A Roald Dahl Special Blue Peter

going to say, I am going to say... Fantastic Mr Fox? Matilda! You are

not as big a fan as you thought. Now it is live Blue Peter!

Today's show is a jumpsquiffling and phizz-whizzing

With quacky and scrumdiddlyumptious science.

A razztwizzler of a musical performance.

And enough Gobblefunk to fill a dictionary.

Yes, this Tuesday marked 100 years since the birth

of the legendary children's author, Roald Dahl, and here on live Blue

Greg Foot will be attempting to use science to recreate some

We'll show you how to create your own Gobblefunk with Dr Susan Rennie.

Plus some of the cast of hit musical, Charlie and the

Chocolate Factory, will be here to perform a brand new

I went to find out a little bit more about the man behind the books.

Marvellous medicine, enormous crocodiles and dried peaches, taking

us to places where chocolate rivers flow. They are just some of the

amazing characters and creations brought to life by Roald Dahl. I've

always loved his books, so I want to find out more about one of our most

iconic authors, and where better to start than with his youngest

daughter, Lucy, whom you might recognise as one of our competition

judges. I caught up with her at a special exhibition. What are your

memories growing up? Did you ever get to have a say in his stories?

This peach, for example, he saw a peach growing and thought, what if

that never stopped growing, what would happen if it just grew and

grew? In terms of his words and language, it's incredible that he

plucks words from everywhere. We didn't think anything of it. If you

did a whizPopper, he would say that was a marvellous whizpopper. What do

you think is so incredible about his books? You create your own pictures

when you read books. It was one of the most important things he thought

a child could do. It uses your imagination. Thank you very much.

Roald Dahl was born in Llandaff, Wales and when he was a boy, he

loved reading. When he was 13, he was sent to boarding school next to

a chocolate factory. After school, he joined the air force and worked

as a fighter pilot during World War II before moving to a village in

Buckinghamshire in the 1950s. And that is where I've come. Welcome to

Great Missenden, flare Roald Dahl created his marvellous characters

and rhymes. A lot of the things he saw here in first his writing, and

walking through the village is like taking a journey through the pages

of his books. These are the petrol pump from Danny the Champion of the

world. Our there are the dormitory windows where the Big Friendly Giant

is first seen. There is even a library that inspired Matilda. Roald

Dahl lived in this house, Gypsy cottage, and tucked away at the end

of the garden was his writing hut. That was where he dreams up all of

his weird and wonderful ideas, and it can now be found at the Roald

Dahl Museum. He surrounded himself with practical items when he wrote,

from scissors and pencil shoppers to some rather strange objects.

Including his hip joint! He brought it back to his hut after he had it

replaced. The centrepiece is his chair, where he sat every day and

created those wonderful characters we know and love. He had a pretty

strict routine. Every day, he would come up to the hut in the morning,

settle himself into his chair, resting his feet on an old suitcase.

He would then place a rolled up piece of cardboard on his arms,

before placing his writing board on top. Only then would he begin to

write, or by hand, using a pencil. Roald Dahl spent hours in his

writing at coming up with wonderful words of -- wonderful worlds and

colourful characters. His work is still as popular as ever. Barney

went to meet up with Lucy for a very special surprise. So nice to meet

you. Let's talk about the 100 year anniversary. What a celebration.

It's massive. What they can you believe it is here already? No, I

actually want my dad to be here. We have been asking viewers to tell us

what they think about him and his books. We have a little video for

you to watch. Would you like to have a look? I would love to. My

favourite book is Charlie And The Chocolate Factory and The Witches.

They are interesting and they have something magical. Every Roald Dahl

book has a twist. They all have different meanings. And they have a

lesson to teach. It never gets boring. It's lovely. He has done

such an amazing thing for so many imaginations, we would like you, and

his behalf, to accept his gold blue Peter badge. -- on his behalf. Gosh!

This is extraordinary, it's amazing. How many of these have been made?

Not many. Very few. Oh, my gosh! Even though we are celebrating his

100th anniversary, the characters and tales from his books remain

timeless. We're so lucky, because it means his work can be enjoyed by all

of us for many more to come. APPLAUSE

I had proper goose bumps watching that.

Receiving a Gold Blue Peter badge is such an

As Lucy said, Roald Dahl dreamt up all sorts of new words for

In fact, he invented so many that he now has his

And we're joined by the person responsible for creating it.

First of all, you're a lexicographer.

For this dictionary, my team read through all of Roald

Dahl's novels and special databases to identify over 20,000

That's not a job, it's fun! Why does he deserve a dictionary? He is

wonderfully inventive in his use of language, and he loved playing with

words and sounds. He invented 400 new words in a language known as

gobblefunk. Sometimes they become so popular that we use them in everyday

conversation. Powell power was added to --

oompa-loompa has been added to the Oxford dictionary. How don't he --

how did he invent gobblefunk? You can make sense of them even if you

have not heard them before. One way he built words was to blend two

words together to make a new work that combined the meaning.

