Roald Dahl's "Dip in the Pool": A Macabre Tale

Literary classics find new breath in our exploration of Roald Dahl's darkly ingenious "Dip in the Pool." Originally published in The New Yorker in 1952, this macabre tale follows an American gambler aboard a transatlantic liner who hatches a desperate scheme to win a betting pool—by deliberately falling overboard to slow the ship's progress.

We peel back the layers of this brilliant story while sharing fascinating insights about Dahl himself. Born in Wales in 1916 and leaving us in 1990 with the touching final words, "I'm not frightened, it's just that I miss you all so much," Dahl's legacy continues through his unforgettable narratives. The featured adaptation comes from the beloved British television series "Tales of the Unexpected," which ran from 1979 to 1988 and still captivates viewers on British television today.

Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome to Melancholy Mentor
• 0:53 Tales of the Unexpected: Dip in the Pool
• 2:15 Roald Dahl's Life and Legacy
• 4:15 About "Dip in the Pool" Story
• 5:53 Tales of the Unexpected Series
• 7:19 Future Projects and Closing Thoughts

Transcript

Fran: 0:00

Hello everyone and welcome to Melancholy Mentor, where classic literature meets the vibrant world of radio plays. I'm Fran and I'm joined by Evan from Mystery Mythos. Together, we're your guides on this creative journey. During each episode, we'll dive into stories featured on the Melancholy Mentor channel, allowing fresh ideas to flourish, inspiring you to dream big and unlock your creative potential. Get comfy, open your mind and embrace curiosity. Let's get started.

Fran: 0:39

Hello everyone. I'm Fran and I'm Evan, and in this Melancholy Mental podcast episode, we're highlighting an episode featured on our YouTube channel, melancholy Mental. The episode that we're going to do today is Tales of the Unexpected, and it's Dip in the Pool, which is by a British author, roald Dahl. Which is by a British author, roald Dahl. Roald Dahl, oh gosh, I always have trouble pronouncing his name.

Fran: 1:12

I wonder whether everyone used to call him Ronald, because the spelling is R-O-A-L-D and to my eyes it looks a bit like Ronald. So anyway, to say that again. This episode that we're going to highlight is Tales of the Unexpected Dip in the Pool by British author Roald Dahl. Dip in the Pool is a macabre short story and it was originally published in 1952 in the New Yorker. Dip in the Pool featured in an Outbridge Hitchcock Presents anthology series in 1958, which is another tongue twister for me. The other television adaptation is the 1979 season one episode, eight towels of the unexpected. That's what we're highlighting today. So we've got a radio drama episode of this.

Fran: 2:05

Just to say a little bit about Towers of the Unexpected, it's a British television series and it actually aired between 1979 and 1988. It's actually still shown on British television now, isn't it? You can get it during the week. Yeah, certain channels, I forget which ones, but I know that it's it's on. Yeah, they still run it and you can still catch certain episodes. Yeah, I enjoy watching them because they're only half an hour episodes, so they're short stories in each episode. Yeah, so the series tales are unexpected is an anthology of stories and it's based on books written by Roald Dahl. So a little bit about Roald Dahl. He was born in 1916 in Wales and he died in 1990. And he actually died from a rare cancer of the blood and he was aged 74. Some of Roald Dahl's final words were you know, I'm not frightened, it's just that.

Fran: 3:09

I miss you all so much. Oh, I know, I think that's just, it's just quite, it's just quite lovely, isn't it?

Fran: 3:15

yeah, you know, and I should imagine that he spoke that to um to his family members yeah and we leave behind a legacy through our words and our stories, and it's in the power of these narratives that our true essence lives. So I like things like that and I hope it's true that actually did happen. Yeah, and this is also part of the reason why we, like as in evan and myself, love to bring radio dramas to a new audience. So we like to inspire the creativity and the imagination of the listener and bring these old stories to a new audience. Definitely, so these timeless stories live on and continue, leaving a meaningful legacy for generations to come, which is also just wonderful. Yeah, yeah.

