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12/09/2021 Roald Dahl - Wikipedia
Roald Dahl
Roald Dahl[a] (13 September 1916 – 23 November 1990) was

Roald Dahl
a British novelist, short-story writer, poet, screenwriter, and
wartime fighter pilot.[1] His books have sold more than
250 million copies worldwide.[2]
Dahl was born in Wales to affluent Norwegian immigrant

parents, and spent most of his life in England. He served in the
Royal Air Force (RAF) during the Second World War. He
became a fighter pilot and, subsequently, an intelligence
officer, rising to the rank of acting wing commander. He rose
to prominence as a writer in the 1940s with works for children
and for adults, and he became one of the world's best-selling
authors.[3][4] He has been referred to as "one of the greatest
storytellers for children of the 20th century".[5] His awards for
contribution to literature include the 1983 World Fantasy
Award for Life Achievement and the British Book Awards'
Children's Author of the Year in 1990. In 2008, The Times
placed Dahl 16th on its list of "The 50 Greatest British Writers Dahl in April 1954
Since 1945".[6] However, he and his work have been criticised Born 13 September 1916
for antisemitism, racism and misogyny.

Llandaff, Cardiff, Wales
Dahl's short stories are known for their unexpected endings, Died 23 November 1990
and his children's books for their unsentimental, macabre, often (aged 74)
darkly comic mood, featuring villainous adult enemies of the Oxford, England
child characters.[7][8] His children's books champion the Occupation Novelist, poet,
kindhearted and feature an underlying warm sentiment.[9][10] screenwriter
His works for children include James and the Giant Peach, Education The Cathedral School,
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Matilda, The Witches, Llandaff
Fantastic Mr Fox, The BFG, The Twits, and George's St Peter's School,
Marvellous Medicine. His adult works include Tales of the Weston-super-Mare
Unexpected. Repton School

Period 1942–1990
Genre Fantasy, suspense
Contents Notable James and the Giant
works Peach
Early life
Childhood Charlie and the
Repton School Chocolate Factory
After school Fantastic Mr Fox
Fighter pilot Danny, the Champion of

the World
Diplomat, writer and intelligence officer
George's Marvellous
Post-war life Medicine
Writing The BFG
Children's fiction The Witches
Screenplays
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roald_Dahl 1/28
Influences Matilda
Television Spouse Patricia Neal (m. 1953;
Death and legacy div. 1983)
Criticisms Felicity Crosland (m.

1983; his death 1990)
Antisemitism
Other racism Children 5, including Tessa,
Misogyny Ophelia and Lucy
Relatives Sophie and Phoebe Dahl
Filmography
(granddaughters)
Writing roles Nicholas Logsdail

Presenting roles (nephew)
Non-presenting appearances Signature
Publications
References
Notes
Citations
Military career
Sources
Allegiance United Kingdom
Further reading
Service/ Royal Air Force
External links
branch
Years of 1939–1946
Early life service
Rank Squadron Leader
Unit No. 80 Squadron RAF
Childhood
Battles/wars Second World War
Roald Dahl was born in 1916 at Villa Marie, Fairwater Road, Battle of Greece
in Llandaff, Cardiff, Wales, to Norwegians Harald Dahl (1863– Syria-Lebanon
1920) and Sofie Magdalene Dahl (née Hesselberg) (1885– Campaign
1967).[11][12] Dahl's father had immigrated to the UK from
Sarpsborg in Norway and settled in Cardiff in the 1880s with
his first wife, a Frenchwoman named Marie Beaurin-Gresser. They had two
children together (Ellen Marguerite and Louis) before her death in 1907.[13]
His mother immigrated to the UK and married his father in 1911. Dahl was
named after Norwegian polar explorer Roald Amundsen. His first language
was Norwegian, which he spoke at home with his parents and his sisters Astri,
Alfhild, and Else. The children were raised in Norway's Lutheran state
church, the Church of Norway, and were baptised at the Norwegian Church,
Cardiff.[14] His grandmother Ellen Wallace was a descendant of an early 18th-
century Scottish immigrant to Norway.[15] Dahl's father was a wealthy
shipbroker who left behind a fortune of £150,000 (about £4.5 million in 2016)
when he died in 1920.[16]
Dahl's sister Astri died from appendicitis at age 7 in 1920 when Dahl was 3 Dahl at age 10 with his
years old, and his father died of pneumonia at age 57 several weeks later.[18] sisters Alfhild, Else and
Later that year, his youngest sister, Asta, was born.[13] Dahl's mother decided Asta. Cardiff, 1927.
to remain in Wales instead of returning to Norway to live with relatives, as her
husband had wanted their children to be educated in English schools, which
he considered the world's best.[19]
Dahl first attended The Cathedral School, Llandaff. At age eight, he

and four of his friends were caned by the headmaster after putting a
dead mouse in a jar of gobstoppers at the local sweet shop,[5] which
was owned by a "mean and loathsome" old woman named Mrs
Pratchett.[5] The five boys named their prank the "Great Mouse Plot
of 1924".[20] Gobstoppers were a favourite sweet among British
schoolboys between the two World Wars, and Dahl referred to them
in his fictional Everlasting Gobstopper which was featured in
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.[21]
Mrs Pratchett's former sweet shop in
Llandaff, Cardiff, has a blue plaque Dahl transferred to St Peter's boarding school in Weston-super-Mare.
commemorating the mischief played His parents had wanted him to be educated at an English public
by young Roald Dahl and his school, and this proved to be the nearest because of the regular ferry
friends, who were regular link across the Bristol Channel. Dahl's time at St Peter's was
customers.[17] unpleasant; he was very homesick and wrote to his mother every
week but never revealed his unhappiness to her. After her death in
1967, he learned that she had saved every one of his letters;[22] they
were broadcast in abridged form as BBC Radio 4's Book of the Week in 2016 to mark the centenary of his
birth.[23] Dahl wrote about his time at St Peter's in his autobiography Boy: Tales of Childhood.[24]
Repton School
From 1929, when he was 13, Dahl attended Repton School in

