Hero or Dick
Welcome to Hero or Dick!
We started this podcast with a blunt question about people: Hero or Dick?
Then we found ourselves asking it about places, traditions, entertainment, and the ordinary stuff we’d never thought to question before. Who gets praised? What gets overlooked? Why are we so sure we know the story?
We pick something that interests us, do our homework, and sit down to talk. We bring facts, opinions, and stories from our own lives, and follow the occasional tangent.
Sometimes we reach a verdict. Sometimes the question gets more interesting.
If that sounds like a conversation you’d want to be part of, join us.
~ Kate & KJ
Drop us a line at hello@heroordick.com
Hero or Dick
Hero or Dick - S3., Ep. 8 - Roald Dahl
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Thanks for tuning into another episode of Hero or Dick!
Behind the giant peaches and chocolate rivers was a man as complex as his characters. This time around, Kate & KJ explore the wild life of Roald Dahl — fighter pilot, spy, inventor, and bestselling author. From personal tragedy to medical breakthroughs to controversial views, Dahl’s story is as bold as his books. Was he a Hero, a Dick, or both? Give a listen, then tell us what you think: HeroOrDick2023@gmail.com.
~ Kate & KJ
Intro from Alpena and Viking Boats
Speaker 1Hello , and we are another episode of Hero , or Dick .
Speaker 2It's season three , episode eight , to be specific .
Speaker 1I'm broadcasting from the lovely what lakeside town called Alpena Michigan .
Speaker 2It is a lakeside town . Today we have the Viking boat in visiting us .
Speaker 1Are they here all the time ? They were here , like the last couple days .
Speaker 2Well , there's two boats that come . Yesterday was one boat , today is a different boat .
Speaker 1I like boats . You know , I saw .
Speaker 2Those big boats are just amazing .
Speaker 1And I see the folks coming through town You're familiar with that and they're putting up the little vending area over there . That's a good idea . I think those people are going to make a killing .
Speaker 2Yeah , yeah , I saw one is already claimed , I can't remember by who , though , the Thunder , no Canabes . Yes , they have good cider .
Speaker 1Yes , they do . And donuts , get those things fresh , not good , not good .
Speaker 2But yes , they are here today , the Viking people , and that boat is truly amazing . When you see it in our bay . It's fucking huge , it's giant , I don't know how else to explain it . It is huge and the little tenders that come in and bring people are pretty big .
Speaker 1They look small . They're pretty cool .
Speaker 2They look like little pods , yeah , pods , there you go , they tuck those underneath the ship , or what no ? They go on the side .
Speaker 1Oh really .
Speaker 2Yeah , yeah , and I think those are the life rafts too . So if they have danger they would get in those and they're all enclosed .
Speaker 1Safety . First I saw another ship in the Thunder Bay River . They had the bridge go up , which is kind of cool . This town has that . Yeah , if you're not in a hurry .
Speaker 2Right , I know . When I was coming here I saw the bridge go up , so I went 9th Street , gotcha .
Speaker 1But it was a giant ship unloading salt . It was really low .
Speaker 2The salt boat . The salt boat . I saw it coming in and yesterday , when it was .
Speaker 1Oh yeah , you get to see everything from your house .
Speaker 2It was leaving and the Viking boat was getting ready to leave and it went by and they both did the foghorns at each other . They like beeped at each other .
Speaker 1You sat out there a lot and watched them . I was inside when I was watching , oh got you , but I was inside when I was watching .
Speaker 2Oh got it , but yeah , nice . Yeah , I liked to sit outside and watch the boats go by .
Speaker 1Do you
Roald Dahl's Early Life
Speaker 1think , roald ? What's his name ? Roald Dahl .
Speaker 2Roald Dahl .
Speaker 1Dahl Dahl Dahl . I think he watched many ships coming in and out .
Speaker 2Not in Alpena .
Speaker 1No , he flew some planes , though he did .
Speaker 2He did , he did . He was a pilot . He was born in 1916 .
Speaker 1That's a long time ago now In Landolf Wales , in Wales . Yeah To Harold and Sophie .
Speaker 2Who are Norwegian ? Mm-hmm , and did you know that he was named after the first person to reach the South Pole ? Yeah , which was explorer .
Speaker 1I can't say that name .
Speaker 2Roll .
Speaker 1Rolled Amundsen .
Speaker 2Amundsen , I don't know that you pronounce the D Rolled . I guess you can .
Speaker 1Roll .
Speaker 2He's not going to complain now .
Speaker 1No , he's probably not .
Speaker 2So he had an interesting childhood too . He was when he was about eight . He and four of his friends were caned at his school by the headmaster . Can you imagine ? Now it was a different time . So what they did to deserve this caning was they put a dead mouse in a jar at the local candy shop . So why is the headmaster even butting in on that ? But anyway , it was owned . This candy shop was owned by the mean and alone foam loath . So that's a hard word too it is .
