Roald Dahl did not like beards. “Oh, he hated them,” recalls Sir Quentin Blake, chuckling quietly at the memory of his old friend and collaborator and his disdain for excessive facial hair.
Dahl’s suspicion of beards, coupled with his fierce attention to detail, meant that he took a very close interest in the illustrations he asked Blake to produce for Mr Twit, one of his most disgusting characters.
“It wasn’t very contentious, but I think I drew it sticking out in all directions,” Blake, 85, says of Mr Twit’s beard. “I always remember he said, ‘No, it’s like a lavatory brush.’ But I don’t think he actually said that. I think he said it was like some kind of industrial brush. What he meant was,