The Twits

The Twits is a 1980 children's novel by British author Roald Dahl. It was first published by Jonathan Cape. The story features The Twits (Mr. and Mrs. Twit), a spiteful, idle, unkempt couple who continuously play nasty practical jokes on each other to amuse themselves, and exercise their devious wickedness on their pet monkeys. Dahl's disgust at beards was the inspiration for Mr. Twit. As he stated, he penned The Twits in an effort to "do something against beards".[1] His biographer, fellow children's author Michael Rosen, recalls the first time the pair met, Dahl leant across to Rosen's son Joe and said of his father's beard: "It's probably got this morning's breakfast in it. And last night's dinner. And old bits of rubbish, any old stuff that he's come across. You might even find a bicycle wheel in it".[1] In 2003, The Twits was listed at number 81 in The Big Read, a BBC survey of the British public of the top 200 novels of all time.[2] In 2012, the titular Twits appeared on a Royal Mail commemorative postage stamp.[3] In 2023, the novel was ranked by BBC at no. 87 in their poll of "The 100 greatest children's books of all time".[4] The Twits was adapted for the stage in 2007 and an animated film adaptation, directed by Phil Johnston, is scheduled for release in 2025 on Netflix.[5][6] Penguin Books has released the book in audiobook form twice, in 2001 read by Simon Callow and in 2023 read by Richard Ayoade.