Roald Dahl's run-in with her and a dead mouse as a boy inspired some of his most horrible characters, but who was the infamous Mrs Pratchett?

The fabled Mrs Pratchett was immortalised by Roald Dahl as "a small skinny old hag with a moustache on her upper lip, little piggy eyes and a mouth as sour as green gooseberry".

Specialist Dominic Somerville-Brown with the production archive for Roald Dahl’s memoir Boy (Stewart Attwood/PA Wire) ... Mrs Pratchett, by putting a dead mouse in a gobstopper jar.

Roald Dahl's run-in with her and a dead mouse as a boy inspired some of his most horrible characters but, as his centenary is celebrated across the country, who was the infamous Mrs Pratchett?

The sketches form part of an archive expected to fetch up to £30,000.

Drawings by Roald Dahl for memoir Boy to be sold at auction. Sarah Ward, PA Scotland. 15 June 2025 at 7:01 pm. Copied; ... Mrs Pratchett, by putting a dead mouse in a gobstopper jar.