Caractacus Pott is one of the main characters in Ian Fleming's novel Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang and, as Potts, its film adaptation. The film version of the story makes several changes to his character.
Caractacus Pott of the book
In the original 1964 book, Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang: The Magical Car, Pott is a Royal NavyCommander and eccentric inventor who lives with his wife Mimsy and their twin eight-year-old children, Jeremy and Jemima, on their hilltop farm.
Caractacus Potts of the film
The filmmakers, including screenwriter Roald Dahl, altered a good deal of the book's details when crafting the 1968 film musical version of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, in which Caractacus is portrayed by Dick Van Dyke. The name Pott was changed to Potts and it was felt that a burgeoning romance would serve the story better, and so the character of Mimsie was written out of the story. Caractacus' film character was written as a widower who develops a romantic relationship with Truly Scrumptious, the daughter of the sweets magnate, Lord Scrumptious. The film also did not carry over the naval commander part of his life and there is no hint of it in any of the set design, dialogue or behaviour. His other inventions as seen in the film were designed and created by the craftsman Rowland Emett, and have been on display at Mid-America Science Museum for many years. In the movie, Caractacus' wife is revealed to have died, leaving him as guardian of their two children Jeremy and Jemima, but not in poverty. The daily routine is that while Caractacus invents things to sell for his family's sustenance, Jeremy and Jemima either go to school or play in a garage owned by a neighbour, Mr. Coggins. One day the children discover and grow fond of a decrepit race car that caught fire and exploded in a road race when it was involved in a high-speed accident — a dog and a child ran into the road from the cheering crowd, which the car swerved to avoid and was sent crashing down an embankment — and persuade their father to restore it.
Character name
There was a 1st century AD British chieftain named Caratacus, who led the British resistance to the Roman conquest, and who may have inspired Fleming's choice. Conveniently, the name is also a somewhat obvious pun on the term "crackpot", often used to describe an eccentric person, especially an inventor or scientist.