Speaker 2Uh is An old woman named Mrs Pratchett .
Speaker 1It doesn't even sound like that could be a real name .
Speaker 2I know , but she was . She inspired the awful headmistress in Matilda . What's her name ? I don't know , trunchbull .
Speaker 1Trunchbull .
Speaker 2Yeah .
Speaker 1Take a drink of the Trunchbull . I love that movie .
Speaker 2I love the book , but I really like the movie too . On that one . Then in his teens he went to a school called repton where he witnessed a lot of hazing ritual cruelty . So the younger boys had to be like servants to the upper class men and they got beat and is that the one where ?
Speaker 1that's just no , they raised him tougher back then .
Speaker 2I guess . I mean , he was ready to go to war when he was very young , but still , it's rough .
Speaker 1One of his punishments was he had to go warm up the toilet seats outside .
Speaker 2Oh , I remember . Yeah , you missed that .
Speaker 1Yeah , for the I think the upper class movement . Did you lay him or did you sit on him ? I don't know what they did , but that was early in the morning in the cold weather . They had to go out and sit on him or whatever . And before we get too far from his family , his sister died Astri , her name was of an appendicitis at age seven , and then his dad kicked the bucket just a few weeks later after pneumonia .
Speaker 2Yeah , and how old was he then ? He was older .
Speaker 1When his dad died .
Speaker 2Yeah .
Speaker 1He was older than the sister .
Speaker 2I thought he was 11 when the sister died , so still young yeah , oh yeah , devastating , and then getting beat .
Speaker 1That doesn't help .
Speaker 2No , no . And he wrote about it later and attributed a lot of his hatred of cruelty in general and of corporal punishment to those school days . Excuse me so , also during Repton . I thought this was interesting . Cadbury , a lovely , lovely , probably the best chocolate maker in the world . In my book .
Speaker 1I like Cadbury . I haven't you like those eggs ? No ?
Speaker 2that's the only thing I don't like Cadbury .
Speaker 1Oh , we brought that up before , yeah .
Speaker 2They're marshmallow . What On the inside ?
Speaker 1they're like that gooey gunky , no , but everything else they have is excellent .
Speaker 2So Cadbury used to send new chocolate to the school for them to test out , and Roll's dream was to invent a chocolate bar that would win the praise of Mr Cadbury himself . Sounds like a Roald Dahl book , right there it does . Well it did . It inspired Charlie and the Chocolate Factory later . So anything else about school ? No . So he left school and he went to work in Africa . For this is like later , I mean when he graduated school . Okay , he went to work for Shell Petroleum Company in .
Speaker 1Africa . Mm-hmm , he was quite the schmoozer , wasn't he ? He was the gift of gab .
Speaker 2Yeah , he knew Mm-hmm , he knew who to schmooze and what to say . But then , when World War II started , he joined the Royal Air Force 1939 , yep , yeah , as an aircraft man . Yep , which must be a lower . But then he was promoted to a pilot
War Years and Flying Accidents
Speaker 2officer in 1940 . And he got in a crash . He did in a bad crash that really affected his life , which , how could it not Even in a bad crash that really affected his life , which , how could it not even in a plane crash ?
Speaker 2skull injury , spine injuries crash landed in libya in 1940 , got very sustained , various injuries injuries , specifically the head injury , but he thinks that that gave him creative genius . The head injury did Before that he said , meh , it wasn't that creative . There you go Head injury .
Speaker 1Bammo .
Speaker 2Bammo , exactly , yeah , so , but we don't suggest that people do that , no , leave your head alone . Yeah , he was also blind for six weeks after that accident . Jeez , oh Pete , wouldn't that be scary , because he had , like some , I don't know , probably hemorrhaging .
Speaker 1He had some swelling and so he was blind .
Speaker 2But only for six weeks . Not only for six weeks , I mean six weeks is a long time to be blind .
Speaker 1And then he recovered and he was stationed in Washington DC .
Speaker 2He did . But what I thought was interesting is's like all right , you're better Go back flying .
Speaker 1Yeah .
Speaker 2So he went back flying for a while too . He flew hurricanes , but then he had to be grounded because of his severe headache .
Speaker 1Sure he wanted to get to writing yeah and then yeah , probably .
Speaker 2He took a non-flying job in March of 42 , so the war's still going on , and he was stationed in Washington DC with the British Embassy .
Speaker 1He was an intelligence officer yeah . Awesome .
Speaker 2I did read a couple places . He felt guilty , you know , for being in DC where everything was kind of cushy compared to what he was seeing .
Speaker 1Sure yeah .
Speaker 2He said it was a pre-war cocktail party , but his job was to help neutralize isolationist views that a lot of people in America still had . We hadn't quite joined . When did Pearl Harbor happen ? 41 or 2 ? 45 ? No , that's when the war ended 42 then 45 ?
Speaker 1No , that's when the war ended . 42 then 42 . Someone will correct us . We get a lot of email .
