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Roald Dahl biography and books
Roald Dahl was a spy, an ace fighter pilot, a chocolate historian and a medical inventor. For further information you can watch the following video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0hf2yy324Yc -
Birth
Famed children's author Roald Dahl was born in Llandaff, South Wales, on September 13, 1916. Roald Dahl's parents were Norwegian. As a child, he spent his summer vacations visiting with his grandparents in Oslo. -
St. Peters
The boarding school that Dahl was sent at the age of nine years until he was 13. -
Repton
Dahl graduated from Repton in 1932. Cadbury company used the school boys as testers for their chocolate bars. -
Royal Air Force
Lusting for yet more adventure, in 1939, Dahl joined the Royal Air Force. After training in Nairobi, Kenya, he became a World War II fighter pilot. While serving in the Mediterranean, Dahl crash-landed in Alexandria, Egypt. The plane crash left him with serious injuries to his skull, spine and hip. Following a recovery that included a hip replacement and two spinal surgeries, Dahl was transferred to Washington, D.C., where he became an assistant air attaché. -
'The Gremlins'
Dahl wrote his first story for children, The Gremlins, in 1942, for Walt Disney. The story wasn't terribly successful, so Dahl went back to writing macabre and mysterious stories geared toward adult readers. -
"A Piece of Cake"
Dahl's first published work, inspired by a meeting with C. S. Forester. -
First wife and children
Dahl married film actress Patricia Neal. The marriage lasted three decades and resulted in five children, one of whom tragically died in 1962. The couple divorced in 1983. Soon after, Dahl married Felicity Ann Crosland, his partner until his death in 1990. -
'James and the Giant Peach'
Dahl first established himself as a children’s writer in 1961, when he published the book James and the Giant Peach, a book about a lonely little boy living with his two mean aunts who meets the Old Green Grasshopper and his insect friends on a giant, magical peach. The book met with wide critical and commercial acclaim. -
'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory'
Three years after his first children’s book, Dahl published another big winner, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. A quirky, solitary businessman, Willy Wonka, has been holed up alone inside his fantastical chocolate factory until he releases five golden tickets inside the wrappers of candy bars. Winners — including the poor little boy Charlie Bucket, who doesn’t have much to eat — are awarded a visit. -
'Fantastic Mr. Fox'
Three farmers are out to get the cunning trickster Mr. Fox, who outwits them every time. Mr. Fox lives in a tree with his wife and family, which was inspired by a real 150-year beech tree Dahl knew as the “witches tree” standing outside his house. -
'The enormous crocodile'
The story begins in Africa in a large, deep, muddy river, where the enormous crocodile (the title character) is telling a smaller crocodile, known as the Not-So-Big One, that he wants to eat children for his lunch. -
George's Marvellous Medicine
While 8-year-old George's parents, Mr. and Mrs. Kranky, are out running going shopping, George's maternal grandmother bosses him around and bullies him. -
'The BFG'
Of his many stories, Roald Dahl said The BFG was his favorite. He came up with the idea for a giant who stores dreams in bottles for kids to enjoy when they sleep several years before, and he told the story of the Big Friendly Giant to his own kids at bedtime. -
'The Witches'
A boy happens upon a witch convention, where the witches are planning to get rid of every last child in England. The boy and his grandmother must battle the witches to save the children. -
Second wife and the Gipsy House
In 1983 Dahl is marrying Felicity d'Abreu Crosland and he lives the happiest years of his life. They lived in the famous Gipsy House in Missenden. -
'Matilda'
Roald Dahl’s last long story follows the adventures of a genius five-year-old girl, Matilda Wormwood, who uses her powers to help her beloved teacher outwit the cruel headmistress. -
Death
Roald Dahl died on November 23, 1990, at the age of 74. After suffering an unspecified infection, on November 12, 1990, Roald Dahl had been admitted to the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford, England.