Derbyshire. Dahl disliked the hazing and described an environment
of ritual cruelty and status domination, with younger boys having to
act as personal servants for older boys, frequently subject to terrible
beatings. His biographer Donald Sturrock described these violent
experiences in Dahl's early life.[25] Dahl expresses some of these
darker experiences in his writings, which is also marked by his
hatred of cruelty and corporal punishment.[26]
Dahl attended Repton School in
According to Dahl's autobiography, Boy: Tales of Childhood, a
Derbyshire from 1929 to 1934
friend named Michael was viciously caned by headmaster Geoffrey
Fisher. Writing in that same book, Dahl reflected: "All through my
school life I was appalled by the fact that masters and senior boys
were allowed literally to wound other boys, and sometimes quite severely... I couldn’t get over it. I never
have got over it."[27] Fisher was later appointed Archbishop of Canterbury, and crowned Queen Elizabeth II
in 1953. However, according to Dahl's biographer Jeremy Treglown,[28] the caning took place in May 1933,
a year after Fisher had left Repton; the headmaster was in fact J. T. Christie, Fisher's successor as
headmaster. Dahl said the incident caused him to "have doubts about religion and even about God".[29]
He was never seen as a particularly talented writer in his school years, with one of his English teachers
writing in his school report "I have never met anybody who so persistently writes words meaning the exact
opposite of what is intended."[30] Dahl was exceptionally tall, reaching 6 feet 6 inches (1.98 m) in adult
life.[31] He played sports including cricket, football and golf, and was made captain of the squash team.[32]
As well as having a passion for literature, he developed an interest in photography and often carried a
camera with him.[18]
During his years at Repton, the Cadbury chocolate company occasionally sent boxes of new chocolates to
the school to be tested by the pupils.[33] Dahl dreamt of inventing a new chocolate bar that would win the
praise of Mr Cadbury himself; this inspired him in writing his third children's book, Charlie and the
Chocolate Factory (1964), and to refer to chocolate in other children's books.[34]
Throughout his childhood and adolescent years, Dahl spent the majority of his summer holidays with his
mother's family in Norway. He wrote about many happy memories from those visits in Boy: Tales of
Childhood, such as when he replaced the tobacco in his half-sister's fiancé's pipe with goat droppings.[35] He
noted only one unhappy memory of his holidays in Norway: at around the age of eight, he had to have his
adenoids removed by a doctor.[36] His childhood and first job selling kerosene in Midsomer Norton and
surrounding villages in Somerset are subjects in Boy: Tales of Childhood.[37]
After school
After finishing his schooling, in August 1934 Dahl crossed the Atlantic on the RMS Nova Scotia and hiked
through Newfoundland with the Public Schools Exploring Society.[38][39]
In July 1934, Dahl joined the Shell Petroleum Company. Following two years of training in the United
Kingdom, he was assigned first to Mombasa, Kenya, then to Dar-es-Salaam, Tanganyika (now part of
Tanzania). Along with the only two other Shell employees in the entire territory, he lived in luxury in the
Shell House outside Dar es Salaam, with a cook and personal servants. While out on assignments supplying
oil to customers across Tanganyika, he encountered black mamba snakes and lions, among other wildlife.[40]
Fighter pilot
In August 1939, as the Second World War loomed, the British made
plans to round up the hundreds of Germans living in Dar-es-Salaam.
Dahl was commissioned as a lieutenant into the King's African
Rifles, commanding a platoon of Askari men, indigenous troops who
were serving in the colonial army.[41]
In November 1939, Dahl joined the Royal Air Force as an

aircraftman with service number 774022.[42] After a 600-mile
(970 km) car journey from Dar es Salaam to Nairobi, he was
accepted for flight training with sixteen other men, of whom only
three survived the war. With seven hours and 40 minutes experience Dahl's leather flying helmet on
display in the Roald Dahl Museum
in a De Havilland Tiger Moth, he flew solo;[43] Dahl enjoyed
and Story Centre in Great
watching the wildlife of Kenya during his flights. He continued to
Missenden
advanced flying training in Iraq, at RAF Habbaniya, 50 miles
(80 km) west of Baghdad. Following six months' training on Hawker
Harts, Dahl was commissioned as a pilot officer on 24 August 1940,
and was judged ready to join a squadron and face the enemy.[42][44]
He was assigned to No. 80 Squadron RAF, flying obsolete Gloster

Gladiators, the last biplane fighter aircraft used by the RAF. Dahl
was surprised to find that he would not receive any specialised
training in aerial combat or in flying Gladiators. On 19 September
1940, Dahl was ordered to fly his Gladiator by stages from Abu
Sueir (near Ismailia, in Egypt) to 80 Squadron's forward airstrip 30
miles (48 km) south of Mersa Matruh. On the final leg, he could not
find the airstrip and, running low on fuel and with night
approaching, he was forced to attempt a landing in the desert.[45]
The undercarriage hit a boulder and the aircraft crashed. Dahl's skull Dahl was flying a Gloster Gladiator
was fractured and his nose was smashed; he was temporarily when he crash landed in Libya
blinded.[46] He managed to drag himself away from the blazing
wreckage and lost consciousness. He wrote about the crash in his
first published work.[46]
Dahl was rescued and taken to a first-aid post in Mersa Matruh, where he regained consciousness, but not
his sight. He was transported by train to the Royal Navy hospital in Alexandria. There he fell in and out of
love with a nurse, Mary Welland. A RAF inquiry into the crash revealed that the location to which he had
been told to fly was completely wrong, and he had mistakenly been sent instead to the no man's land
between the Allied and Italian forces.[47]
In February 1941, Dahl was discharged from the hospital and

deemed fully fit for flying duties. By this time, 80 Squadron had
been transferred to the Greek campaign and based at Eleusina, near
Athens. The squadron was now equipped with Hawker Hurricanes.
Dahl flew a replacement Hurricane across the Mediterranean Sea in
April 1941, after seven hours' experience flying Hurricanes. By this
stage in the Greek campaign, the RAF had only 18 combat aircraft in
Greece: 14 Hurricanes and four Bristol Blenheim light bombers.
Dahl flew in his first aerial combat on 15 April 1941, while flying A Hawker Hurricane Mk 1, the
alone over the city of Chalcis. He attacked six Junkers Ju 88s that aircraft type in which Dahl engaged
were bombing ships and shot one down. On 16 April in another air in aerial combat over Greece.
battle, he shot down another Ju 88.[48]
On 20 April 1941, Dahl took part in the Battle of Athens, alongside the highest-scoring British
Commonwealth ace of World War II, Pat Pattle, and Dahl's friend David Coke. Of 12 Hurricanes involved,
five were shot down and four of their pilots killed, including Pattle. Greek observers on the ground counted
22 German aircraft downed, but because of the confusion of the aerial engagement, none of the pilots knew
which aircraft they had shot down. Dahl described it as "an endless blur of enemy fighters whizzing towards
me from every side".[49]
In May, as the Germans were pressing on Athens, Dahl was evacuated to Egypt. His squadron was
reassembled in Haifa. From there, Dahl flew sorties every day for a period of four weeks, shooting down a
Vichy French Air Force Potez 63 on 8 June and another Ju 88 on 15 June, but he began to get severe
headaches that caused him to black out. He was invalided home to Britain where he stayed with his mother
in Buckinghamshire.[50] Though at this time Dahl was only a pilot officer on probation, in September 1941
he was simultaneously confirmed as a pilot officer and promoted to war substantive flying officer.[51]
Diplomat, writer and intelligence officer