Speaker 2At heroordick2023 at gmailcom . Cindy , Right around there it's 41 or 42 . I can't remember . That is also where he met the novelist CS Forrester . Which did you look up ? I meant to look up what he was a novelist writing and I don't know .
Speaker 1I didn't look it up . I'm sorry .
Speaker 2Saturday Evening Post asked Forrester to interview Rohl and he said , hey , can you just write down the bullet points for me ? And Rohl did it . And then he just said I'm just going to turn that in , lazy fuck . So , he just published it . He did get the credit for it , though .
Speaker 1Oh good .
Speaker 2And the article was first called Rohl called it Piece of Cake 1942 . But they changed it to Shut Down Over Libya .
Speaker 1Yeah , got to sell papers .
Speaker 2Yeah , that's journalism .
Speaker 1He wrote another book shortly after that .
Speaker 2What was that called ?
Speaker 1The Gremlins .
Speaker 2Oh , yeah , 1943 .
Speaker 1It was based on folklore and it attracted the attention of Disney . Yes , it did .
Speaker 2Yeah , he bought the rights but never made the movie .
Speaker 1I would like to see that movie I saw the gremlins well , the gremlins that movie no , that's where I think the term came from . Like the guys are messing with your stuff yeah , yep .
Speaker 2Um , also during wartime is when he met Ian Fleming , who wrote a couple books , made some money off the movies that those became .
Speaker 1James Bond Bondarama .
Speaker 2And Ian introduced him to espionage .
Speaker 1Gotta love espionage . Sure , you did some of that , didn't you ? No , oh Sorry , secret .
Speaker 2During the war he supplied intel from DC to Winston Churchill .
Speaker 1Churchill .
Speaker 2So he gave him reports and he also worked for the MI6 , which is like the CIA of Britain . What are we doing ?
Speaker 1I'm not doing shit , I know .
Speaker 2I just feel like he probably did all this by the time he's 30 . You know , I got enough fun .
Speaker 1We're doing a podcast that no one listens to in a small town in Northeastern Long Michigan . It's okay , we're having fun , it's okay , we'll be all right .
Speaker 2The rule would improve Not really . You would see Come on , yeah , okay , we're having fun , it's okay , it's okay , we'll be all right . Role would improve not really . You would say come on , yeah . Um , so then , post-war , anything else about the war ? He was very active in the war and that's that . It didn't surprise me because I knew a little bit about it , but it surprised me how in-depth it was .
Speaker 2so he married , uh , after the war in 1953 he married actress patricia neil oh , patricia , they were married 30 years , had five children they lost a couple right yeah , the oldest died at seven , olivia from complications of the measles . This , this was before vaccines , but he started promoting them . He did because his daughter could have lived had she gotten the vaccine . Get the measles vaccine for your kids , people .
Speaker 1It's not that hard .
Speaker 2No , it's very easy actually .
Speaker 1You know what's hard .
Speaker 2Having measles , it's even worse .
Speaker 1Dying from it .
Speaker 2And his son , theo , also was in a baby carriage and was struck by a taxi in New York City .
Speaker 1It was like four months old , wasn't it , or something like that .
Speaker 2How does that happen ?
Speaker 1That's fucking terrible .
Speaker 2I hope that was the nanny and not the mom . Anyway , Roel was involved with inventing a shunt that was used to alleviate Theo's hydrocephalus .
Speaker 1Yeah , didn't even get the patent on
Family Life and Medical Innovations
Speaker 1it , or something like that he did .
Speaker 2His name is on the patent . There's three guys and his is the middle name in there .
Speaker 1What about that wife ? Though you got stuff on her , I know you do .
Speaker 2Well , patricia then suffered when she was pregnant with their last child . She had strokes there's a big , long name term for it and so he took control of her rehab too , and she had to relearn how to talk and to walk , and plus she was maybe still pregnant , but she also still had it . And then she had a newborn . The baby was okay .
Speaker 1Well , and then they said that stroke victims were only supposed to get an hour of therapy a day . And he's like fuck that , we're doing six . And he did it all himself .
Speaker 2He did .
Speaker 1Or at least he came up with it .
Speaker 2Well , she already was an actress already an award-winning actress in the movie HUD with Paul Newman it's a good movie and winning actress in the movie HUD with Paul Newman it's a good movie and she was kind of a character actress I would say but she won after the . She did . She went on to act in a bunch of more .
Speaker 1And won some awards .
Speaker 2A bunch more stuff .
Speaker 1There was a little controversy , though . Some people said he was actually a dick during that time . But then you read about how he if it wasn't for him because he was forcing her to do stuff . I don't know there was . There's some other stuff too . I'll get to later , but um , but yeah , it was pretty cool .
Speaker 2That is it about his 11 year affair .
Speaker 1There's that , and then anti , you know he was racist . He did say some anti-semitic things and a lot of people said that he's an asshole because , um , I know , because he was on the one side of the fight he's on the one side of the fight and he's champion for everybody , because everybody's different .
