On September 13, 1916, Roald Dahl was born in the region of Llandaff, Wales, and consequently went on to become one of Britain’s most prolific writers.Essentially viewed as a children’s writer, Dahl authored more than a whopping 49 books: including collections, short stories as well as publications after his demise, of which 18 are solely children’s books. One of his most famous children’s books includes ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’ (1964), which features the famous Willy Wonka, the golden ticket won by Charlie, chocolate fountains, the large chocolate bar, and the adventures of the five children inside Wonka’s factory!Apart from this, Roald Dahl wrote many children’s poetry books and had around six non-fiction books in his writing career. However, did you know that Dahl had a myriad of adventures in his early life before he began his career as a prolific writer? These include his participation in World War II and the Royal Air Force and even the naming of a main-belt asteroid in his name!Not only this, but he also survived a plane crash, and the very first novel written by the brilliant author for Walt Disney was actually unsuccessful! As you read on, we make sure that Roald Dahl’s life facts shall be an interesting engagement for you, so why not also check out Edgar Allan Poe facts and Oscar Wilde facts we have specially curated for you as well.The Early Life Of Roald DahlRoald Dahl saw the light of the world in Llandaff in Wales on September 13, 1916, to parents Harald Dahl, a wealthy shipbroker, and Sofie Magdalene Dahl.From his father’s first marriage, Dahl had two sisters named Ellen and Louis. From his father’s second marriage, his mother Sofie had four children: Roald, Alfhild, Else, and Asta. One of Dahl’s sisters, Astri, passed away due to appendicitis when she was seven, at around 1920; and the children lost their father several weeks later. Dahl’s mother decided to stay back with all the children in Wales, alone, to fulfil the wish of her husband, wanting their children to receive a first-class education in the English schools, which he considered superior to the rest.However, Dahl hated schooling; his first school was the Cathedral School at Llandaff; where he and his friends were severely canned by the headmaster after they put a dead mouse inside a jar of gobstoppers in Mrs Pratchett’s sweet shop! He alludes to this interesting and adventure-filled episode which the friends called the ‘Great Mouse Plot of 1924’ in one of his autobiographies, ‘Boy: Tales of Childhood’ (1984), and this was followed by ‘Going Solo’ (1986). Soon he was sent off to a boarding school named St Peter’s, in Weston-Super-Mare. St Peter too could not hold Dahl and his attention: his experience was extremely sad, and he wrote to his mother regularly through letters, and at a later life, Dahl found out his mother had saved up all of his letters safely. Roald Dahl’s holidays were spent mostly in Norway.Post Schooling, there was no college for him: Dahl worked under the Shell Oil Company in July 1934, where he was put to monitor assignments that involved supplying oil to customers. Five years later, in November 1939, Roald Dahl was joined as an aircraftman in the Royal Air Force. He was accepted for fighting training in the World War with sixteen other men, of which only three of them survived.He suffered a massive plane crash on September 19, 1940, near Ismailia, Egypt, which led to his nose being smashed, a fractured skull, and temporary blindness. He recovered to full health and was soon discharged from the hospital in February 1941 and deemed fit to resume his job.After coming home, Roald Dahl soon joined an RAF training camp in Uxbridge and was later posted to the British Embassy in Washington DC to fulfil his duties as an attache, straight from the Britain of World War II. However, he was soon disillusioned by the war and the British Embassy.Yet, this uneasiness also led to the publishing of what is possibly Roald Dahl’s first short story, which was originally titled ‘A Piece of Cake’ by him but changed to ‘Shot Down Over Libya’ to sound more dramatic, although Dahl had never really been shot down.This work later made Dahl work with well known British author Ian Fleming, responsible for writing the popular James Bond series. Did you know that Roald Dahl might have been the role model for Bond! Much like 007, Dahl had a license to kill and had his way with many women in high society and cultural parties when involved in the secret service during the early ’40s, and Ian Fleming might have based his James Bond 007 character on this author’s early life!It is ironic given Dahl spent his major years as not only a spy but also a gunned secret serviceman for the PM himself, to then be the author of one of the sweetest children’s books! Roald Dahl was also sent to keep an eye on the Canadian Spymaster nicknamed ‘The Intrepid’ and worked as a spy for even the former UK Prime Minister Winston Churchill.Post War life, Roald Dahl settled down and married Patricia Neal, the famous American actress, on July 2, 1953, in New York City. Over a successful, happy marriage of over thirty years, they had five children; namely Olivia, Chantal, Theo, Ophelia, and Lucy. Very ironically, his own daughter Olivia passed away of measles aged seven, the same age as his sister Astri had passed away.Writings Of Roald DahlUndoubtedly the best proponent of what we call a ‘children’s book’ per se, Roald Dahl and his fun-loving children’s fiction has never failed to amaze us. He has written a total of nearly 50 publications, including novels, short stories, poetry, and two books for adults