Champion of the World''''' is a novel by Roald Dahl.
+==Plot Summary==
+Danny is only four months old when his mother suddenly dies; and at the beginning of the story, he lives with his widowed father, William, in a gypsy caravan, where William operates a filling station and garage. When Danny is nine years old, he discovers that William has habitually taken part in poaching pheasants from the estate of local magnate Mr. Hazell (Whom William Hayes because he once threatened to beat Danny). One night, at 2:10 a.m., Danny discovers William's absence and, fearing some misfortune, drives an Austin Seven to Hazell's Wood, where he eventually finds his father in a pit-trap, disabled by a broken ankle, and brings him home. While William is recovering from his injury, he and Danny learn that Mr. Hazell's annual pheasant-shooting party is approaching, which he hosts for dukes, lords, barons, baronets, wealthy businessmen etc., and decide to humiliate him by capturing all the pheasants in the forest. To this end, Danny suggests that he and William should put the contents of sleeping pills prescribed by their surgeon Doc Spencer inside raisins which are then scattered in the woods.
+Having poached 120 pheasants from Hazell's Wood, William and Danny hide them at the local vicar's house, while they take a taxi home. The next day, Mrs. Clipstone, the vicar's wife, delivers the sleeping pheasants in a specially-built oversized baby carriage; but the narcotic effect ceases, and many of the pheasants attempt to escape. Still drugged, they all perch around the filling station, just as Mr. Hazell himself arrives. With the help of Sgt. Enoch Samways, the local constable, William and Danny herd the groggy pheasants onto Mr. Hazell's Rolls Royce; but when they have woken up completely, the birds escape, and Mr. Hazell drives off in disgrace. The book ends when Danny is hailed as "the champion of the world" by William, Doc Spencer, and Sgt. Samways, of whom most acquire two pheasants each of which has died of a drug overdose. William and Danny then walk towards town, intending to buy a new oven to cook their pheasants.
-Danny, the Champion of the World is a 1975 children's book by Roald Dahl. As in many of Dahl's books, the main character is a child protagonist who is imaginative and intelligent. This story is based on Dahl's adult short story "Champion of the World" which appears in "Claud's Dog".
+==Characters==
+'''Danny''' - The main character. He lives with his widowed father in a gypsy caravan.
+'''William''' - Danny's widowed father. He operates a filling station and garage. He tells his son stories about the BFG and makes fire lanterns. He smiles with his eyes not his mouth. He likes poaching pheasants but angrily hates people who hit Danny.
+'''Victor Hazell''' - The main antagonist of the book. Described as a snobby, rich pheasant owner. He threatened to beat Danny starting off William’s hatred of him.
-==Plot==
-Danny's mother died suddenly when he was only four months old and from then on, he lived with his father in an old Gypsy caravan at the back of a filling station, where his father fixed cars. By the time Danny was seven years old, he was able to take apart, and then put back together, a small motor.
-Danny's father ows the filling station, and it was the only piece of land for miles around that was not owned by a wealthy but unpleasant local man called Mr. Victor Hazell. After Mr. Hazell threatened Danny and Danny's father subsequently refused to give him service, Mr. Hazell attempted to have the father and son run off their land. This caused Danny's father to bear a grudge against Mr. Hazell.
-When Danny was nine years old he woke up in the middle of the night and couldn't find his father, who had a dark secret. His father went to poach pheasants from Hazell's Wood. Danny's father then let Danny in on a secret of poaching: pheasants love raisins, and placing a raisin inside a 'sticky hat' (a piece of paper rolled into a cone shape with glue on the inside) is the perfect trap in which to catch a pheasant. Another trick that Danny's dad taught him was the Horse-Hair Stopper: A horse's tailhair, when threaded through a raisin, would cause the raisin (upon swallowing) to become lodged in the pheasant's throat.
-One evening, when Danny's father went poaching and promised to be back no later than 10:30 p.m. Danny, waking later that night, discovers his father's absence. Fearing the worst, he sets out into the woods to find him, trapped down a hole with a broken ankle, and is able to rescue him by virtue of a customer's car.
-While Danny's father is recovering from his injury, they hear that Mr. Hazell's pheasant-shooting party is approaching. They decide to humiliate him by luring all the pheasants away from the forest, so there will be no pheasants to shoot. Danny suggests that they should put the contents of sleeping capsules inside raisins which the pheasants will then eat, and when this is done they will pick the pheasants up from the ground, and put them in sacks, then taking a taxi to the village vicar's house, leaving them in the safekeeping of the vicar's wife. His wife then brings all the sleeping pheasants in a baby cradle the next day. As she is walking towards them, the pheasants began to wake up and fly, but they droopily fall back down. An angry Hazell arrives at the filling station just as the pheasants are waking up. With the help of Sgt. Samways, William and Danny herd the groggy birds onto Hazell's car, ruining the paintwork (and interior). Once the pheasants have woken completely, they fly away from the scene - in the opposite direction from Hazell's wood.