Speaker 2We should embrace that . You know , when all of most of his books are like that and then you go and say something anti-seemitic Sure .
Speaker 1Well , his editor apparently had to take a lot of that stuff out of his books too , like the Oompa Loompas were actually African slaves from Africa . But he didn't mean it like that , because actually Charlie Bucket was African American in the original version of the manuscript I guess I think he was trying to show the plight of the African American , but anyway , I guess , oh , he did and he was . I think he was trying to show the you know plight of the African American . But anyway , I don't want to get too much into that , I want to focus on the niceties . Well , but what about the Stroke Association ? He was like I think it got formed because of him right After that .
Speaker 2Oh , did it I believe so I don't that yeah , so , um , yeah . Then he did have an 11 year affair with a set designer and he eventually divorced patricia and married felicity and the kids came around to it because they actually found out that was the love of his life yeah you know kind of like you and tom cruise oh , I don't like tom cruise at all but then why are you messing around with him , pretty ? Sure he's gay . Guy does his own stunts though I did just watch Mission Impossible Ghost Protocol last night .
Speaker 1Is that a real one ?
Speaker 2It is a real one . It's like in the middle of those nine Mission Impossible movies . Was it good ? That one was good , yeah .
Speaker 1I've never watched that .
Speaker 2I just keep looking at him going . I don't get it . Yeah , going , I don't get it I don't like yeah , I don't get why he is . Um , I mean , now he's old , but even when he was young , you know , people were heartthrob and I'm like he wasn't a really good actor or anything , I didn't think , but I do like that crazy eyes , he does does ?
Speaker 1He does the old , oh shit , he does his own stunts . He does Like the motorcycles off the cliff , kind of thing .
Speaker 2At the beginning of that movie I watched last night , he is climbing like this big rock Not just a rock , but like a mountain rock , and he actually did a lot of that himself . Is that nuts ?
Speaker 1I just think it's stupid , but yeah , yeah , it's kind of nuts , but he's passionate about what he does . Okay , kind of like we are with this passionate about .
Speaker 2He's passionate about scientology too you know what ?
Speaker 1maybe he needs to be a hero or a dick he does yeah we'll have to do okay , you're already doing him .
Speaker 2I'm not doing him , okay , he's gay .
Speaker 1You keep saying that I do Okay .
Speaker 2I'm not a stand-by , oh shoot . Okay . He does have an interesting story , though . We could review him , so , but let's get back to Roll .
Speaker 1Yeah , let's do it .
Speaker 2Roll on the roll , yeah . So he reviewed a book called God Cried and it was about the siege of Western Beirut by the Israeli army and he said Jews have never switched so rapidly from much-pity victims to barbarous murderers , and some said that was anti-Semitic .
Speaker 1They said that thing about Hitler too . He did . I'm paraphrasing , saying like basically well , there's probably a reason Hitler didn't like the Jews there , probably was .
Speaker 2It doesn't mean it's valid Right .
Speaker 1And he said some other stuff . But yeah , I mean he's not here to defend himself .
Speaker 2There was enough controversy that in 2014 , the Royal Mint decided not to do a coin commending his birth . So you lost out on that Boo-hoo , and some friends said he did it because he liked to provoke people . I could see that said he did it because he liked to provoke people . I could see that . So he said it to get a reaction . Sure , and he did .
Speaker 1He sure did In 2020, .
Speaker 2His family apologized on the website .
Speaker 1Well , you want to get those residuals .
Speaker 2But Jewish organizations were like too little , too late , so I don't know Does so I don't know , Does that count ?
Speaker 1I don't know . I still like the books .
Speaker 2I do like the books . Here's the books James and the Giant Peach 1961 . I love it .
Speaker 1You know what I got , a story about that , what I think . One of the first things that awakened creativity and imagination
Books, Characters, and Creative Process
Speaker 1and writing and storytelling in my life was elementary school at Maple Ridge and Mrs Newhouse reading James and the Giant Peach . You know , because teachers used to sit in front of the class . I don't know , they probably do .
Speaker 2Maybe they do .
Speaker 1And they sit up there and read a book during story time . Man , that was the best .
Speaker 2That's the best , or silent reading time .
Speaker 1Yep , but James and the Giant Peach and Charlie and the Chocolate .
Speaker 2Pack Cassidy was James and the Giant Peach a big super fan . Let's call her yeah .
Speaker 1How can you not be ?
Speaker 2Because we found the book , her book , and she liked to write her name all over the books . And it does say her name about eight times and it also says I love this . This book wants to be with me .
Speaker 1Oh , that's actually quite . You could tell she was going to be smart , right then .
Speaker 2That was in fourth grade . Well , right around there , charlie and the Chocolate Factory 1964 .
Speaker 1I don't know , you have to be a moron .
Speaker 2The book is great . Both movies are great . The third one I haven't watched .
