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Danny the Champion of the World: Plays for Children
Nine-year-old Danny lives happily in a gypsy caravan with his father, but his world is turned upside down when he learns that his father poaches pheasants from the estate of the nasty, greedy Victor Hazell. One night his father doesn't return from a poaching run and Danny fears the worst. Danny sets off on a courageous journey to find his father and with a little help from the village soon finds himself masterminding the most incredible and exciting plot ever attempted against Victor Hazell.
160 pages, Paperback
Published November 21, 2017
16 people are currently reading
796 people want to read
About the author
David Wood
286 books41 followersDAVID WOOD began writing as a student at Oxford University in the sixties.
He wrote his first play for children in 1967 and has since written over sixty more.
They are performed all over the world and include THE GINGERBREAD MAN (nine London seasons), THE OWL AND THE PUSSYCAT WENT TO SEE... (six London seasons, co-written with Sheila Ruskin), THE SELFISH SHELLFISH, THE SEE-SAW TREE, SAVE THE HUMAN (from the story he wrote with cartoonist Tony Husband), THE IDEAL GNOME EXPEDITION and THE PLOTTERS OF CABBAGE PATCH CORNER.
His stage adaptations of well-known books include Dick King-Smith's BABE THE SHEEP-PIG, Roald Dahl's THE BFG and THE WITCHES (both of which played long tours and two West End seasons), THE TWITS, JAMES AND THE GIANT PEACH and FANTASTIC MR FOX, DANNY THE CHAMPION OF THE WORLD and GEORGE’S MARVELLOUS MEDICINE, HRH The Prince of Wales' THE OLD MAN OF LOCHNAGAR, Michael Foreman's DINOSAURS AND ALL THAT RUBBISH, Helen Nicoll and Jan Pienkowski's MEG AND MOG SHOW (five London seasons for Unicorn Theatre), Philippa Pearce's TOM'S MIDNIGHT GARDEN (which Unicorn Theatre played on tour, in the West End and on Broadway) and Judith Kerr’s THE TIGER WHO CAME TO TEA.
He was dubbed 'the national children's dramatist' by Irving Wardle in The Times and published, to rave reviews, THEATRE FOR CHILDREN: GUIDE TO WRITING, ADAPTING, DIRECTING AND ACTING (Faber), co-written with Janet Grant, which has become required reading on the subject in the UK and the US, and is now published in China.
He directed many of his plays for his own company, Whirligig Theatre (founded with John Gould in 1979), which for 25 years toured to major theatres nationwide include Sadler's Wells in London.
Film screenplays include SWALLOWS AND AMAZONS and BACK HOME, which won a gold award at the New York Film and TV Festival 1991. Writing for television includes the series CHIPS' COMIC, CHISH 'N' FIPS and THE GINGERBREAD MAN; and TIDE RACE, his filmed drama for Central Television and the European Broadcasting Union, has won several international awards.
For BBC Radio 4 he adapted Arthur Ransome's SWALLOWS AND AMAZONS.
He also writes children's books; with Richard Fowler he has co-created novelty books including BEDTIME STORY, MOLE'S SUMMER STORY, MOLE'S WINTER STORY, SILLY SPIDER, THE MAGIC SHOW, FUNNY BUNNY'S MAGIC SHOW and THE TOY CUPBOARD. He wrote THE PHANTOM CAT OF THE OPERA (illustrated by Peters Day).
David Wood has followed a parallel career as an actor, best remembered as Johnny in Lindsay Anderson's cult film IF... He is married to Jacqueline Stanbury; they have two grown-up daughters, Katherine and Rebecca.
In 2004 he was awarded an OBE for services to literature and drama in the Queen's birthday honours.
In 2006 he wrote THE QUEEN’S HANDBAG, a play to celebrate the Queen’s 80th birthday. It was performed by an all-star cast in Buckingham Palace Gardens at the Children’s Party at the Palace, and seen live on BBC 1 by 8,000,000 television viewers.
from http://www.davidwood.org.uk/all_about...
He wrote his first play for children in 1967 and has since written over sixty more.
