A friend once recounted a story about assimilating his Portuguese girlfriend into her new life in England. Her English, though good enough for a conversation, needed to be developed, extended, improved and her vocabulary extended.

So this friend bought her one or two of Roald Dahl’s brilliant, barmy and breathtaking books. It could have been any of them, from the Twits to James and the Giant Peach to The Big Friendly Giant; it doesn’t matter as they’re all full of great words which are the point of this story.

Known for his love of words and a proclivity to cook up some new ones, some wacky ones, some zibbledygook ones, our pal’s Portuguese girlfriend was perfectly bamboozled by the obscure words littered throughout Dahl’s book.

Does anyone know what a bootboggler is? Frobscottle? Electric fizzcockler? Humplecrimp? Fizzwiggler?

We have no idea either but we love them nonetheless. Imagine them, English is your second language and this is your first proper embrace with written English? It’s enough to perplex you indefinitely. When she eventually asked him what on earth was going on, he laughed at the error of his endeavour. All he wanted to do was help her out through the magic of Roald Dahl’s invented world.

Alas, some things are indeed lost in translation.

This friend loved his Dahl stories and he wanted to share them with his girlfriend. A grown man, his love of Dahl’s works endures. Yes they’re principally children’s books, not unlike Harry Potter, which is very much aimed at children and young people, Dahl’s books possess a capacity to enthral adults in an entertaining way and in a London Review of Books way – i.e. critically.

Dahl is literary icon, a British institution and one of the greatest writers ever. His stories endure and continue to mesmerise generation after generation. We could look to Hollywood’s love affair with Dahl, with the recent reinterpretation/remake of Willy Wonka and the wholly original presentation of Fantastic Mr Fox bringing new vitality to his work.

If you’re on a cottage holiday in the south-east, namely Buckinghamshire, then please do visit the Roald Dahl Museum and Story Centre. Situated in the village where Dahl lived and wrote for 36 years, it is, in some ways, as enchanting as his books, with, for example two jam-packed galleries and a fantabulous interactive story centre. And, last but by no means least, there is the piece de resistance, a replica of Dahl’s famous writing shed, which makes you positively weak at the knees. It’s where magic can happen.

Marvellous, or to say it like Dahl might have, Magnifikookykoo.

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