Speaker 1Whatever .
Speaker 2Third there's another one .
Speaker 1Oh wait , I watched that yeah with that uh , timothy charlamagne . Actually that last one was pretty good , okay , I saw it at the sanctuary scene what what did you say is hugh ? Grant's the oompa loompa I thought you said something about korean oompa loompas , but but no , it was a Brit . That's a different version . It was his name Hugh Grant . Yeah , he did really good and like he cares what , I think . Good job , Hugh . I bet you we could get him on this show .
Speaker 2He's always looking for money . I have a lot of kids . They all need to go to college . How about Fantastic Mr Fox ?
Speaker 11970 . I memorized all these . Can you tell ?
Speaker 2Oh , okay , I have 1968 on that one . You were trying to be in the Great Glass Elevator , a continuation of the Chocolate Factory .
Speaker 1The sequel .
Speaker 2The sequel . Yes , danny , the Champion of the World , the Enormous Cro , the enormous crocodile , which I don't know , that one . But how about the twits great one ? Uh , revolting rights , the bfg , you know what the big the bfg . That book must belong to caskey , I don't know . Now I gotta lookes , which I let my kids read in elementary school . A lot of schools ban it . It's like it's not real people . It depends on who you ask To tell you this , but it's not , it's not real , it's make-believe . Matilda , they probably banned that one too .
Speaker 1They did . Did they , yep they .
Speaker 2Buh Plus too . They did , did they , yep they Buh , Plus all the adult books .
Speaker 1Lamb to the Slaughter , the Landlady man from the South .
Speaker 2Are those the adult ones ? Yeah , man from the South was a Twilight Zone . How did that go ? Do , do , do , do , do , do , do . Very good , you ever watch those All the time , did you All the time ? I actually have some on DVD . That's awesome . And his books , children's books . I don't know about the adult ones , but they were mostly illustrated by Quentin Blake . Didn't know that , and I love the pictures in it . They match . I think they just enhance the book so much .
Speaker 1So back to your favorite Charlie there . Now I happened to cross this fact . Wait , it might not be a fact , but several sources on the Internet , you know they're licking the shit out of that wallpaper , the snozzberries there . Do you know what a snozzberry is in his adult book ? No , A penis , yeah .
Speaker 1Well , he did invent a bunch of words , but they said that he oh , the invention of the words and the language from it came from his wife when she had she made up her own language because she couldn't communicate properly during the stroke time . Yeah , it happened across that . I thought that was pretty neat , like she couldn't formulate what she wanted to say so she'd say something else , and he said that kind of gave him the idea for some of these words .
Speaker 2Okay , guess what these words are Giganticus .
Speaker 1Something big .
Speaker 2And very grand . How about wooshy ?
Speaker 1Airy Strong and powerful . Oh , what's that wooshy ? No , what's the next one ? Snazberry ? Oh yeah , that's . That's a very flesh flavored berry , I thought that was a dr seuss one though , but snazberries taste like snazberries I guess .
Speaker 2So how about fizz wigger ? Oh no , fizz wiggler uh , someone who's sneaky very mean and very cruel . Oh , and you know this one scrumptious . Oh , I like that delicious you know those it's scrumptious , plus delicious the .
Speaker 1Uh god , that's a great movie . Damn it it . I want to watch it again . You know the punishments kind of dealt with , the seven deadly sins . You know sloth .
Speaker 2Greed there were a lot of greeds .
Speaker 1Yeah .
Speaker 2I mean , I want a golden goose and I want it now . Teddy , I want a squirrel . I thought this was a good list , all the books , all the children's books . It had these eight rules that he followed . Number one just add chocolate . Number two adults can be scary . Number three bad things can happen . They do . Number four revenge is sweet . It sure can be scary . Number three bad things can happen .
Speaker 1Number four revenge is sweet , it sure can be .
Speaker 2Number five keep a wicked sense of humor . Number six pick perfect pictures . Number seven films are fun , but books are better . And number eight food is fun .
Speaker 1Food is fun .
Speaker 2Well , at Charlie Chocolate , it's fun . I guess in all of them james and the giant peach you like peaches ?
Speaker 1I do . I do too fresh peach no , I like camp features . Oh , that's right . And you would never match a sliced peach with cottage cheese no , no , and I love them both but not together , but not together just like me and tom cruise yeah , um , you know what I really liked about this dude ? What the writing hut ? Yeah , that little shed that he wrote .
Speaker 2It looked like a little um gypsy caravan , yeah trailer , pretty cool . I think we all need one of those in our backyard for our private space .
Speaker 1You should build one .
Speaker 2You can write in it .
Speaker 1Thank you .
Speaker 2I will bid or do whatever .
Speaker 1You do whatever you want . Watch Tom Cruise movies , no , get into your Scientology workbook . You know he only used yellow legal pads and pencils . He never typed .
Speaker 2Really , yep , I did not know that that's a lot of work yeah I wonder if they kept him . Is there a museum for him somewhere ?
