For the fiftieth anniversary of the publication of Charlie and the Chocolate factory, Roald Dahl's estate are releasing an unused chapter from the book. It introduces two extra naughty characters – Tommy Troutbeck and Wilbur Rice – and it was found among Dahl’s papers after his death at 74 in 1990.
Dahl was drafting his first version of Charlie And The Chocolate factory when he published James And The Giant Peach in 1961 – but it was reportedly binned after his young nephew said it was rubbish.
The draft section tells how penniless but kind-hearted Charlie Bucket – who in this version is accompanied to the factory by his mother rather than Grandpa Joe – visit Vanilla Fudge Mountain with the other children.
Hundreds of men use picks and drills to work away at what Dahl called the ‘colossal jagged mountain as high as a five-storey building’ made of ‘pale-brown, creamy, vanilla fudge’.
But Tommy and Wilbur ignore Wonka’s warnings and jump on the wagons which enter a tunnel that leads to the Pounding and Cutting Room where the fudge is pounded by a huge machine and cut with knives.
Unsurprisingly, nothing more is heard of the two boys. The chapter also reveals several changes made to the original draft before it was published in the US in 1964 and the UK in 1967.
My Roald Dahl activities are available on TPT.
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