Fran: 4:08

So I'm just going to move on to a little teaser about dip in the pool. So the actual story itself that we're highlighting and this was about an american gambler, so dip in the pool. So there's an american gambler aboard a transatlantic liner, so an ocean liner, and he participates in a pool like p-double-o-l, I think, pool that bets on how far the ship will sail each day on the same voyage is mr body ball, so hopefully that's how you pronounce his name. Mr Bottleball is another gambler. He enters a sweepstake predicting how long it will take the ship to reach its destination, and Mr Bottleball decides in his infinite wisdom that if he can slow the ship down slightly he might win the sweepstake. Yeah, now here's the spoiler alert. He decides to deliberately fall overboard. I know on that cliffhanger over to you, evan, what information do you have about this episode that we feature on the melancholy mental youtube channel?

Evan: 5:35

yeah, I just did a bit of research. I couldn't find a when this episode went out. I researched and researched it. I just couldn't trace the exact date. But the series itself ran for nine series with a total of 112 episodes in all. And this episode, A Dip in the Pool, was narrated by Geoffrey Palmer. The video itself, which I love, was filmed by you at Pool in Dorset. And we've actually got I was surprised at this, like I didn't realise it must have shot up. We've got 245 views.

Fran: 6:25

Oh, lovely, that's really good Because we're a little channel, aren't we? Yeah, we're a little channel and, again, you know, for those of you who have listened to our previous podcast, you would know that I like to say this, and it's good information for those who's listening for the first time by video, that means that we have the audio of the radio plays and dramas, so they're already produced by other things like the BBC etc. And we get the audio and we actually provide the video to it on YouTube. Get the audio and we actually provide the video to it on YouTube. So the YouTube channel has actual videos on it that accompany the the audio. And I film along the Dorset coastline because I'm based on the south coast in England and quite often in Hampshire, or sometimes when we're traveling about, evan and I, and we take the tripod and I just do it on my mobile phone, so we do an accompanying video to it.

Fran: 7:19

Mentioning Geoffrey Palmer, I've got a little bit of information about him actually excellent, yeah. So Geoffrey Palmer, who narrated the story that we've got the dip in the pool, was an English actor and he was born in 1927 in North Finchley in Middlesex, england, and he died in Hertfordshire, which is the neighbouring county in 2020. Now Middlesex. I know this because I know the area. Let's just say so Middlesex is a forgotten English historic county and it existed until 1965. English historic county and it existed until 1965.

Fran: 8:02

And after 1965, it was absorbed into Greater London. Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's right. So it actually fascinates me, because there must be other counties within Britain that no longer exist.

Evan: 8:15

Yeah, yeah, there are, because I started looking at it, didn't I? But there's a whole list on Wikipedia, I think, of ones that don't exist anymore.

Fran: 8:25

Things like this I find absolutely fascinating. Yeah, interesting, because I actually grew up near that area in the 1970s and people would refer to Middlesex. So I grew up with the knowledge that that was the county but didn't realize it was. It was already kind of absorbed by Greater London at that point so people still still spoke about it like it existed still, and no doubt there are still some people that that will tell you that Middlesex exists yeah, yeah this podcast that we've got.

Fran: 8:59

We're actually adding another podcast for any of you that are interested. It'll be a new one and it's on a slightly different topic, because I'm actually a neuro-linguistic programming coach. So we're going to be doing a series of interviews of people for motivation and inspiration, just general people that we know or that we encounter, that have got inspirational stories or motivational messages to share and that will go out under melancholy coaching. But it's, it's still us are doing it, it's us, isn't it? Yeah, still us. No, getting away from us. So we're passionate about sharing timeless stories with new audiences and even more passionate about igniting your creativity along the way, and that is. That is the thing that all encompasses the coaching side of what we do and youtube channels.

Fran: 9:52

Evan has also got a youtube channel mystery mythos, so at some point we're going to be adding videos to that of places that we visit that are kind of maybe a little bit spooky or maybe have got, like you know, historic stories attached to them that are more on the mysterious side, and Evan's going to be starting their own podcast as well. Aren't you Very excited? You know so. Thank you Very excited, I know so. Thank you for joining us. Be sure to explore the radio plays and dramas that are featured on our YouTube channel. Melancholy Mentor and until next time, bye.

Fran: 10:31

Thank you for tuning in. Contact us at melancholy mentor. Calm until next time. Get your minds open and stay curious.