Speaker 1there must be wait museum . I think there is a museum of that stuff . Um , he kept um weird shit like , uh , this big silver ball , but it was actually all the candy chocolate wrappers he had had over years . And then he actually had his own hip bone there next to him and some of his spinal shavings .
Speaker 2I love that . I guess it's like keeping a tooth when you lose it .
Speaker 1Kind of .
Speaker 2Before we get off the books . He also wrote some screenplays Based on books . You Only Live Twice . James Bond , again Ian Fleming . And Ian Fleming wrote this and the role he helped him develop into a screenplay was Chitty , chitty Bang Bang . Chitty , chitty Bang Bang , I love you . And Twilight Zone show .
Speaker 1He won the Edgar Allan Poe Award in 54 and 59 . I bet For short fiction . I bet .
Speaker 2And he fiction , I bet .
Speaker 1And he has his own day .
Speaker 2Oh , does he . What day is it September ?
Speaker 113th Rolled all day .
Speaker 2Rolled all day . What are we doing ? Rolled all day .
Speaker 1Watch this movie , eat chocolate .
Speaker 2I can do that . I might start celebrating early .
Speaker 1Let's do it .
Speaker 2He did die , he did ,
Controversies and Later Years
Speaker 2he did die , he did , he did , he did no way . He was born in 16 , 1916 , I guess . He died in 1990 , so he had a pretty long life . Uh , according to his family , they gave him kind of a viking funeral . No shit , that's what the granddaughter said . They buried him with snooker cues , good burgundy chocolates . I wonder what kind .
Speaker 1Cadbury .
Speaker 2HB pencils . What are HB pencils ? Do you know ?
Speaker 1That's a brand .
Speaker 2Is that a brand and a power saw ? I like that .
Speaker 1Why Maybe they ?
Speaker 2liked power saws , or maybe they thought he needed it to saw his way into heaven . And his last words oh fuck .
Speaker 1No , it wasn't .
Speaker 2That's what it says . I have more than one resource that says it .
Speaker 1Hey , your resources are good .
Speaker 2It did say the nurse was giving him a shot of morphine and it kind of hurt him . Oh fuck , and that was it Morph . It did say the nurse was giving him a shot of morphine and it kind of hurt he went oh fuck , oh yeah , and that was it .
Speaker 1Ah , morphine , God dang morphine .
Speaker 2And he did tell his family before that . I'm not frightened to die . I will dismiss you all .
Speaker 1That's nice of him , yeah .
Speaker 2He's got some charity legacies he gives to neurology .
Speaker 1The Roald Dahl Marvelous Children's Charity .
Speaker 2Yeah , which literacy too , he supports . And then the Roald Dahl one is the care and support for seriously ill . I think it started with children , but it's extended to older people now too . And he's got lots of statues , awardsards , plaques had a stamp .
Speaker 1No coin though . No coin , nope , no yeah gotta go back to your story . I'm sorry go ahead there was a deleted scene that he had wrote for that , and it was which one which movie ? Charlie and the Chocolate Factory . There was a warming candy room and it's where kids went in and they overheated and exploded . I love the guy at darkness .
Speaker 2And so he did have a macabre sense of humor , and I like that about him .
Speaker 1And the fact that he could write all of it and again people it's not real People .
Speaker 2He didn't , you know , that didn't really happen , well , but he just imagined it .
Speaker 1People .
Speaker 2Not to say it couldn't happen . It could happen , but he didn't happen .
Speaker 1it could happen , but he didn't . It doesn't happen in his world . No , it didn't . Yeah , he wrote um . No , he sold over 250 million books okay , 300 million ? Well , yours is probably right 60 languages , 63 . Son of a bitch , kate , my fact checker , randy where is he ?
Speaker 2I think he finds wrong . I just rounded up he's topped the world's best selling authors list for years . So what do you say about Roald Dahl ? Is he a hero or is he a dick ?
Speaker 1well , I think he definitely was a dick , but I think he was a hero overall . Again , what are you going to do ?
Speaker 2none of us are truly heroic nobody's absolutely perfect and I guess I don't know the circumstance that he said everything in . It wasn't right of him to say that , no , but it also . I don't have all the information on that .
Speaker 1No , I mean if we went around judging everybody .
Speaker 2I mean , have you ever said anything that people would , you know , know that you said it now that they'd be mad ? I keep thinking of , like Paula Deen called somebody the N-word . Well , she lives in the South and I don't know her circumstance and you know whatever .
Speaker 1Maybe she did , I don't know .
Speaker 2Yeah , I don't know either and I don't know her circumstance and you know , whatever maybe she did , I don't know yeah , I don't know you don't know , she got chastised for it , and maybe rightfully so yeah , what'd she say it on , like her show , or something no , I think she was using it like as a like she's hanging out or something like martha stew .
Speaker 1I could see her for all that .
Speaker 2She's fascinating . We can do her too .
