Danny the Champion of the World
Original book cover
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| Author | Roald Dahl |
|---|---|
| Illustrator | Jill Bennett (original) Quentin Blake |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Children's |
| Published |
1975 Jonathan Cape (original) Puffin Books (current) |
| Media type | Print (Hardback, Paperback) |
| Pages | 224 |
| ISBN | |
Danny, the Champion of the World is a 1975 children's book by Roald Dahl. The plot centers on Danny, a young English boy, and his father, William, who live in a Gypsy caravan fixing cars for a living and partake in poaching pheasants. It was first published in 1975 in the United States by Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. and in the United Kingdom by Jonathan Cape.
It was adapted into a made-for-TV movie in 1989 by Thames Television which starred Jeremy Irons. It is based on Dahl's adult short story "Champion of the World" which first appeared in print in The New Yorker magazine, as did some of the other short stories that would later be reprinted as Kiss Kiss (1960). Peter Serafinowicz provides the English language audiobook recording.
Danny is only four months old when his mother dies, and at the beginning of the book, 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 owned by local magnate, Mr. Victor Hazell. One morning thereafter, at 2:10 am, Danny discovers William's absence; and fearing of some misfortune, he drives an Austin Seven to Hazell's Wood, where he eventually finds William 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 the pheasants will then eat; and William dubs this new method the "Sleeping Beauty".
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