Roald Dahl Day: Pupils dress up as famous characters on author’s birthday

Roald Dahl Day is being celebrated by school children up and down the country, with pupils dressing up as their favourite characters to mark the occasion.

Many schools encourage their students to participate in the celebration of the beloved children’s author.

The annual event, which is on Thursday, falls on the late writer’s birthday. This year he would have been 102.

IT worker Debi Coote, 44, said her daughter Freya, aged 10, who dressed up as Violet Beauregarde from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, is a “huge fan” of the author’s work.

Debi, who lives in Sussex, added that Freya likes Roald Dahl’s books because “it’s his stories that her dad always read to her at bedtime as he grew up reading them too”.

Andrea Tucker, 43, said her six-year-old daughter Heidi Barone decided to dress up as Veruca Salt from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory because it’s a film the family often watch on lazy Sundays at their home in Rochdale.

Heidi thinks she is similar to the fictional character because she says “I want” all the time.

“She doesn’t always get, though,” added Andrea.