The First Two Finders

The very next day, the first Golden Ticket was found. The finder was a boy called

Augustus Gloop, and Mr Bucket's evening newspaper carried a large picture of him on the

front page. The picture showed a nine-year-old boy who was so enormously fat he looked

as though he had been blown up with a powerful pump. Great flabby folds of fat bulged out

from every part of his body, and his face was like a monstrous ball of dough with two small

greedy curranty eyes peering out upon the world. The town in which Augustus Gloop lived,

the newspaper said, had gone wild with excitement over their hero. Flags were flying from

all the windows, children had been given a holiday from school, and a parade was being

organized in honour of the famous youth.

'I just knew Augustus would find a Golden Ticket,' his mother had told the newspapermen. 'He eats so many bars of chocolate a day that it was almost impossible for him not to find one. Eating is his hobby, you know. That's all he's interested in. But still, that's better than being a hooligan and shooting off zip guns and things like that in his spare time, isn't it? And what I always say is, he wouldn't go on eating like he does unless he needed nourishment, would he? It's all vitamins, anyway. What a thrill it will be for him to visit Mr Wonka's marvellous factory! We're just as proud as anything!'

'What a revolting woman,' said Grandma Josephine. 'And what a repulsive boy,' said Grandma Georgina. 'Only four Golden Tickets left,' said Grandpa George. 'I wonder who'll get those.'

And now the whole country, indeed, the whole world, seemed suddenly to be caught up in a mad chocolate-buying spree, everybody searching frantically for those precious remaining tickets. Fully grown women were seen going into sweet shops and buying ten Wonka bars at a time, then tearing off the wrappers on the spot and peering eagerly underneath for a glint of golden paper.