After being invalided home, Dahl was posted to an RAF training camp in Uxbridge. He attempted to recover
his health enough to become an instructor.[52] In late March 1942, while in London, he met the Under-
Secretary of State for Air, Major Harold Balfour, at his club. Impressed by Dahl's war record and
conversational abilities, Balfour appointed the young man as assistant air attaché at the British Embassy in
Washington, D.C. Initially resistant, Dahl was finally persuaded by Balfour to accept, and took passage on
the MS Batory from Glasgow a few days later. He arrived in Halifax, Canada, on 14 April, after which he
took a sleeper train to Montreal.[53]
Coming from war-starved Britain (in what was a wartime period of rationing in the United Kingdom), Dahl
was amazed by the wealth of food and amenities to be had in North America.[54] Arriving in Washington a
week later, Dahl found he liked the atmosphere of the US capital. He shared a house with another attaché at
1610 34th Street, NW, in Georgetown. But after ten days in his new posting, Dahl strongly disliked it,
feeling he had taken on "a most ungodly unimportant job".[55] He later explained, "I'd just come from the
war. People were getting killed. I had been flying around, seeing horrible things. Now, almost instantly, I
found myself in the middle of a pre-war cocktail party in America."[56]
Dahl was unimpressed by his office in the British Air Mission, attached to the embassy. He was also
unimpressed by the ambassador, Lord Halifax, with whom he sometimes played tennis and whom he
described as "a courtly English gentleman". Dahl socialized with Charles E. Marsh, a Texas publisher and
oilman, at his house at 2136 R Street, NW, and the Marsh country estate in Virginia.[57][58] As part of his
duties as assistant air attaché, Dahl was to help neutralise the isolationist views still held by many
Americans by giving pro-British speeches and discussing his war service; the United States had entered the
war only the previous December, following the attack on Pearl Harbor.[44]
At this time Dahl met the noted British novelist C. S. Forester, who was also working to aid the British war
effort. Forester worked for the British Ministry of Information and was writing propaganda for the Allied
cause, mainly for American consumption.[59] The Saturday Evening Post had asked Forester to write a story
based on Dahl's flying experiences; Forester asked Dahl to write down some RAF anecdotes so that he could
shape them into a story. After Forester read what Dahl had given him, he decided to publish the story exactly
as Dahl had written it.[60] He originally titled the article as "A Piece of Cake" but the magazine changed it to
"Shot Down Over Libya" to make it sound more dramatic, although Dahl had not been shot down; it was
published on 1 August 1942 issue of the Post. Dahl was promoted to flight lieutenant (war-substantive) in
August 1942.[61] Later he worked with such other well-known British officers as Ian Fleming (who later
published the popular James Bond series) and David Ogilvy, promoting Britain's interests and message in
the US and combating the "America First" movement.[44]
This work introduced Dahl to espionage and the activities of the Canadian spymaster William Stephenson,
known by the codename "Intrepid".[62] During the war, Dahl supplied intelligence from Washington to
Prime Minister Winston Churchill. As Dahl later said: "My job was to try to help Winston to get on with
FDR, and tell Winston what was in the old boy's mind."[60] Dahl also supplied intelligence to Stephenson
and his organisation, known as British Security Coordination, which was part of MI6.[58] Dahl was once
sent back to Britain by British Embassy officials, supposedly for misconduct—"I got booted out by the big
boys," he said. Stephenson promptly sent him back to Washington—with a promotion to wing commander
rank.[63] Toward the end of the war, Dahl wrote some of the history of the secret organisation; he and
Stephenson remained friends for decades after the war.[64]
Upon the war's conclusion, Dahl held the rank of a temporary wing commander (substantive flight
lieutenant). Owing to the severity of his injuries from the 1940 accident, he was pronounced unfit for further
service and was invalided out of the RAF in August 1946. He left the service with the substantive rank of
squadron leader.[65] His record of five aerial victories, qualifying him as a flying ace, has been confirmed by
post-war research and cross-referenced in Axis records. It is most likely that he scored more than those
victories during 20 April 1941, when 22 German aircraft were shot down.[66]
Post-war life
Dahl married American actress Patricia Neal on 2 July 1953 at Trinity
Church in New York City. Their marriage lasted for 30 years and they
had five children:
Olivia Twenty (1955–1962);

Chantal Sophia "Tessa" (born 1957), who became an author,
and mother of author, cookbook writer and former model
Sophie Dahl (after whom Sophie in The BFG is named).;[67]
Theo Matthew (born 1960);
Ophelia Magdalena (born 1964);
Lucy Neal (born 1965).[68]
On 5 December 1960, four-month-old Theo Dahl was severely injured

when his baby carriage was struck by a taxicab in New York City. For a
time, he suffered from hydrocephalus. As a result, his father became
Patricia Neal and Roald Dahl
involved in the development of what became known as the "Wade-
Dahl-Till" (or WDT) valve, a device to improve the shunt used to
alleviate the condition.[69][70] The valve was a collaboration between Dahl, hydraulic engineer Stanley
Wade, and London's Great Ormond Street Hospital neurosurgeon Kenneth Till, and was used successfully
on almost 3,000 children around the world.[71]
In November 1962, Dahl's daughter Olivia died of measles encephalitis, age seven. Her death left Dahl
"limp with despair", and feeling guilty about not having been able to do anything for her.[71] Dahl
subsequently became a proponent of immunisation and dedicated his 1982 book The BFG to his
daughter.[72][73] After Olivia's death and a meeting with a Church official, Dahl came to view Christianity as
a sham.[74] While mourning her loss, he had sought spiritual guidance from Geoffrey Fisher, the former
Archbishop of Canterbury. He was dismayed by Fisher telling him that, although Olivia was in Paradise, her
beloved dog Rowley would never join her there.[74] Dahl recalled years later: "I wanted to ask him how he
could be so absolutely sure that other creatures did not get the same special treatment as us. I sat there
wondering if this great and famous churchman really knew what he was talking about and whether he knew
anything at all about God or heaven, and if he didn't, then who in the world did?"[74]
In 1965, his wife Patricia Neal suffered three burst cerebral aneurysms while pregnant with their fifth child,
Lucy. Dahl took control of her rehabilitation over the next months; Neal had to re-learn to talk and walk, but
she managed to return to her acting career.[75] This period of their lives was dramatised in the film The
Patricia Neal Story (1981), in which the couple were played by Glenda Jackson and Dirk Bogarde.[76]
In 1972 Roald Dahl met Felicity d'Abreu Crosland, niece of Francis

D'Abreu who was married to Margaret Ann Bowes Lyon, the first
cousin of the Queen Mother, while Felicity was working as a set
designer on an advert for Maxim coffee with the author's then wife,
Patricia Neal.[77] Soon after the pair were introduced, they began an
11-year affair. [77] In 1983 Neal and Dahl divorced and Dahl married
Felicity,[78][79] at Brixton Town Hall, South London. Felicity
(known as Liccy) gave up her job and moved into Gipsy House,
Dahl signing books in Amsterdam, Great Missenden in Buckinghamshire, which had been Dahl's home
Netherlands, October 1988 since 1954.[80]
In the 1986 New Years Honours List, Dahl was offered an

appointment to Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE), but turned it down. He reportedly wanted
a knighthood so that his wife would be Lady Dahl.[81][82] In 2012, Dahl was featured in the list of The New
Elizabethans to mark the diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II. A panel of seven academics, journalists
and historians named Dahl among the group of people in the UK "whose actions during the reign of
Elizabeth II have had a significant impact on lives in these islands and given the age its character".[83] In
September 2016, his daughter Lucy received the BBC's Blue Peter Gold badge in his honour, the first time it
has ever been awarded posthumously.[84]
Writing
Dahl's first published work, inspired by a meeting with C. S. Forester, was "A Piece of Cake", on 1 August
1942. The story, about his wartime adventures, was bought by The Saturday Evening Post for US$1,000 (a
substantial sum in 1942) and published under the title "Shot Down Over Libya".[85]
His first children's book was The Gremlins, published in 1943, about mischievous little creatures that were
part of Royal Air Force folklore.[86] The RAF pilots blamed the gremlins for all the problems with the
aircraft.[87] While at the British Embassy in Washington, Dahl sent a copy to the First Lady Eleanor
Roosevelt who read it to her grandchildren,[86] and the book was commissioned by Walt Disney for a film
that was never made.[88] Dahl went on to write some of the best-loved children's stories of the 20th century,
such as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Matilda, James and the Giant Peach, The Witches, Fantastic Mr
Fox, The BFG, The Twits and George's Marvellous Medicine.[5]
Dahl also had a successful parallel career as the writer of macabre