For example 'delicious' and 'scrumptious' becomes 'delumptious'.

Dahl also liked to use spoonerisms, which is where you swap

'Nook and cranny' becomes 'crook and nanny'.

Head to the website if you want to create your own gobblefunk. You can

even get top tips from Doctor Susan. Would you stick around? We will have

some gobblefunk later in the show. That is hard to say.

Dahl's stories feature some pretty unusual ideas, from

homemade medicine that makes a grandma grow, to a girl who

But are these things actually possible?

Is that what you are here to do today, Greg? Absolutely. I want to

look at James And The Giant Peach, one of my favourites. It is all

about James and his amazing adventures on his giant Peach. I

have a mini peach, because what I want to look at first is the bit in

the book where he manages to fly it using seagulls, 502 of them. You

want to do the experiment? I want to do it. In that case, let's bring in

the seagulls. You like we're not doing that. We will use these helium

balloons. Helium is a gas that

is lighter than air. That means it moves up

through the air around it. It's made of stuff and gravity

is pulling that stuff down to Earth. For something to fly,

you have to overcome that force of So, you have to create more

lift force going up than Bill ready? -- ready? You've got it.

What happens if we increase the size to this one? This is double the

width? How much would that need? That would not be enough. It would

just a there. It is double the web, and it doesn't just double the

amount of stuff inside. If you multiply the width by two, it goes

up by two times two times two. Eight. So we need eight times as

many balloons. 24. Let's see if it works. Now, let's

take it up one more level. Three times the width of this little one

here. 81. 81 balloons, please. A lot of balloons. Let's see if this

works. 81 balloons. Amazing! I love it when you come onto the show. We

have these three peaches. Could the peach in James the giant Peach

really be lifted by seagulls? Roald Dahl says it grew to be the size of

a giant house. Scientists at Leicester University were trying to

work out what the wait would be. What lift force does a seagull give

you and how many do you need. It was 2.4 million. Always a pleasure to

see you. Thank you Berry match. Now, a brand-new competition you have to

enter. The London Underground. From its

world pay most map, some of the designs behind the Underground have

become iconic. The hunt is on for their latest design classic. That's

where you come in. We are launching a brand-new Blue Peter competition.

We want to help you design a poster which will be seen by thousands of

people every day in busy stations, just like this one here in London.

Your post will advertise travelling by tube or bus to popular London

sides. It needs to have an eye-catching design, include three

London landmarks and show the tube or a London bus. You will need to

include the logo and the Blue Peter ship in the design. Our winner will

get their hands on an orange badge and get to see their poster

displayed in key stations on the oldest tube network, seen by

thousands of people on their next big day out.

You have until 12 noon on Wednesday 21st September to

Download this application form from the Blue Peter website

and remember to fill out all three pages.

Now, on to this week's Whoppsacious Whizzwall.

That's Gobblefunk for the Big Badge Wall.

This poster is from Olivia in Nottingham. She has done the BFG

beautifully. For his big is, she has used actual shells. It is beautiful.

I love it. Peter from Sheffield, you are a genius. He has made

gingerbread biscuits in the style of Blue Peter badges. He did not make

the orange badge. It went missing. You are not meant to eat the post. I

got a silver bad. Last week I wrote the world record for eating 600

straws. Me with felt balls in my hair for hair and then we'll straws

inside my hair with a smile on my face. You get a happy dance! Keep

the post coming in. Braces self and stop eating biscuits for a second.

I will use the power of telekinetic 's, like Matilda. Well done!

Lavender Scaly Unicorn. Fan of the month because you're so kind to the

other fans. Recently, I took on a brand-new challenge. Very funny.

This is how is on the Isle of Wight. 451 weeks of the year it is a sleepy

harbour town for the other week of the year, this becomes the centre of

the sailing universe. The Cowes regatta is one of the oldest sailing

events in the world. It brings together some of the very best in

the business. Olympians, professionals, and mean. That's

right. As well as some of the best sailors in the world, the Cowes

regatta will all chafe -- also feature myself. The closest I have

ever been to a sailing boat is right here, right now. All I know is that

I'll be competing in a race. I don't know any more than that. I need to

pick up the basics of sailing and fast. Luckily, Phil here is one of

the top sailing coaches around but if anyone can teach me, he can. Do

you think it is an easy sport and easy skill to learn? It is fine. In

reality, anyone can do it. What will you be doing now? We will take you

through the basics of the boat in preparation for Cowes week. Before

we can get out on the water, Phil gives me a tour of his boat. The

point end of the boat is the bow. The back end, the stern. The tiller

is full steering. Lots of different words for lots of different things.