They are performed all over the world and include THE GINGERBREAD MAN (nine London seasons), THE OWL AND THE PUSSYCAT WENT TO SEE... (six London seasons, co-written with Sheila Ruskin), THE SELFISH SHELLFISH, THE SEE-SAW TREE, SAVE THE HUMAN (from the story he wrote with cartoonist Tony Husband), THE IDEAL GNOME EXPEDITION and THE PLOTTERS OF CABBAGE PATCH CORNER.
His stage adaptations of well-known books include Dick King-Smith's BABE THE SHEEP-PIG, Roald Dahl's THE BFG and THE WITCHES (both of which played long tours and two West End seasons), THE TWITS, JAMES AND THE GIANT PEACH and FANTASTIC MR FOX, DANNY THE CHAMPION OF THE WORLD and GEORGE’S MARVELLOUS MEDICINE, HRH The Prince of Wales' THE OLD MAN OF LOCHNAGAR, Michael Foreman's DINOSAURS AND ALL THAT RUBBISH, Helen Nicoll and Jan Pienkowski's MEG AND MOG SHOW (five London seasons for Unicorn Theatre), Philippa Pearce's TOM'S MIDNIGHT GARDEN (which Unicorn Theatre played on tour, in the West End and on Broadway) and Judith Kerr’s THE TIGER WHO CAME TO TEA.
He was dubbed 'the national children's dramatist' by Irving Wardle in The Times and published, to rave reviews, THEATRE FOR CHILDREN: GUIDE TO WRITING, ADAPTING, DIRECTING AND ACTING (Faber), co-written with Janet Grant, which has become required reading on the subject in the UK and the US, and is now published in China.
He directed many of his plays for his own company, Whirligig Theatre (founded with John Gould in 1979), which for 25 years toured to major theatres nationwide include Sadler's Wells in London.
Film screenplays include SWALLOWS AND AMAZONS and BACK HOME, which won a gold award at the New York Film and TV Festival 1991. Writing for television includes the series CHIPS' COMIC, CHISH 'N' FIPS and THE GINGERBREAD MAN; and TIDE RACE, his filmed drama for Central Television and the European Broadcasting Union, has won several international awards.
For BBC Radio 4 he adapted Arthur Ransome's SWALLOWS AND AMAZONS.
He also writes children's books; with Richard Fowler he has co-created novelty books including BEDTIME STORY, MOLE'S SUMMER STORY, MOLE'S WINTER STORY, SILLY SPIDER, THE MAGIC SHOW, FUNNY BUNNY'S MAGIC SHOW and THE TOY CUPBOARD. He wrote THE PHANTOM CAT OF THE OPERA (illustrated by Peters Day).
David Wood has followed a parallel career as an actor, best remembered as Johnny in Lindsay Anderson's cult film IF... He is married to Jacqueline Stanbury; they have two grown-up daughters, Katherine and Rebecca.
In 2004 he was awarded an OBE for services to literature and drama in the Queen's birthday honours.
In 2006 he wrote THE QUEEN’S HANDBAG, a play to celebrate the Queen’s 80th birthday. It was performed by an all-star cast in Buckingham Palace Gardens at the Children’s Party at the Palace, and seen live on BBC 1 by 8,000,000 television viewers.
from http://www.davidwood.org.uk/all_about...
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
April 24, 2018
I picked up this book from my library because I had read Matilda by Roald Dahl (It was wonderful). I didn't realize that I am picking a play adaptation until I started reading it. (This shows how madly I loved Matilda that I just read Roald Dahl and nothing else). Now, I am so happy that I did read this small play.
It is a nice story where Danny, a 10 year old boy lives with his Dad in a caravan. One night, he finds out that his dad is hiding something from him. Dad initially thinks that Danny is too young to understand his secret. But when Danny confronts him, he says the truth. Good for Dad, because he turns out to be the champion of that secret.
The father-son relationship is very touching and the depth of their love gets reflected in all their actions. All the other characters are very dramatic and I am sure kids would love it.
The play part is the best. While reading this, I had just one thing in my mind - why didn't I see this book when I was in school. Me and my friends would have loved enacting this play. It has everything nicely explained - from props to costumes to lighting and music.
A wonderful book and must read for children as well as their teachers and parents.
It is a nice story where Danny, a 10 year old boy lives with his Dad in a caravan. One night, he finds out that his dad is hiding something from him. Dad initially thinks that Danny is too young to understand his secret. But when Danny confronts him, he says the truth. Good for Dad, because he turns out to be the champion of that secret.