adult short stories, which often blended humour and innocence with
surprising plot twists.[89] The Mystery Writers of America presented
Dahl with three Edgar Awards for his work, and many were
originally written for American magazines such as Collier's ("The
Collector's Item" was Collier's Star Story of the week for 4
September 1948), Ladies Home Journal, Harper's, Playboy and The
New Yorker.[90] Works such as Kiss Kiss subsequently collected
Dahl's stories into anthologies, and gained significant popularity. Roald Dahl's story "The Devious
Dahl wrote more than 60 short stories; they have appeared in Bachelor" was illustrated by
numerous collections, some only being published in book form after Frederick Siebel when it was
his death. His three Edgar Awards were given for: in 1954, the published in Collier's (September
collection Someone Like You; in 1959, the story "The Landlady"; and 1953).
in 1980, the episode of Tales of the Unexpected based on "Skin".[89]
One of his more famous adult stories, "The Smoker", also known as
"Man from the South", was filmed twice as both 1960 and 1985
episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, filmed as a 1979 episode of
Tales of the Unexpected, and also adapted into Quentin Tarantino's
segment of the film Four Rooms (1995).[91] This oft-anthologised
classic concerns a man in Jamaica who wagers with visitors in an
attempt to claim the fingers from their hands. The original 1960
version in the Hitchcock series stars Steve McQueen and Peter
Lorre.[91] Five additional Dahl stories were used in the Hitchcock
series. Dahl was credited with teleplay for two episodes, and four of Roald Dahl's vardo in the garden of
his episodes were directed by Hitchcock himself, an example of his house, "Gipsy Cottage", in Great
which was "Lamb to the Slaughter" (1958). Missenden, where he wrote Danny,
the Champion of the World in 1975.
Dahl acquired a traditional Romanichal vardo in the 1960s, and the
family used it as a playhouse for his children at home in Great
Missenden, Buckinghamshire. He later used the vardo as a writing room, where he wrote Danny, the
Champion of the World in 1975.[92] Dahl incorporated a Gypsy wagon into the main plot of the book, where
the young English boy, Danny, and his father, William (played by Jeremy Irons in the film adaptation) live
in a vardo.[93] Many other scenes and characters from Great Missenden are reflected in his work. For
example, the village library was the inspiration for Mrs Phelps' library in Matilda, where the title character
devours classic literature by the age of four.[94]
His short story collection Tales of the Unexpected was adapted to a successful TV series of the same name,
beginning with "Man from the South".[95] When the stock of Dahl's own original stories was exhausted, the
series continued by adapting stories written in Dahl's style by other authors, including John Collier and
Stanley Ellin.[96]
Some of Dahl's short stories are supposed to be extracts from the diary of his (fictional) Uncle Oswald, a
rich gentleman whose sexual exploits form the subject of these stories.[97] In his novel My Uncle Oswald,
the uncle engages a temptress to seduce 20th century geniuses and royalty with a love potion secretly added
to chocolate truffles made by Dahl's favourite chocolate shop, Prestat of Piccadilly, London.[97] Memories
with Food at Gipsy House, written with his wife Felicity and published posthumously in 1991, was a
mixture of recipes, family reminiscences and Dahl's musings on favourite subjects such as chocolate, onions
and claret.[98][99]
The last book published in his lifetime, Esio Trot, released in January 1990, marked a change in style for the
author. Unlike other Dahl works (which often feature tyrannical adults and heroic/magical children), it is the
story of an old, lonely man trying to make a connection with a woman he has loved from afar.[100] In 1994,
the English language audiobook recording of the book was provided by Monty Python member Michael
Palin.[101] In 2015 it was adapted by screenwriter Richard Curtis into an acclaimed BBC comedy television
film, Roald Dahl's Esio Trot, featuring Dustin Hoffman and Judi Dench as the couple.[102]
Children's fiction
Dahl's children's works are usually told from the point of view of a child. "He [Dahl] was
They typically involve adult villains who hate and mistreat children, and mischievous. A grown-up
feature at least one "good" adult to counteract the villain(s).[5] These stock being mischievous. He
characters are possibly a reference to the abuse that Dahl stated that he addresses you, a child, as
experienced in the boarding schools he attended.[5] Dahl's books see the somebody who knows
triumph of the child; children's book critic Amanda Craig said, "He was about the world. He was a
unequivocal that it is the good, young and kind who triumph over the old, grown-up—and he was
greedy and the wicked."[10] Anna Leskiewicz in The Telegraph wrote "It's bigger than most—who is
often suggested that Dahl's lasting appeal is a result of his exceptional on your side. That must
talent for wriggling his way into children’s fantasies and fears, and laying have something to do with
them out on the page with anarchic delight. Adult villains are drawn in it."
terrifying detail, before they are exposed as liars and hypocrites, and
brought tumbling down with retributive justice, either by a sudden magic
or the superior acuity of the children they mistreat."[100] —Illustrator Quentin
Blake on the lasting
While his whimsical fantasy stories feature an underlying warm sentiment, appeal of Dahl's children's
they are often juxtaposed with grotesque, darkly comic and sometimes books.[5]
harshly violent scenarios.[7][9] The Witches, George's Marvellous Medicine
and Matilda are examples of this formula. The BFG follows, with the good
giant (the BFG or "Big Friendly Giant") representing the "good adult" archetype and the other giants being
the "bad adults". This formula is also somewhat evident in Dahl's film script for Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.
Class-conscious themes also surface in works such as Fantastic Mr Fox and Danny, the Champion of the
World where the unpleasant wealthy neighbours are outwitted.[60][103]
Dahl also features characters who are very fat, usually children. Augustus Gloop, Bruce Bogtrotter and
Bruno Jenkins are a few of these characters, although an enormous woman named Aunt Sponge features in
James and the Giant Peach and the nasty farmer Boggis in Fantastic Mr Fox is an enormously fat character.
All of these characters (with the possible exception of Bruce Bogtrotter) are either villains or simply
unpleasant gluttons. They are usually punished for this: Augustus Gloop drinks from Willy Wonka's
chocolate river, disregarding the adults who tell him not to, and falls in, getting sucked up a pipe and nearly
being turned into fudge. In Matilda, Bruce Bogtrotter steals cake from the evil headmistress, Miss
Trunchbull, and is forced to eat a gigantic chocolate cake in front of the school; when he unexpectedly
succeeds at this, Trunchbull smashes the empty plate over his head. In The Witches, Bruno Jenkins is lured
by the witches (whose leader is the Grand High Witch) into their convention with the promise of chocolate,
before they turn him into a mouse.[104] Aunt Sponge is flattened by a giant peach. When Dahl was a boy his
mother used to tell him and his sisters tales about trolls and other mythical Norwegian creatures, and some
of his children's books contain references or elements inspired by these stories, such as the giants in The
BFG, the fox family in Fantastic Mr Fox and the trolls in The Minpins.[105]
Receiving the 1983 World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement, Dahl encouraged his children and his
readers to let their imagination run free. His daughter Lucy stated "his spirit was so large and so big he
taught us to believe in magic."[60]
Those who don't believe in magic will never find it.
— Roald Dahl, The Minpins
Dahl was also famous for his inventive, playful use of language, which was a key element to his writing. He
invented new words by scribbling down his words before swapping letters around and adopting spoonerisms
and malapropisms.[106] The lexicographer Susan Rennie stated that Dahl built his new words on familiar
sounds, adding:
He didn't always explain what his words meant, but children can work them out because they
often sound like a word they know, and he loved using onomatopoeia. For example, you know
that something lickswishy and delumptious is good to eat, whereas something uckyslush or
rotsome is definitely not! He also used sounds that children love to say, like squishous and
squizzle, or fizzlecrump and fizzwiggler.[106]
A UK television special titled Roald Dahl's Revolting Rule Book which was hosted by Richard E. Grant and
aired on 22 September 2007, commemorated Dahl's 90th birthday and also celebrated his impact as a
children's author in popular culture.[107] It also featured eight main rules he applied on all his children's
books:
1. Just add chocolate