The most important thing is wind. This is Blue Peter. No need to get

rude. Wind, in terms of the wind blowing. With an idea of what makes

up a sailing boat, we head off to use an engine to get us out of the

harbour. On the open water, it is time to raise the sale. It is not

that easy. A metre to go. That will do perfectly. The sale is up. Next I

have to learn how to steer. How do I go left to right? If you push the

road away from you to the right side of the boat, the boat will turn to

the left. -- rudder. The opposite will bring the road towards you. The

boat will turn to the right. Steer left and the boat will move right.

Got it. I feel like I have some of the basics now. What will we learn

to do next? We will turn the boat around, attacking. It is basically

turning around. -- tacking. To sell into the wind, you need to tack.

Let's do this. We are tacking. I swing the cell to the opposite side

of the boat and it catches the wind again. If it is not flapping, your

job is done. Just like that. With the basics learned, we sell back to

shore. How did I get on? Really well. We had sales up and sales

down. What is next? We will join a team of professionals and race with

them for Cowes week. No worries. Fine. That's right. My challenge is

to compete as part of an actual, professional crew on a

high-performance yacht. So far I have sailed a boat once. It is going

to be quite a task. I have drafted in some sailing fans to get some

much needed advice. What are your top tips? Just to concentrate. There

is so much going on in sailing. Just do your job. Do not be nervous. I am

crossing fingers for the Sun on race day. Will you cross fingers? Thank

you for being such professionals. Next week, it is challenged time I'm

going to be part of an elite sailing crew on one of the biggest races of

their year. If I get it wrong, I could throw all the training and

preparation out of the window. They seem frantic conditions... I am

hanging on to the end of a boat. The pressure of race day and the pure

speed of the open water, can I hold it together? Or will I be all at

sea? I would love to go on that boat. If you want to see part two.

Watch next week. This one is inspired by Charlie And The

Chocolate Factory. We have three course chewing gum. I

have been working so hard on this. You have your own courses of three

course dinner gum. Just unwrapped them for now. I will explain what is

in chewing gum. A bit of colouring and slaving. Some icing sugar. --

flavouring. Inside is a bit of wax and oil and something called

polymers, the same stuff you get in plastic bottles. Are you ready? We

have not tried this one before. Blue is the starter. As you chew it, you

warm it up and the flavours start coming out. We getting it as a

starter? I have no idea. I know I do not like it. It is OK. It is

something very sweet. Blue cheese, with some sugar. Kind of blue cheese

flavour. What do you have? Onion soup. Garlic bread. As he warm it

up, it makes the polymers spread out a bit. I used to work in a

restaurant where they sold theirs. It is chicken teacup. -- tikka. This

is like roast potatoes. It is sausage and onion. The final one is

pudding could get ready for your pudding for that it is much, much

nicer. What do you have there? Vanilla rice cream. Strawberry and

vanilla. A lovely 1-2 finish with. Yours is vanilla with a bit of

banana and stuff. Yours is really strawberry, I think? Is it roars

bruise? -- raspberries? Please well combed the characters

who played Violet and Mr Beauregard. I am going to be performing Queen of

pop. It is a TV exclusive. It is all about the fact she loves bubble gum

and chewing gum. I saw the musical launches today. It is so good. What

makes Charlie And The Chocolate Factory such a wonderful book?

Everyone loves it. Everyone loves sweets. It is such a good book, they

could turn it into a film, two films and a musical. Good luck. I will

leave you to get ready. I cannot wait for that performance.

Now for some gobblefunk. One is when you are in such a good mood you

really want to go to school on Monday. Another is a trumpet made of

machine peas. -- mashie peas. Barney said phizz-whizzing. The person to

get that word is Maggot Crunchy Wombat. Now, taking it away with

Charlie and that the factory... -- Charlie And The Chocolate Factory.

# Meet a little lady everybody's talkin' about

# And she don't give a hoot about what Veruca says

# Cause 'round here, daddy gets the final word

# My daddy says I'm in my prime and who am I to doubt it?

# Slid into the delivery room and she proceeded

# They said before my teeth could grow

# They were hoping my mouth would slow

# So now you all know where I'm comin' from

# First take bubble gum, then you pop it in and ya chew it

# Each and every day those gums just keep on groovin'

# My daddy heard about a prize that was surely worth pursuing

# Put a Wonka bar before my eyes and said...

# My daddy knew I had the skill to get my grill a-going

# So let me lift my trophy and then I'm gonna let this mic drop

# Yes, she's met her match in the