Speaker 1Back in the day .
Speaker 2You would have .
Speaker 1She was pretty hot .
Speaker 2She's still hot .
Speaker 1Well 80 . For an 80-year-old . Yeah , I watched the documentary on her Documentary .
Speaker 2Documentary , whatever .
Speaker 1Anyway , back to Roel . Yeah , I see you here , I'm here Anyway back to roll . Yeah , I see you here ?
Speaker 2Yeah , I did a couple dick things , but we all do , I don't think you ?
Speaker 1Well , we don't know , he could have been really racist and whatnot . We don't know .
Speaker 2He could have been , but in his I don't read it in his books . But you said the editor took it out . Yes he took it out . I would like to read the unabridged version . Is that the editor took it out ? Yes , you took it out . I would like to read the unabridged version .
Speaker 1Is that the right term ? I don't know . Sounds like that's good , doesn't it ?
Speaker 2we'll have randy look that up , fine okay , so here's my fast fives fast five coming up I chose this one because there's so much talk about planes lately and plane travel there is go ahead so , instead of here where it is , here where dick , but it's kind of a either or too . So , on a plane ,
Fast Five: Airplane Travel Preferences
Speaker 2uh , which is a hero , carry on or check your bags carry on how about wait ?
Speaker 1okay , you gave me a choice . I'm sorry , go ahead .
Speaker 2Yeah , Carry-on . You say I love carry-on , I do too .
Speaker 1You travel light . I don't think you do , Kate .
Speaker 2I try to Okay . But sometimes I , you know , when I went to China I checked a bag , but I was going to be there a while , sure , so it really depends , I , so it really depends . I bought some new luggage though this week , did you , yeah , and it's small , it can be a carry-on and it is periwinkle blue , nice .
Speaker 1What is it like a little hard case .
Speaker 2Yeah , kind of . But I had a shell opening one for my huge one and you know , by shell it opens both , both sides , and I wanted a top loader because the shell you open it , you got to open it and everything's falling out of one side . So that should have been one of my you travel a lot , so you need that I'm going on a trip in two weeks bye-bye podcast just for two weeks . I'll be gone for two weeks , all right , right . So how about ? Which is a hero to you , window or aisle ?
Speaker 1Well , if you take the aisle , you're being a hero and letting someone else have the window . Ah so I'll say aisle .
Speaker 2Because you want to be a hero .
Speaker 1I don't want to be . I say aisle , I want the window seat .
Speaker 2Oh , do you ? Okay ? Well then just say it .
Speaker 1I can't .
Speaker 2I oh , do you ? Okay ? Well , then just say it , I can't . I've been conditioned throughout my life . Well , I like to take the aisle seat because I like to stretch my leg out .
Speaker 1That's true .
Speaker 2And I kind of look claustrophobic out in the window . It's like oh , I have to go to the bathroom , I need to make eight people move .
Speaker 1When you're not flying first class , because I know you usually do Do you pay for the extra legroom ? I do , I do too . Yeah , I do .
Speaker 2I usually go middle class , middle class . Not steerage .
Speaker 1What .
Speaker 2Not steerage , oh you know , but not first class , but somewhere in the middle there Gotcha . Okay , do you have beer or ginger ale ? I know your answer to that one .
Speaker 1Well , yeah , I usually get like a 7-up .
Speaker 2Oh , I like a ginger ale and a Biscoff .
Speaker 1Yeah .
Speaker 2How about ? Which do you prefer on this ? Which is your hero , First aboard or last aboard ?
Speaker 1Well , I'll say I like getting on early .
Speaker 2Because then you can put your stuff .
Speaker 1Yeah , and I don't like walking by . Everyone's watching you walk in . Oh , that's true , that bugs me , that's me , though . Anxiety . You don't like Look away Like , yeah , it's looking at me .
Speaker 2They're not really .
Speaker 1I know they're not , but it feels like it .
Speaker 2Oh okay . So you don't like walking down the aisle ? Oh God , no , can't we find a better way to put the luggage somewhere ? I mean , it just seems so time-consuming . You know , you've got to wait . Okay , the whole line's got to wait for Kate to put her luggage up there . All right , and then when we get to the place .
Speaker 1That's even worse waiting for Kate to get her luggage down and then yes , when you get there , you know get all the luggage down . These people , though , as soon as the plane's about to land , they're getting restless . They want to stand up . It's like what the fuck are you people doing ?
Speaker 2Well , if I can have some time , I just sit there , yeah , but if I have a quick connection , I'm one of those people that's up and moving . So this brings me to the question which is a hero flying or driving ?
Speaker 1Driving , love driving .
Speaker 2Wow , where are you going to drive ? I mean obviously you've got to fly someplace Sure .
Speaker 1If anywhere in the United States .
Speaker 2Yeah , in Canada and Mexico . Well , they won't let us in now , but before .
Speaker 1You like flying ?