-Danny is hailed as a champion by his father and Sgt. Samways, but their victory is a bittersweet one, due to the fact that all the pheasants flew away. But Doc Spencer shows them six pheasants still asleep from eating too many raisins inside the caravan. They each receive two pheasants, except the Doc, who didn't want any.
- TV Movie
+'''Lord Claybury''' - The lord of Claybury.
- Overview
-In 1989, a TV movie of the book was made by Thames Television, with major actors including Jeremy Irons, Cyril Cusack and Robbie Coltrane starring and directed by Gavin Millar. The movie was a family affair of sorts, given the fact that Jeremy Irons plays the Father, Samuel Irons, his son, plays Danny and his father-in-law, Cyril Cusack plays the affable country doctor in the movie.
+'''Dr. Spencer''' - Gives Danny the idea of using sleeping pills
+'''Captain Lancaster''' - Danny's teacher, and a strict disciplinarian who enjoys corporal punishment. When William finds out he caned Danny he threatens to beat him up.
- Differences
-As with many books adapted for television and cinema, the film version of Danny, the Champion of the World has a number of significant differences to the book.
+'''Miss Hunter''' - Social worker
-Names: In the book, Danny's surname is never given, and his father's name (William) is mentioned few times, leading people to believe that he is unnamed. In the film, Danny's surname is Smith, and his father's name, William, is said frequently.
-Danny's lateness for school: Danny was late for school twice. The first time he was let off with a verbal warning from Captain Lancaster (his teacher, a former army captain who insisted upon using his wartime title). On the second occasion, he was punished with 1,000 lines. In the book, it was never mentioned that he had been late for school. {C}The date of the story: The film was set in 1955, which suggests that Danny was born during the mid to late 1940s. A reference in the book to a 1933 Austin Seven motor car states that the vehicle was 40 years old, so Roald Dahl had obviously set this stage of the story at 1973 - Danny was nine years old at the time, which means that he was born in 1964. {C}The escape from Hazell's Wood: In the book, Danny and his father escape from Hazell's Wood at around 3:00 a.m., to avoid being pulled out by Mr Hazell at 6:00 a.m. - this is what the keepers had said. In the film, Danny rescued his father from the pit just before the keepers and Mr Hazell arrived. They also got away in the car just in time to avoid being caught; the noise of the engine had attracted the attention of Mr Hazell and his keepers. {C}Confrontation with Mr.Hazell: In the film, Mr. Hazell guessed that the man who escaped from the pit was Danny's father, and reported him to the local policeman. When the local policeman (Sgt. Samways) came to visit Danny and his father, he made up a version of events by stating that the cause of Danny's father's broken ankle was falling down his caravan steps. Mr Hazell later turned up with his keepers and warned Danny's father that he would be shot if he trespassed on his land again. In the book, none of this happened because Mr Hazell did not know that Danny's father was the man in the pit.
-Danny's detention: In the film, Danny falls asleep during class and was kept behind after school by Captain Lancaster. He was finally allowed home after all the children had gone, but was ordered to run 20 laps of the playground first. While Captain Lancaster had his back turned, Danny climbed over a wall and ran home. Captain Lancaster soon figured out what had happened, and climbed over the wall in hope of catching up with Danny only for his trousers to rip. Mr Snoddy, the headmaster, then appeared and Captain Lancaster announced his immediate resignation. In the book, none of this happened. {C}The Child Welfare Investigation In the movie, Jean Marsh plays a social worker who pays a visit to the home to investigate Danny's living conditions. There is no such investigation in the book. This is the only significant female role in either the book or the movie. When Mr Smith must explain why he was two years late enrolling Danny to school, he says he was a full-time teacher before the war, which qualified him to home-school Danny. In the book Danny describes his father as not an educated man, doubting he read ten or twenty books in his life.
-Hazell's scheme: In the book, Hazell's desire to buy the land and drive out Danny and his father appears to be a simple matter of greed and resentment. In the film, however, it becomes apparent that he is planning on selling his entire estate so that a new town may be built - and that the filling station and caravan, being the only piece of land that he did not own, was the final hurdle. The developer had been under the impression that William was about to sell his property, but when it becomes apparent at the film's climax that this was not the case, he informs Hazell that the deal is off. An angry and humiliated Hazell leaves the celebrating crowd with the words "Damn you, Smith....damn you all!