2. Adults can be scary
3. Bad things happen
4. Revenge is sweet
5. Keep a wicked sense of humour
6. Pick perfect pictures
7. Films are fun...but books are better!
8. Food is fun!
In 2016, marking the centenary of Dahl's birth, Rennie compiled The Oxford Roald Dahl Dictionary which
includes many of his invented words and their meaning.[106] Rennie commented that some of Dahl's words
have already escaped his world, for example, Scrumdiddlyumptious: "Food that is utterly delicious".[106] In
his poetry, Dahl gives a humorous re-interpretation of well-known nursery rhymes and fairy tales, providing
surprise endings in place of the traditional happily-ever-after. Dahl's collection of poems Revolting Rhymes
is recorded in audiobook form, and narrated by actor Alan Cumming.[108]
Screenplays
For a brief period in the 1960s, Dahl wrote screenplays. Two, the James Bond film You Only Live Twice and
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, were adaptations of novels by Ian Fleming.[109][110] Dahl also began adapting his
own novel Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, which was completed and rewritten by David Seltzer after
Dahl failed to meet deadlines, and produced as the film Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971). Dahl
later disowned the film, saying he was "disappointed" because "he thought it placed too much emphasis on
Willy Wonka and not enough on Charlie".[111] He was also "infuriated" by the deviations in the plot devised
by David Seltzer in his draft of the screenplay. This resulted in his refusal for any more versions of the book
to be made in his lifetime, as well as an adaptation for the sequel Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator.[112]
Influences
A major part of Dahl's literary influences stemmed from his childhood. In his younger days, he was an avid
reader, especially awed by fantastic tales of heroism and triumph. Amongst his favourite authors were
Rudyard Kipling, Charles Dickens, William Makepeace Thackeray and Frederick Marryat, and their works
made a lasting mark on his life and writing.[113] Joe Sommerlad in The Independent writes, “Dahl’s novels
are often dark affairs, filled with cruelty, bereavement and Dickensian adults prone to gluttony and sadism.
The author clearly felt compelled to warn his young readers about the evils
of the world, taking the lesson from earlier fairy tales that they could stand
hard truths and would be the stronger for hearing them.”[114]
Dahl was also influenced by Lewis Carroll’s Alice's Adventures in

Wonderland. The “Drink Me” episode in Alice inspired a scene in Dahl's
George's Marvellous Medicine where a tyrannical grandmother drinks a
potion and is blown up to the size of a farmhouse.[114] Finding too many
distractions in his house, Dahl remembered the poet Dylan Thomas had
found a peaceful shed to write in close to home. Dahl travelled to visit
Thomas's hut in Carmarthenshire, Wales in the 1950s and, after taking a
look inside, decided to make a replica of it to write in.[115]
Dahl liked ghost stories, and claimed that Trolls by Jonas Lie was one of the Interior of Dylan Thomas's
finest ghost stories ever written. While he was still a youngster, his mother, writing shed. Dahl made a
Sofie Dahl, related traditional Norwegian myths and legends from her native replica of it in his own
homeland to Dahl and his sisters. Dahl always maintained that his mother garden in Great Missenden
and her stories had a strong influence on his writing. In one interview, he where he wrote many of his
stories
mentioned: "She was a great teller of tales. Her memory was prodigious and
nothing that ever happened to her in her life was forgotten."[116] When Dahl
started writing and publishing his famous books for children, he included a
grandmother character in The Witches, and later said that she was based directly on his own mother as a
tribute.[117][118]
Television
In 1961, Dahl hosted and wrote for a science fiction and horror television anthology series called Way Out,
which preceded the Twilight Zone series on the CBS network for 14 episodes from March to July.[119] One
of the last dramatic network shows shot in New York City, the entire series is available for viewing at The
Paley Center for Media in New York City and Los Angeles.[120] He also wrote for the satirical BBC comedy
programme That Was the Week That Was, which was hosted by David Frost.[121]
The British television series, Tales of the Unexpected, originally aired on ITV between 1979 and 1988.[122]
The series was released to tie in with Dahl's short story anthology of the same name, which had introduced
readers to many motifs that were common in his writing.[95] The series was an anthology of different tales,
initially based on Dahl's short stories.[95] The stories were sometimes sinister, sometimes wryly comedic and
usually had a twist ending. Dahl introduced on camera all the episodes of the first two series, which bore the
full title Roald Dahl's Tales of the Unexpected.[123]
Death and legacy

Roald Dahl died on 23 November 1990, at the age of 74 of a rare cancer of the blood, myelodysplastic
syndrome, in Oxford,[124] and was buried in the cemetery at the Church of St Peter and St Paul, Great
Missenden, Buckinghamshire, England. According to his granddaughter, the family gave him a "sort of
Viking funeral". He was buried with his snooker cues, some very good burgundy, chocolates, HB pencils
and a power saw. Today, children continue to leave toys and flowers by his grave.[125]
In November 1996, the Roald Dahl Children's Gallery was opened at the Buckinghamshire County Museum
in nearby Aylesbury.[126] The main-belt asteroid 6223 Dahl, discovered by Czech astronomer Antonín
Mrkos, was named in his memory in 1996.[127][128]
In 2002, one of Cardiff Bay's

Roald Dahl Plass
modern landmarks, the Oval Basin
plaza, was renamed Roald Dahl
Plass. Plass is Norwegian for
"place" or "square", alluding to the
writer's Norwegian roots. There
have also been calls from the
public for a permanent statue of
him to be erected in Cardiff.[129] In
Roald Dahl Plass illuminated
2016, the city celebrated the
at night
centenary of Dahl's birth in
Llandaff. Welsh Arts
organisations, including National Dahl's gravestone, Church of St
Theatre Wales, Wales Millennium Peter and St Paul, Great
Centre and Literature Wales, came Missenden, Buckinghamshire
together for a series of events,
titled Roald Dahl 100, including a
Cardiff-wide City of the Unexpected, which marked his legacy.[3]
Plaque commemorating
Roald Dahl Dahl's charitable commitments in the fields of neurology, haematology
and literacy during his life have been continued by his widow since his
death, through Roald Dahl's Marvellous Children's Charity, formerly
known as the Roald Dahl Foundation.[98] The charity provides care and support to seriously ill children and
young people throughout the UK.[130] In June 2005, the Roald Dahl Museum and Story Centre in the
author's home village Great Missenden was officially opened by Cherie Blair, wife of UK Prime Minister
Tony Blair, to celebrate the work of Roald Dahl and advance his work in literacy education.[131] Over
50,000 visitors from abroad, mainly from Australia, Japan, the United States and Germany, travel to the
village museum every year.[132]
In 2008, the UK charity Booktrust and Children's Laureate Michael

