44 pages • 1-hour read
Billionaire Boy
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Background
Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of racism.
Genre Context: Roald Dahl, Humor, and Morality
Walliams’s novels’ strong moral messages, likeable child characters and awful bullies have drawn comparisons with legendary British author Roald Dahl (1916-1990), the author of Matilda, The Twits, George’s Marvelous Medicine, The BFG, James and the Giant Peach, and many more novels for children. Just as Dahl often included horribly mean characters as nemeses for his protagonists, Walliams’s work usually includes snobby or cruel villains. In Billionaire Boy, protagonist Joe and his friend Bob are bullied by the Grubb twins, two ugly young thugs. The boys also suffer through lessons taught by mean and condescending teachers like their gym coach, Mr. Bruise, and strict history teacher, Miss Spite. Even their classmates are rude and demanding. This cast of misbehaving characters is reminiscent of many of Dahl’s work, such as the cruel teacher in Matilda, the dumb Twits, and the entitled and clueless kids in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. One of Walliams’s illustrators, Quentin Blake, also illustrated many of Roald Dahl’s novels, creating another connection between their work.
Walliams’s use of exaggeration, slapstick humor and caricature are also strongly reminiscent of Dahl’s work. Walliams describes Mr. Spud in his toupee “like a man who was trying to balance a dead rodent on his head” (39) while shirtless at his pool party he looks more like “a beach ball that had been rolled in hair” (217). Like his main inspiration Dahl, Walliams’s books engage young readers in vivid and irreverent descriptions made more powerful by their humorous illustrations.
Walliams updates Dahl’s tropes for 21st-century readers. Rather than writing fantasy characters and scenarios, he grounds his works in popular British culture and addresses serious issues like bullying, homelessness, and poverty. His books still contain heartwarming endings and positive messages for young readers. In his popular book Gangsta Granny, an ailing grandmother uses sensational stories to bond with her grandson, teaching young readers to respect their elders and make an effort to know them. In Mr. Stink, a young girl named Chloe befriends an unhoused man, providing both of them with much needed friendship and the courage to confront their bullies. In Billionaire Boy, Joe Spud and his rich father learn that their vast wealth cannot solve all of their problems, and that having strong relationships is more fulfilling than living in luxury.
Authorial Context: David Walliams
Walliams was born in 1971 in London and attended the University of Bristol, where he completed a bachelor of arts in drama. Walliams has had a varied career as an actor, TV personality, children’s book author, and philanthropist. Best known for his sketch comedy series Little Britain, Walliams has also acted in other comedy and drama productions, such as Miss Marple, Doctor Who, and Dinner for Schmucks. Walliams has also had some small parts in theater productions, appearing in plays No Man’s Land and A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
To date, Walliams’s books have been translated into over 50 languages and have sold over 50 million copies worldwide. Many of his books, such as The Boy in the Dress, Billionaire Boy, Gangsta Granny, and Mr. Stink, have been made into television films in the UK. In addition to his children’s novels, Walliams’s picture books include The First Hippo on the Moon, The Creature Choir, and Little Monsters. According to BookTrust, his work’s popularity has made him the fastest-growing children’s author in the UK (“David Walliams.” BookTrust, 2024).
Walliams uses his celebrity to spotlight social causes. He is known for his support of Sport Relief, a British fundraising effort, and has competed in athletic challenges to raise funds for the charity. Walliams has won awards for his charity efforts, television work, and literary work. He has won National Television Awards as Best TV Judge, and Specsavers named Ratburger, Demon Dentist and Awful Auntie Children’s Book of the Year. In 2017, Walliams was awarded an OBE (Order of the British Empire) for his contributions to the arts and philanthropy.
Cultural Context: “New Money” and Class Structure in British Society
Class structure in Great Britain is shaped not only by wealth but also by lineage. If someone comes from the working or middle class, becoming wealthy does not automatically make them members of the upper class. On the contrary, the aristocracy often looks down on people who represent so-called “new money,” meaning that they have wealth but none of the cultural heritage, upbringing, or education that identifies members of the upper class. This scenario is satirized in Billionaire Boy, with Joe’s working-class father becoming a billionaire by inventing a new kind of toilet paper. The low-brow origin of Mr. Spud’s wealth and his gaudy displays of fortune make him a parody of this type.
As a kingdom, Great Britain has a class structure based on proximity to royalty. At the top of the hierarchy sits the aristocracy and landed gentry, whose privilege derives from centuries of inherited estates, family names, titles, and cultural influence. Beneath them is the upper-middle class, business leaders and other professionals who are often educated at elite schools like Eton or Harrow and universities like Oxford and Cambridge. These people can buy titles and landed estates, but even this does not make them true members of the aristocracy.
The working class is associated with jobs in manual labor and industry and has historically occupied the bottom of the socioeconomic hierarchy. Even when individuals from working-class backgrounds accumulate significant wealth—like Mr. Spud—they are often excluded from the highest rungs of society. This exclusion stems from subtle but powerful social codes: accent and manner of speech, schooling, networks of family connections, and familiarity with upper-class customs.
Mr. Spud tries to bridge the cultural gap by sending Joe to St. Cuthbert’s, a parody of an upper-class English boarding school. The boys must wear “Elizabethan ruffs and tights” (26), and Joe takes classes like Scone Eating, Fox Hunting, and Conversing About the Weather. These descriptions parody the culture and leisure activities that typify the British upper class. In Billionaire Boy, these activities can’t be taught to someone like Joe, who doesn’t come from that class to begin with. His desire to regain the simplicity of his working-class life underscores the book’s message that neither money nor class determine a person’s worth.
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