alike.Dahl had the most amazing writing strategy that is known of: he wrote with perfectly sharpened HB pencils, which he kept at close hand and occasionally shifted to another pencil when one turned blunt. He wrote on little yellow-coloured legal notepads with support of a board spread across his lap and tended to prefer utmost privacy. He would often retreat to his private house with all curtains closed while writing a novel or any story.His first writing ever was in all possibilities ‘A Piece of Cake’ (1942) post which his first book was ‘The Gremlins’ (1943) that talked of the mischievous creatures, of course, born out of Roald Dahl’s imagination, that was a part of the RAF, which remind us of the cute little Oompa Loompas from the best-selling and the most famous book Dahl is known for: ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’!One of his best-selling books is undoubted ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’ (1964), made into a wonderful movie in 2005 film of the same name featuring legendary actor Johnny Depp as the famous Willy Wonka. Roald Dahl wrote ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’ majorly inspired by his experience on how Cadbury often used to send test pack chocolates to schoolkids and get their opinion on the product; this sprung up as Young Charlie Bucket winning the Golden Ticket and getting a free tour, being the five lucky children in ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’.Apart from this, Roald Dahl has written books like ‘Matilda’, ‘Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator’, ‘James and the Giant Peach’, ‘The Witches’, ‘Fantastic Mr Fox’, ‘The BFG’, ‘My Uncle Oswald’, ‘The Twits’ and many more. All of the popular author’s books have sold over 250 million copies worldwide!In larger criticism, Dahl has been accused of antisemitism; the particular ill-treatment of many a Jewish character in his books, and also slight racism as he imagined Charlie to originally be a ’little black boy’ which was changed and edited to a white young male to appeal to the mass readers. He also changed, ironically, the name of the Giant Cherry in his book ‘James and the Giant Peach’ to a giant peach because a giant peach sounded ‘prettier and bigger’ than a giant cherry, probably also a move to attract the attention of mass readers worldwide. His family has, however, apologized publicly for Dahl’s antisemitic comments and claimed: “those prejudiced remarks are incomprehensible to us and stand in marked contrast to the man we knew and to the values at the heart of Roald Dahl’s stories…“Death And LegacyRoald Dahl died on November 23, 1990, in Oxford, England, at the age of 74. He was buried in the Parish Church of St Peters and St Paul in Great Missenden with some chocolates and HB pencils, among other things, and children still to this day visit his grave to adorn and remember their favourite author Roald Dahl, with toys and flowers.The Roald Dahl Art Gallery was opened in November 1996 at the Buckinghamshire County Museum in remembrance of Dahl. A popular asteroid discovered by scientist Antonin Markos was named main-belt asteroid 6223 Dahl in 1996 in the memory of the author himself.In 2002, the Oval Basin Plaza in Cardiff Bay, Wales, was renamed the Roald Dahl Plass, of which the word ‘plass’ means ‘square’ or ‘place’ in Norwegian, by showing respect to the author’s Norwegian roots. There is also a wonderful plaque in the Plass commemorating the author’s achievements and life.In 2010, the Royal Gibraltar Post Office issued a set of four stamps of the four books of Roald Dahl: ‘Matilda’, ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’, ‘The Twits’ and ‘The BFG’ included with the original illustrations of Quentin Blake. Quentin Blake is a popular English cartoonist known to work closely and aid Roald Dahl in handling the illustrations of 18 of Dahl’s children’s books which are still considered Blake’s most wonderful works.There is a wonderful award named the Roald Dahl Funny Prize, which began in 2008 by the UK Charity Trust and British poet Michael Rosen presented to authors annually as best authors of funny children’s fiction.There is also, in present times, a Roald Dahl Day celebrated on his birth anniversary, September 13, every year in the United Kingdom, Africa, and Latin America. The first one was celebrated in 2006. The perfect way to honour Roald Dahl Day, on this annual event, is to read more books and poetry written by the author and engage in a reflective way with the happiness he has spread in the lives of children and adults alike.Roald Dahl BiographyRoald Dahl (September 13, 1916- November 23, 1990) and his beautiful works have been etched in the minds of children and adults alike. Starting from a lonesome schoolboy to an RAF fighter plane pilot, to handling works of espionage, and finally, a wonderful and prolific writer, Dahl’s life has influenced his works to the fullest.His works have not only been read and shared worldwide but made into famous movies and films adapted for the big screen to make children enjoy an even rich experience of the works Roald Dahl wrote. After 31 years of his demise. Roald Dahl continues to inspire everyone and shall remain one of Britain’s and the whole world’s most favourite authors forever.Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly facts for everyone to enjoy! If you liked our suggestions for Roald Dahl life facts, then why not take a look at Mick Jagger facts or Amedeo Modigliani facts?
On September 13, 1916, Roald Dahl was born in the region of Llandaff, Wales, and consequently went on to become one of Britain’s most prolific writers.