Rosen inaugurated The Roald Dahl Funny Prize, an annual award to
authors of humorous children's fiction.[133][134] On 14 September
2009 (the day after what would have been Dahl's 93rd birthday) the
first blue plaque in his honour was unveiled in Llandaff.[135] Rather
than commemorating his place of birth, however, the plaque was
erected on the wall of the former sweet shop (and site of "The Great
Mouse Plot of 1924") that features in the first part of his
autobiography Boy. It was unveiled by his widow Felicity and son
Theo.[135] In 2018, Weston-super-Mare, the town described by Dahl
as a "seedy seaside resort", unveiled a blue plaque dedicated to him,
on the site of the since-demolished boarding school Dahl attended,
St Peter's.[136] The anniversary of Dahl's birthday on 13 September
is celebrated as "Roald Dahl Day" in Africa, the United Kingdom Matilda the Musical has been shown
and Latin America.[137][138][139] in the West End since November
2011, and on Broadway since April
In honour of Dahl, the Royal Gibraltar Post Office issued a set of 2013
four stamps in 2010 featuring Quentin Blake's original illustrations
for four of the children's books written by Dahl during his long
career; The BFG, The Twits, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and Matilda.[140] A set of six stamps was
issued by Royal Mail in 2012, featuring Blake's illustrations for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, The
Twits, The Witches, Matilda, Fantastic Mr Fox, and James and the Giant Peach.[141] Dahl's influence has
extended beyond literary figures. For instance film director Tim Burton recalled from childhood "the second
layer [after Dr. Seuss] of connecting to a writer who gets the idea of the modern fable—and the mixture of
light and darkness, and not speaking down to kids, and the kind of politically incorrect humour that kids get.
I've always like that, and it's shaped everything I've felt that I've done."[142] Steven Spielberg read The BFG
to his children when they were young, stating the book celebrates the fact that it's OK to be different as well
as to have an active imagination: "It's very important that we preserve the tradition of allowing young
children to run free with their imaginations and magic and imagination are the same thing."[143] Actress
Scarlett Johansson named Fantastic Mr Fox one of the five books that made a difference to her.[144]
Dahl has an incredibly distinctive style: his subversive, unpredictable plots, musical prose and
caustic wit are impossible to imitate. And yet his stories have proved astonishingly malleable.
Often adapted by equally idiosyncratic writers and directors, when translated onto stage and
screen, his works seamlessly take on the impression of their new maker. Like in many of his
stories, Dahl offers a narrative where troublemaking is rewarded, and games and tricks are more
successful than following rules. Perhaps this, more than anything, is the reason why Dahl’s
stories excite the imagination of so many adults and children, and why so many storytellers
across stage and screen can’t resist remaking his tales in their own individual style. Right across
his body of work, playfulness and inventiveness are always prized over boring qualities like
obedience and deference. In Dahl's world, creative disruption is presented in such an appealing,
delicious light, that you can't help but join in the fun.
— Anna Leskiewicz in The Telegraph, “Why we love the mischievous spirit of Roald
Dahl”.[100]
Regarded as "one of the greatest storytellers for children of the 20th

"Arguably the century",[5] Dahl was named by The Times one of the 50 greatest British
Shakespeare of children's writers since 1945.[6] He ranks amongst the world's best-selling fiction
literature, from Fantastic authors with sales estimated at over 250 million,[2][4][7] and his books have
Mr Fox to Matilda and been published in 63 languages.[3][146] In 2000 Dahl topped the list of
The BFG, filmmakers and Britain's favourite authors.[147] In 2003 four books by Dahl, led by Charlie
animators are still drawing and the Chocolate Factory at number 35, ranked among the Top 100 in
from the enormous vat of The Big Read, a survey of the British public by the BBC to determine the
material he created." "nation's best-loved novel" of all time.[148] In surveys of UK teachers,
parents and students, Dahl is frequently ranked the best children's
—"Britain's top ten writer.[149][150] In a 2006 list for the Royal Society of Literature, Harry
children's literature Potter creator J. K. Rowling named Charlie and the Chocolate Factory one
superstars". The of her top ten books every child should read.[151] In 2012, Matilda was
ranked number 30 among all-time best children's novels in a survey
Independent, 2012.[145]
published by School Library Journal, a monthly with primarily US
audience. The Top 100 included four books by Dahl, more than any other
writer: Matilda, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, The Witches, and The
BFG. [152] US magazine Time named three Dahl books in its list of the 100 Best Young-Adult Books of All
Time, more than any other author.[153] Dahl is one of the most borrowed authors in UK libraries.[154][155]
In 2012, Dahl was among the British cultural icons selected by artist Sir Peter Blake to appear in a new
version of his most famous artwork—the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album cover—to
celebrate the British cultural figures of his life he most admires.[156][157] In 2016 Dahl's enduring popularity
was proved by his ranking in Amazon's the top five best-selling children's authors on the online store over
the last year, looking at sales in print and on the Kindle store.[158] In a 2017 UK poll of the greatest authors,
songwriters, artists and photographers, Dahl was named the greatest storyteller of all time, ranking ahead of
Dickens, Shakespeare, Rowling and Spielberg.[159] In 2017, the airline Norwegian announced Dahl's image
would appear on the tail fin one of their Boeing 737-800 aircraft. He is one of the company's six "British tail
fin heroes", joining Queen frontman Freddie Mercury, England World Cup winner Bobby Moore, novelist
Jane Austen, pioneering pilot Amy Johnson and aviation entrepreneur Freddie Laker.[160][161]
Criticisms
Antisemitism
Dahl reviewed Tony Clifton's God Cried, a picture book about the siege of West Beirut by the Israeli army
during the 1982 Lebanon War.[162] The article appeared in the August 1983 issue of the Literary Review and
was the subject of much media comment at the time.[163][164] According to Dahl, until this point in time "a
race of people", meaning Jews, had never "switched so rapidly from victims to barbarous murderers." The
empathy of all after the Holocaust had turned "into hatred and revulsion."[165] Dahl wrote that Clifton's book
would make readers "violently anti-Israeli", stating: "I am not anti-Semitic. I am anti-Israel."[166] He
speculated: "must Israel, like Germany, be brought to her knees before she learns how to behave in this
world?"[167] The United States, he said, was "so utterly dominated by the great Jewish financial institutions"
that "they dare not defy" Israelis.[165] Dahl's phraseology in his original copy had been altered by the editor
of the Literary Review who substituted "Israel" for "Jews" and "Israeli" for "Jewish".[168]
Dahl told a journalist from the New Statesman in August 1983: "There's a trait in the Jewish character that
does provoke animosity, maybe it's a kind of lack of generosity towards non-Jews. I mean there is always a
reason why anti-anything crops up anywhere; even a stinker like Hitler didn't just pick on them for no
reason."[169][170] In 1990, during an interview with The Independent, Dahl explained that his issue with
Israel began when they invaded Lebanon in 1982: "they killed 22,000 civilians when they bombed Beirut. It
was very much hushed up in the newspapers because they are primarily Jewish-owned. I'm certainly anti-
Israeli and I've become antisemitic in as much as that you get a Jewish person in another country like
England strongly supporting Zionism. I think they should see both sides. It's the same old thing: we all know
about Jews and the rest of it. There aren't any non-Jewish publishers anywhere, they control the media—
jolly clever thing to do—that's why the president of the United States has to sell all this stuff to
Israel."[170][171] Responding in 1990 to a journalist from The Jewish Chronicle, whom he considered rude,
he said: "I am an old hand at dealing with you buggers."[172]
Dahl had Jewish friends, including the philosopher Isaiah Berlin, who commented: "I thought he might say
anything. Could have been pro-Arab or pro-Jew. There was no consistent line. He was a man who followed
whims, which meant he would blow up in one direction, so to speak."[166] Amelia Foster, director of the
Roald Dahl Museum in Great Missenden, says: "This is again an example of how Dahl refused to take
anything seriously, even himself. He was very angry at the Israelis. He had a childish reaction to what was
going on in Israel. Dahl wanted to provoke, as he always provoked at dinner. His publisher was a Jew, his
agent was a Jew... and he thought nothing but good things of them. He asked me to be his managing director,
and I'm Jewish."[173] However, as a result of his views, in 2014 the Royal Mint decided not to produce a
coin to commemorate the centenary of Dahl's birth because he was considered to be "associated with
antisemitism and not regarded as an author of the highest reputation".[171]
Jeremy Treglown, in his 1994 biography, writes of Dahl's first novel Sometime Never (1948): "plentiful
revelations about Nazi anti-Semitism and the Holocaust did not discourage him from satirizing 'a little
pawnbroker in Hounsditch called Meatbein who, when the wailing started, would rush downstairs to the
large safe in which he kept his money, open it and wriggle inside on to the lowest shelf where he lay like a
hibernating hedgehog until the all-clear had gone.' "[174] In a short story entitled "Madame Rosette", the
eponymous character is termed "a filthy old Syrian Jewess".[174]
In 2020, Dahl's family published a statement on the official Roald Dahl website apologising for his
antisemitism.[175][176] The statement says "The Dahl family and the Roald Dahl Story Company deeply
apologise for the lasting and understandable hurt caused by some of Roald Dahl’s statements. 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, which have positively impacted young people for generations. We
hope that, just as he did at his best, at his absolute worst, Roald Dahl can help remind us of the lasting
impact of words."[170] The apology was received with appreciation by Jewish groups but some Jewish
organizations, such as the Campaign Against Antisemitism, noted that: "For his family and estate to have
waited thirty years to make an apology, apparently until lucrative deals were signed with Hollywood, is
disappointing and sadly rather more comprehensible."[175]
Other racism
In 1972, Eleanor Cameron, also a children's book author, published an article in The Horn Book criticizing
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, stating: "What I object to in Charlie is its phony presentation of poverty
and its phony humor, which is based on punishment with overtones of sadism". She took issue with the
depiction of the Oompa-Loompas as imported African slaves and suggested that teachers look for better
literature to use in the classroom.[177] In 1973, Dahl posted a reply, calling Cameron's accusations
"insensitive" and "monstrous".[178] The Horn Book published Cameron's response, where she clarified that
she intended her article not to be a personal attack on Dahl, but to point out that though the book is a work
of fiction, it still influences reality. She again objected to the Ooompa-Loompa depiction, writing, "the
situation of the Oompa-Loompas is real; it could not be more so, and it is anything but funny".[179] The
debate between the two authors sparked much discussion and a number of letters to the editor.[180] A 1991
article by Michael Dirda published in The Washington Post, echoed Cameron's comments, writing "the
Oompa-Loompas... reveal virtually every stereotype about blacks".[181]
Misogyny
Dirda's article discussed many of the other criticisms of Dahl's writing as well, including his alleged
misogyny. He wrote "The Witches verges on a general misogyny"[181] and Michele Landsberg's 1998 article
analyzing the alleged issues in Dahl's work also stated: "Throughout his work, evil, domineering, smelly, fat,
ugly women are his favorite villains."[182] Una Malley's 2008 article mentioned Dahl's short story collection
Switch Bitch, calling it "a collection better forgotten, laden with crude and often disturbing sexual fantasy
writing". However, Malley argued that there are feminist messages in Dahl's work, even if they may be
obscured: "The Witches offers up plenty of feminist complexities. The witches themselves are terrifying and
vile things, and always women... The book is often viewed as sexist, but that assessment ignores one of the
heroines of the story, the child narrator’s grandmother."[183]
Filmography
Writing roles
Year Title Role Notes