The father-son relationship is very touching and the depth of their love gets reflected in all their actions. All the other characters are very dramatic and I am sure kids would love it.
The play part is the best. While reading this, I had just one thing in my mind - why didn't I see this book when I was in school. Me and my friends would have loved enacting this play. It has everything nicely explained - from props to costumes to lighting and music.
A wonderful book and must read for children as well as their teachers and parents.
March 9, 2022
Read it a while ago, it is another interesting book for anyone in middle schools:)
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I am revamping my blog: see it here > https://sites.google.com/view/chevrev...
---
Find me on:
Instagram: @calliesyy
Wattpad: @writerthursday
P.S. Add me as a friend :) I like to read romance novels and mystery stories!
January 25, 2021
It was wonderful
December 10, 2025
Great story told from the perspective of a loving son who learns a secret about his father. A fun quick read!
October 14, 2025
I read this book on placement with the class, and they really enjoyed it. We were able to make lots of cross-curricular links. For example, in English, they were able to write a letter to the local council about being for or against Pheasant hunting.
It was a really engaging book which the children enjoyed, there was a lot of vocabulary which the children didn't know, so this was really good to be able to teach into and increase the class's understanding of new vocabulary.
It was a really engaging book which the children enjoyed, there was a lot of vocabulary which the children didn't know, so this was really good to be able to teach into and increase the class's understanding of new vocabulary.
August 20, 2014
It's a totally amazing book, would want everyone to read it at least once though it's something written for kids and would even sound silly at times but there are many places where Dahl has written such touchy and realistic lines in a surprisingly easy way that you can't help but get amazed by them for a minute or two. At the same time he has described things so vividly that they penetrate into your mind the very first time you've read them, for instance here is one:
"what made my dad appear so serious was the fact that he never smiled with his mouth. He did it all with his eyes. He had brilliant blue eyes and when he thought of something funny, his eyes would flash and if you looked carefully, you could actually see a tiny little golden spark dancing in the middle of each eye. But the mouth never moved. I was glad my dad was an eye-smiler. It meant he never gave a fake smile, because it's impossible to make your eyes twinkle if you aren't feeling twinkly yourself. A mouth-smile is different. You can fake a mouth-smile any time you want, simply by moving your lips. I've also learned that a real mouth-smile always has an eye-smile to go with it, so watch out, I say, when someone smiles at you with his mouth but the eyes stay the same. It's sure to be bogus."
So I guess you guys understand why I call this a must-read!!
"what made my dad appear so serious was the fact that he never smiled with his mouth. He did it all with his eyes. He had brilliant blue eyes and when he thought of something funny, his eyes would flash and if you looked carefully, you could actually see a tiny little golden spark dancing in the middle of each eye. But the mouth never moved. I was glad my dad was an eye-smiler. It meant he never gave a fake smile, because it's impossible to make your eyes twinkle if you aren't feeling twinkly yourself. A mouth-smile is different. You can fake a mouth-smile any time you want, simply by moving your lips. I've also learned that a real mouth-smile always has an eye-smile to go with it, so watch out, I say, when someone smiles at you with his mouth but the eyes stay the same. It's sure to be bogus."
So I guess you guys understand why I call this a must-read!!
May 22, 2017
I reacenly read roald dahl danny the chaimpion of the world. This book was about this boy when he was 4 months old and his mother died and the boy had to grow up with his dad. After all of this he was beating everyoning in everything. I really enjoyed this book because it was cool to see how he grew up. I recomed this book to everyone.
July 27, 2013
its childish a funny and would make a marvelous bed time read. The innocent adventures that we have always dreamed of. This is book is as much about growing up as it is about the fantasies that make our life worth living.
February 26, 2014
2012.2.29 39514words
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February 3, 2017pklk
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 28, 2017
I like Roald Dahl's books a lot, they're so imagintative and creative. This one was hilarous, and the charecters were amazing.
June 12, 2020
I think this story is nice and the father is caring but also mischievous at the same time. Although he sneaks off and does stuff without his son he's still a good father
December 28, 2021
Its Roald Dahl
September 8, 2023
First thriller of my life. Awesome.
September 9, 2023
It was amazing, I like Danny dad being a poacher
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews