In a celebrated passage from Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, Augustus Gloop becomes the first of four children to suffer an unfortunate accident at Willy Wonka’s headquarters. Unable to control his sweet tooth, he drinks straight from a chocolate river – and, as fate would have it, tumbles straight into it. He is hardly the only character to fall headfirst into a stream (his blind adoration of all things sweet and fattening is a bit like that of the Greek figure Narcissus, in love with his own face) – and if we follow Roald’s story Taking Dahl as an example Warning: Gloop isn’t the first to fall prey to basic appetite either. We all do it – especially at this time of year: with Advent calendars, Christmas pudding, chocolate blocks and endless boxes of Quality Street providing plenty of treats in the sweet and fattening department and turning us all into Gloopean fiends.
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