Speaker 2Depends on where you're going , obviously . I mean , I know you've got to suffer to get to some places .
Speaker 1Flying . It's just . Every time I go it's delays .
Speaker 2And it used to be fun and it was not bad , you know . But now it's just not fun at all , even if everything goes well .
Speaker 1It's like ugh and I always get sick Not like sickly flying , but I get a cold . I don't know why .
Speaker 2Because you're in the germ pool there . I always think I'm going to wear a mask , and then I don't .
Speaker 1Do you still smoke on the plane ?
Speaker 2I remember when people were smoking on the plane .
Speaker 1Isn't that crazy Smoking in hospitals ?
Speaker 2Just smoking down in the small contained area . Let's fill it with smoke .
Speaker 1Yeah , hey , before we go , look at these .
Speaker 2I like them . You're showing me Daffy Duck socks .
Speaker 1Yeah .
Speaker 2Hero socks .
Speaker 1Hero . I got Bugs Bunny , yosemite Sam . I was acting like a kid $7.99
Closing Thoughts and Show Updates
Speaker 1at Marshalls for all three . I got like six pair . I think I'm probably not made in the USA , probably not . I wanted to get them before the tariffs . Soon those will be made in the USA , yeah for sure , and you'll pay $900 .
Speaker 2Usa Probably not . I wanted to get them before the tariffs , soon those will be made in the USA .
Speaker 1Yeah , for sure .
Speaker 2And you'll pay $900 each . Before we go to , I just wanted to say how is your book going ? Devotion . Was the interview in the LP News .
Speaker 1It was not in there yet . I had a really cool email about it you did I did not from you I got it all from youtube , but I got it from the crooked steeple yeah , yeah they're a wily group , that group yeah , yeah , they actually sent me the email before you did , but I think you just forwarded one .
Speaker 1Why wouldn't they ? I don't know , that's the , that's what they're there for . They did it I . I went to the bookstore 45th Parallel Bookstore and the owner wasn't in there , and so they got to let me know what they're going to do here . I really don't . I mean , I hope they put it in there because they're going to sell it . I'm not , you know , hello . I would think that they would want to have local .
Speaker 2I don't know I don't .
Speaker 1Yeah , well it's , I'm gonna do a signing , so I could do it there or somewhere else and we don't know when it is yet , though no , I mean the book itself , for it'll be available on like amazon , barnes and noblecom , all that jazz probably in a couple weeks , but I have like proof copies so that's what I have yep all right , well , we'll keep you ? What about your movie career ?
Speaker 2my movie career . Uh , and now ?
Speaker 1oh , you're not gonna be in that other one uh , I'm not in it .
Speaker 2You know what ? Just to take one minute to say I didn't like acting . I thought it was boring . It's a lot of sitting around and wait .
Speaker 1You didn't even get to eat the good food , did you ?
Speaker 2No , and I didn't get any good food . I didn't get waited on , it was not for me .
Speaker 1Sorry to hear that .
Speaker 2Not for me .
Speaker 1What are we going to do I ?
Speaker 2kind of like the behind the scenes watching all that , though , well , kind of like the behind the scenes watching all that , though , Well being on set would be cool . Hey , was Donnie Most in it ? He is in it . Yes , I did not meet him . I did meet Terrence Knox .
Speaker 1That doesn't mean who's that .
Speaker 2He was in a . He's been in a couple things , but most notably he was in a . I can't think of the name of it . It was a show that was on maybe in the late 80s , early 90s , and it was like Baba Black Sheep , but it was about Vietnam and I can't think of the name of it . I'll have to research that he was a nice guy .
Speaker 1Let's see Donnie Most .
Speaker 2But Donnie Most I did not get to meet . Ralph Melv he's in a lot of their movies .
Speaker 1Is he ?
Speaker 2really yeah , yeah , oh well , all right . Well , thanks for listening .
Speaker 1Yeah , thanks everybody . Email us . Yeah , you can send us a text message from the thing . Oh wait , we had 750 downloads .
Speaker 2We did Total , not just last week .
Speaker 1No , I mean here I am Brooke . I don't know if you know Brooke , my wife . I've heard of her . She's a pretty nice person . But we're walking down the street . You see us walking .
Speaker 2And who's got a dog Two ?
Speaker 1dogs .
Speaker 2Did we have both ? I only saw one yesterday .
Speaker 1Yeah , we tried to leave the little one home . She's a bitch , but anyway . No , she's only a one walk a day girl , she isn't , you know , and um , so anyway , we're walking along and I said something . I said you know , I'm happy , I'm proud of us , even though we've been at it for a while and I said , yeah , we had 750 downloads . She's like not last . And I'm like thanks for the reality check . No , I'm proud of us for sticking with it . Thanks for the people that do .
Speaker 2We have fun doing it . Hopefully you guys like listening to it .
Speaker 1Yeah , so tune in next time .
Speaker 2Talk to you soon . Bye-bye , bye .
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