A limited edition of 8 million £2 Charles Dickens coins, were created in 2012, in celebration of the 200th Anniversary of the author’s birth, They featured a portrait of Dickens, which is made up of a compilation of the titles of some of his famous works. The inscription on its edge read: 'Something will turn up', which refers to a quotation from Mr Micawber in the Dickens’ favourite novel, 'David Copperfield'.
Now the Guardian has revealed that plans to celebrate the life of Roald Dahl in 2016 were rejected by the Royal Mail. Born in 1916, he died in 1990 and was a novelist, short story writer, poet, screenwriter and fighter pilot who lived to see his books sell more than 250 million copies around the world. Apparentley, the Royal Mint dropped proposals to issue a coin to mark the centenary of his birth because he was
'associated with antisemitism and not regarded as an author of the highest reputation.'
The decision was made in a Royal Mint Sub-Committee meeting held in 2014, where the company, instead, opted for coins commemorating William Shakespeare and Beatrix Potter and was made despite the Royal Mail honouring the children’s author with a set of commemorative stamps celebrating his books, with 'Matilda', 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory' and 'The BFG' adapted for films.
The evidence against him rested on the fact that :
* in 1983, against a backdrop of widespread criticism over Israel’s invasion of Lebanon a year earlier, he told the New Statesman :
“There is a trait in the Jewish character that does provoke animosity, maybe it’s a kind of lack of generosity towards non-Jews. I mean, there’s always a reason why anti-anything crops up anywhere; even a stinker like Hitler didn’t just pick on them for no reason."
* in an interview with 'The Independent' in 1990 and just months before his death, he described himself as
'antisemitic' and railed against the
“Jewish-owned” media. He told the paper :
“It began in 1982 when the Israelis invaded Lebanon. They killed 22,000 civilians when they bombed Beirut. It was very much hushed up in the newspapers because they are primarily Jewish-owned. I’m certainly anti-Israeli and I’ve become antisemitic in as much as that you get a Jewish person in another country like England strongly supporting Zionism. I think they should see both sides. It’s the same old thing: we all know about Jews and the rest of it. There aren’t any non-Jewish publishers anywhere, they control the media – jolly clever thing to do – that’s why the president of the United States has to sell all this stuff to Israel.”
Amanda Bowman, the Vice-president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, when told, praised the Royal Mint’s decision and said :
“The Royal Mint was absolutely correct to reject the idea of a commemorative coin for Roald Dahl, Many of his utterances were unambiguously antisemitic. He may have been a great children’s writer, but he was also a racist and this should be remembered.”
Wes Streeting, Labour MP and Co-Chair of the 'All-Party Parliamentary Group on British Jews' said :
“Roald Dahl’s children’s stories were my favourite books growing up and they will always occupy a special place in my heart. There’s certainly no reason why future generations of children shouldn’t continue to enjoy those stories. But I think it’s absolutely clear that the Royal Mint made the right decision because there is just no excusing or explaining away Roald Dahl’s comments and his views, which were antisemitic. It is as simple as that. This isn’t borderline antisemitism. This is classic, undeniable, blatant antisemitism. I think when it comes to celebrating individuals, these factors ought to be taken into account. In some ways, for those of us who have never really known this side of Roald’s character, it’s quite upsetting actually.”
Last year, comedian said he was refusing to celebrate 'Roald Dahl Day' because of the author’s views and tweeted Dahl’s :
'Though a massive fan of his work, I won’t be celebrating #RoaldDahlDay'.
No comments:
Post a Comment