14 Mr Willy Wonka
Mr Wonka was standing¹ all alone just inside the open gates of the factory.
And what an extraordinary little man he was!
He had a black top hat on his head.
He wore a tail coat made of a beautiful plum-coloured velvet².
His trousers were bottle green.
His gloves were pearly grey.
And in one hand he carried a fine gold-topped walking cane³.
Covering his chin, there was a small, neat, pointed⁴ black beard – a goatee. And his
eyes – his eyes were most marvellously bright. They seemed to be sparkling and
twinkling at you all the time. The whole face, in fact, was alight with fun and laughter.
And oh, how clever he looked! How quick and sharp and full of life! He kept making
quick jerky little movements with his head, cocking it this way and that, and taking
everything in with those bright twinkling eyes. He was like a squirrel in the quickness of
his movements, like a quick clever old squirrel from the park.
Suddenly, he did a funny little skipping dance in the snow, and he spread his arms
wide, and he smiled at the five children who were clustered near the gates, and he called
out, ‘Welcome, my little friends! Welcome to the factory!’
His voice was high and flutey. ‘Will you come forward one at a time, please,’ he called
out, ‘and bring your parents. Then show me your Golden Ticket and give me your name.
Who’s first?’
The big fat boy stepped up. ‘I’m Augustus Gloop,’ he said.
‘Augustus!’ cried Mr Wonka, seizing his hand and pumping it up and down with
terrific force. ‘My dear boy, how good to see you! Delighted! Charmed! Overjoyed to
have you with us! And these are your parents? How nice! Come in! Come in! That’s right!
Step through the gates!’
Mr Wonka was clearly just as excited as everybody else.
‘My name,’ said the next child to go forward, ‘is Veruca Salt.’
‘My dear Veruca! How do you do? What a pleasure this is! You do have an interesting
name, don’t you? I always thought that a veruca was a sort of wart⁵ that you got on the

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