1950 Suspense
CBS Television Workshop
1952
Lux Video Theatre
Philip Morris Playhouse
1954 1 episode
Danger
Star Tonight
1955
Cameo Theatre Story
1958 Suspicion
1958–61 Alfred Hitchcock Presents 7 episodes
1961 'Way Out
1 episode
1962 That Was the Week That Was
1964 36 Hours Feature film
1965–67 Thirty-Minute Theatre 3 episodes
1967 You Only Live Twice Screenplay Feature film
Late Night Horror Writer 1 episode
1968 Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Feature film
Jackanory Screenplay 10 episodes
The Road Builder
1971 Feature film
Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory Story/screenplay
1979–88 Tales of the Unexpected Writer/story 26 episodes
1985 The New Alfred Hitchcock Presents 1 episode
Story
The BFG TV movie
1989 The Book Tower Writer 1 episode
Danny the Champion of the World Story TV movie
Presenting roles

1961 'Way Out Host 5 episodes
1965 Thirty-Minute Theatre Narrator 1 episode
Non-presenting appearances

1969 The 41st Annual Academy Awards Audience member
Read All About It 1 episode
1978
This Is Your Life Himself 1 episode
1979–85 Tales of the Unexpected 32 episodes
1989 Going Live! 1 episode
Publications
References
Notes
a. Norwegian: [ˈrùːɑɫ ˈdɑːɫ],[184][185] commonly pronounced as /ˈroʊ.əld ˈdɑːl/;[186]
Citations
1. Sturrock 2010, p. 19.
2. Nunis 2016.
3. "Roald Dahl centenary: 'Tremendous things' promised for 2016" (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/u
k-wales-33408745). BBC News. BBC. 6 July 2015. Retrieved 14 October 2015.
4. "Fans gather for Dahl celebration" (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/5341084.stm).
BBC. 13 September 2006. Retrieved 16 September 2014.
5. "Once upon a time, there was a man who liked to make up stories ..." (https://www.independen
t.co.uk/opinion/commentators/once-upon-a-time-there-was-a-man-who-liked-to-make-up-storie
s-2158052.html) The Independent. 12 December 2010. Retrieved 16 September 2014.
6. "The 50 greatest British writers since 1945" (http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/arts/books/article245
2094.ece). The Times. 5 January 2008. Retrieved 16 September 2014.
7. "Britain celebrates first Roald Dahl Day" (https://web.archive.org/web/20111202184244/http://to
day.msnbc.msn.com/id/14817244/from/ET/38893930). today.com. NBC News. Associated
Press. 13 September 2006. Archived from the original (https://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/14817
244/from/ET/38893930) on 2 December 2011. Retrieved 16 September 2014.
8. Criado 2014.
9. Hamlin 2015.
10. de Castella 2011.
11. Berntsen, Erik (21 October 2020). "Harald Dahl b. 1863 Sarpsborg, Østfold d. 1920 Wales:
Erik Berntsens slektssider" (http://vestraat.net/TNG/getperson.php?personID=I87052&tree=IE
A). Erik Berntsens slektssider. Retrieved 21 October 2020.
12. Howard 2017.
13. "Roald Dahl Timeline • Roald Dahl Facts" (https://roalddahlfacts.com/timeline/). Roald Dahl
Facts. Retrieved 14 March 2019.
14. Palfrey 2006, p. 76.
15. Dahl, Roald (1999). "Min mor". I Roald Dahls kjøkken. Oslo: Gyldendal Norsk Forlag. p. 65.
ISBN 8205256136.
16. Bratberg, Øivind (2016). "Utvandrere". Roald Dahl: Grensesprengeren. Oslo: Dreyer. p. 23.
ISBN 9788282651806.
17. "Blue plaque marks Dahl sweet shop" (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/south_east/8253467.st