+'''Mr Snoddy''' - The schools headmaster, he has a red nose and is always drinking 'water'. However William believes he is actually drinking vodka and having fun with girls.
- Cast
-William Smith = Jeremy Irons
+'''Sgt. Samways''' - The local policeman, who always leaves off H's at the beginning of words they belong to and adds H's where there shouldn't be.
-Victor Hazell = Robbie Coltrane
+== '''Film Version''' ==
-Danny Smith = Samuel Irons
+A film version starring '''Jeremy Irons''' and his son '''Samuel Irons''' was released in 1989.
+==Readers review==
-Doc Spencer = Cyril Cusack
+'''''Danny, the Champion of the World'' is a fantastic read, centred round a little boy, Danny, who lives with his father in a gypsy caravan. The close bond between father and son develops as Danny begins to discover there is more to his already wonderful and enchanting father than he ever knew. The story navigates through various different happenings in the life of Danny and his father from meeting the BFG, lighting hot air balloons and creating kites. Until Danny wakes up one night to find his father is missing from the caravan and discover his father’s weakness-poaching pheasants! They set out together on a journey to poach as many pheasants as they possibly can off of the greedy land owner Mr Victor Hazell, will they succeed in doing so? Well you’ll have to read on to find out and it is well worth doing so! '''
+An old time favourite amongst young and old, this book will make you feel excited with anticipation and desperate to turn over the next page. The book is great to read to key stage 2 as a treat in chapters as you’ll keep everyone’s attention in doing so. The story reflects on family, community and wildlife issues and will allow children to understand the problems surrounding these. The unusual illustrations by Quentin Blake make this also a light-hearted read with the children having the opportunity to create their own drawings of passages in the book. That said there are many people out there who much prefer Jill Bennett's original evocative artwork, and it may worth seeking out a second-hand older copy if possible. The film tie-in edition retained the original artwork by Jill Bennett.
-Lord Claybury = Michael Hordern
-Mr Snoddy = Lionel Jeffries
-Miss Hunter = Jean Marsh
-Rabbetts = Jimmy Nail
-Captain Lancaster = Ronald Pickup
-Charles Tallon = John Woodvine
-Springer = William Armstrong
-Mrs Clipstone = Ceri Jackson
-Vicar = James Walker
-Postman = Phil Nice
-Wheeler = Anthony Collin
-Sargent Samways = Jonathan Adams
-Sidney Morgan = Jonathan Leigh
-Inspector = Richard Cubison
-Mr Parker = John Grillo
-The Duke = Andrew MacLachlan
- Editions
-[[ISBN 0-435-12221-5, the Champion of the World|ISBN 0-435-12221-5]] (hardcover, 1977)
-[[ISBN 0-14-032873-4, the Champion of the World|ISBN 0-14-032873-4]] (paperback, 1988)
-[[ISBN 0-224-03749-8, the Champion of the World|ISBN 0-224-03749-8]] (hardcover, 1994)
-[[ISBN 0-14-037157-5, the Champion of the World|ISBN 0-14-037157-5]] (paperback, 1994)
-[[ISBN 0-224-06469-X, the Champion of the World|ISBN 0-224-06469-X]] (paperback, 2002)
-[[ISBN 0-375-81425-6, the Champion of the World|ISBN 0-375-81425-6]] (hardcover, 2002)
-[[ISBN 0-375-91425-0, the Champion of the World|ISBN 0-375-91425-0]] (library binding, 2002)
-[[ISBN 0-141-31132-0, the Champion of the World|ISBN 0-141-31132-0]] (hardcover, 2004)
-==Readers review==
-Danny the Champion of the World is a fantastic read, centred round a little boy, Danny, who lives with his father in a gypsy caravan. The close bond between father and son develops as Danny begins to discover there is more to his already wonderful and enchanting father than he ever knew. The story navigates through various different happenings in the life of Danny and his father from meeting the BFG, lighting hot air balloons and creating kites. Until Danny wakes up one night to find his father is missing from the caravan and discover his father’s weakness-poaching pheasants! They set out together on a journey to poach as many pheasants as they possibly can off of the greedy land owner Mr Victor Hazell, will they succeed in doing so? Well you’ll have to read on to find out and it is well worth doing so!
-An old time favourite amongst young and old, this book will make you feel excited with anticipation and desperate to turn over the next page. The book is great to read to key stage 2 as a treat in chapters as you’ll keep everyone’s attention in doing so. The story reflects on family, community and wildlife issues and will allow children to understand the problems surrounding these. The unusual illustrations by Quentin Blake make this also a light hearted read with the children having the opportunity to create their own drawings of passages in the book.
 [[Category:Books]]
+[[Category:Roald Dahl Canon]]
+[[Category:Anthony Studios]]