As you now know, Roald Dahl wrote several versions of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and included lots of very naughty characters. In a very early draft of the story, as many as ten children are lucky Golden Ticket finders who each win a tour of Mr Wonka’s Chocolate Factory:
Augustus Pottle who falls in the chocolate river Miranda Grope who also falls in after him Wilbur Rice and Tommy Troutbeck who climb in wagons running from the vanilla fudge mountain and end up in the Pounding and Cutting Room
Violet Strabismus who turns purple after chewing the three course-meal gum
Clarence Crump, Bertie Upside and Terence Roper who each cram a whole mouthful of warming candies and end up overheating
Elvira Entwhistle who falls foul of the squirrels in the Nut Room
And Charlie Bucket who gets stuck inside a chocolate statue and witnesses a burglary – and receives a very unusual reward …
Roald Dahl soon decided there were too many naughty children in the story. So, somewhat reluctantly, he reduced the number of lucky Golden Ticket finders to seven, and gave all the children distinct characteristics:
A nice boy
(previously Augustus Pottle) A greedy boy
A conceited boy (we never find out what happens to him)
A television-crazy boy (he became Mike Teavee in the final version!)
A girl who is allowed to HAVE anything she wants
A girl who chews gum all day long
A girl who is allowed to DO anything she wants
And it is in this draft that Charlie’s grandparents are introduced for the first time, and tiny people called ‘Whipple-Scrumpets’ become Mr Wonka’s workforce, reciting poems as each child leaves.