Ryan Tubridy sits down Roald Dahl's second wife Liccy Dahl about her time with the author.
Why did I fall in love? Oh gosh. The first thing was he was a very impressive looking man. He was 6'6 for a start, very good looking and wonderful twinkle in his eye. I don't know, I took one look and thought that's someone who is very, very, very special.
Mr Dahl was a great man for speaking on behalf of the underdog as seen in many of his children's books. However his demeanour could often be far from sentimental. "He could certainly be cantankerous" said Liccy: "He didn't mince his words. If he was upset by someone or felt something was wrong in life, he would voice his opinion very loudly."
When Dahl was in the middle of the writing process he could become increasingly grumpy. Liccy recalls speaking to him about it and he said:
"You don't understand, it's the fear of being able to write another one. It's the blank page that sits in my writing heart. On my board, will I ever be able to do that again?"
So what did make the writer happy? Chocolate! "The love of chocolate started at boarding school" said Liccy.
"He discovered that Cadburys wanted tasters of their chocolates so he became a taster. So he got a box of chocolates from Cadburys every month, I mean you're in heaven, and then you just have to write a note saying you know that needs a bit more ginger or raspberry or whatever. So that was the beginning of loving chocolates and he ended every meal with a piece of chocolate."
Tubridy recalled meeting the author once in 1988 when he signed the presenters copy of The BFG and he said Dahl gave such a strong impression because of his impressive height and smokey voice but also the way he interacted with children. Liccy agreed:
He was on their level. He was completely straight with them, there was no mucking around. Again, it goes back to his books; there's bad news, death but its swept aside very quickly and followed by humour. You have tragedy and comedy and life is tough. His life was tough.
Liccy discussed her husband's death saying:
If you're married to a bank manager on the high street of a small town and you're in love with him as much as one can ever be and he dies, she's left with nothing. I was left with an amazing, wonderful family to support me and a wonderful legacy to look after.