m). BBC. Retrieved 24 December 2014.
18. "Roald Dahl - Biography" (http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/arts/sites/roald-dahl/pages/biography.sht
ml). BBC Wales. 2 February 2010. Retrieved 23 September 2020.
19. Wheeler 2006, p. 9.
20. Sharp 2005, p. 516.
21. Ayto 2012, p. 154.
22. "Roald Dahl's School Days" (http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/arts/sites/roald-dahl/pages/media-200
0-school.shtml). BBC Wales. Retrieved 24 January 2010.
23. Readers: Donald Sturrock and Rory Kinnear, Abridged by: Katrin Williams, Producer: Duncan
Minshull (5 June 2016). "Book of the Week, Love from Boy – Roald Dahl's Letters to His
Mother" (http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07djzlm). Book of the Week. BBC Radio.
24. Dahl 2013, pp. 85—161.
25. Sturrock, Donald (8 August 2010). "Roald Dahl's schooldays were filled with the ritual cruelty of
fagging for older boys and with terrible beatings" (https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/bi
ographyandmemoirreviews/7932061/Roald-Dahls-schooldays.html). The Daily Telegraph.
Retrieved 16 May 2016.
26. "WEB LINKS: corporal punishment in British schools" (http://www.corpun.com/webschuk.htm).
www.corpun.com. Retrieved 26 May 2016.
27. "Boarding School Magic" (https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/boarding-school-magic/#!). Los
Angeles Review of Books. Retrieved 6 July 2018.
28. Treglown 2016, Ch.2 note 28.
29. Dahl 2013, p. 178.
30. Liukkonen, Petri. "Roald Dahl" (https://web.archive.org/web/20150210175324/http://www.kirjas
to.sci.fi/rdahl.htm). Books and Writers (kirjasto.sci.fi). Finland: Kuusankoski Public Library.
Archived from the original (http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/rdahl.htm) on 10 February 2015.
31. Roald Dahl – Penguin UK Authors (https://www.penguin.co.uk/nf/Author/AuthorPage/0,,10000
08184,00.html) Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20071201173227/http://www.penguin.co.
uk/nf/Author/AuthorPage/0,,1000008184,00.html) 1 December 2007 at the Wayback
Machine – Penguin UK
32. Shavick 1997, p. 12.
33. "Repton School 'helped inspire Dahl' to write Charlie" (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-
derbyshire-14896806). BBC. 14 July 2015.
34. Roald Dahl (derivative work) and Quentin Blake (2005). Roald Dahl's Incredible Chocolate
Box. ISBN 978-0-14-131959-9.
35. Dahl 2013, pp. 156–158.
36. Dahl 2013, pp. 80–82.
37. Dahl 2013, p. 213.
38. Sturrock 2010, pp. 93–94.
39. "Roald Dahl (British author)" (http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/149746/Roald-Dahl).
Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 16 September 2014.
40. Dahl 2013, p. 217.
41. Sturrock 2010, p. 116.
42. "No. 34964" (https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/34964/page/5907). The London
Gazette. 8 October 1940. p. 5907.
43. Sturrock 2010, p. 120.
44. Conant 2008, p. 3.
45. Sturrock, Donald (9 August 2010). "Roald Dahl: the plane crash that gave birth to a writer" (htt
ps://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/7934421/Roald-Dahl-the-plane-crash-that-gave-birth-t
o-a-writer.html). The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 16 September 2014.
46. Warren 1988, pp. 12, 87.
47. Dahl 1988, p. 103.

48. Thomas 2003, p. 36.
49. Dahl 1988, p. 151.
50. "Roald Dahl: The fighter pilot" (https://www.roalddahl.com/blog/2015/november/roald-dahl-the-f
ighter-pilot). Roald Dahl.com. Retrieved 21 January 2020.
51. "No. 35292" (https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/35292/page/5664). The London
Gazette. 30 September 1941. p. 5664.
52. Sturrock 2010, p. 163.
53. Sturrock 2010, p. 165.
54. Sturrock 2010, pp. 163–165.
55. Sturrock 2010, pp. 166–167.
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175. Schwarts, Matthew S. (6 December 2020). "Roald Dahl Family Apologizes For Children's
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brief apology, the family distanced itself from Dahl's anti-Jewish sentiments. "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, which have positively impacted young people
for generations," the statement continued. "We hope that, just as he did at his best, at his
absolute worst, Roald Dahl can help remind us of the lasting impact of words." / / It's unclear
when the apology was posted, but it came to light after The Sunday Times reported it Sunday,
along with further regrets from his family. "Apologising for the words of a much-loved
grandparent is a challenging thing to do, but made more difficult when the words are so hurtful
to an entire community," the family said. "We loved Roald, but we passionately disagree with
his antisemitic comments." >>"
176. The article on the npr.org web site (see the previous footnote) (name="npr-MS" ... <<
["SCHWARTZ, MATTHEW S. (December 6, 2020)"] >>) includes hyperlinks to (e.g.)
"the comment on the official Dahl website", at: https://www.roalddahl.com/global/rdsc-and-
family-notice
and
a December 6, 2020 report in The Sunday Times, at:
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/roald-dahls-family-posts-quiet-apology-for-antisemitism-
ftbx9wj09
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0362-4331). Retrieved 14 October 2020.
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Lilith Magazine. 27 September 1998. Retrieved 14 October 2020.
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ople/women-as-written-by-roald-dahl-1.2775898). The Irish Times. Retrieved 14 October 2020.
184. Lloyd, Brian (17 November 2016). "You've been pronouncing Roald Dahl's name wrong for
years" (https://entertainment.ie/trending/youve-been-pronouncing-roald-dahls-name-wrong-for-
years-331615/). Entertainment.ie. Retrieved 11 January 2020.
185. White, Bethany (18 November 2016). "We've all been pronouncing Roald Dahl's name wrong
for years" (http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/weve-been-pronouncing-roald-dahl
s-12196317). walesonline. Retrieved 11 January 2020.
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guidelines/qrst/#r). Library of Congress. Retrieved 25 April 2017.
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Burton, Tim (2006). Mark Salisbury (ed.). Craats, Rennay (2014). Roald Dahl (https://boo
Burton on Burton (https://books.google.com/ ks.google.com/books?id=LhKloAEACAAJ).
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Dahl, Roald (2013) [1984]. Boy:tales of MacDonald, Bill (2001). The True Intrepid: Sir
childhood (https://archive.org/details/boytale William Stephenson and the Unknown
sofchildh0000dahl_v2x4). London: Penguin Agents (https://books.google.com/books?id
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OCLC 1193367039 (https://www.worldcat.or ISBN 978-1-55192-418-2.
g/oclc/1193367039). Marlow, Jean (2009). Audition Speeches for 6-
Dahl, Roald (1988) [1986]. Going solo (https://a 16 Year Olds: 50+ audition pieces for actors
rchive.org/details/goingsol00dahl). London: and actresses (https://books.google.com/bo
Penguin Group. ISBN 0-14-01-0306-6. oks?id=Jdf1luBQvGgC&pg=PA46).
OCLC 1035312298 (https://www.worldcat.or Bloomsbury. ISBN 978-1-4081-4107-6.
g/oclc/1035312298). Maunder, Andrew (2007). The Facts on File
de Castella, Tom (12 September 2011). "The Companion to the British Short Story (http
darkness of Dahl" (https://www.bbc.com/ne s://books.google.com/books?id=Px9s1oIjj88
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Donald, Graeme (2008). Sticklers, Sideburns & McElmeel, Sharron L. (1999). "Roald Dahl" (http
Bikinis: The Military Origins of Everyday s://archive.org/details/100mostpopularch00
Words and Phrases (https://books.google.co mcel_0/page/114/mode/2up). 100 Most
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Guide to Literature in English (https://books. 23 September 2020.
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PA269). Cambridge University Press. Underground Guide to the City (https://book
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Sharp, Michael D. (2005). Popular Television Series, Pilots and Specials (http
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Marshall Cavendish. ISBN 978-0-7614- 918432-61-2.
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Shavick, Andrea (1997). Roald Dahl: The 45 (https://books.google.com/books?id=4u-
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&pg=PA206). Volume One. Grub Street
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Publishing. ISBN 978-1-898697-00-8.
Further reading
Jason Hook, Roald Dahl: The Storyteller, Jennifer Boothroyd, Roald Dahl: A Life of
Raintree, 2004 Imagination. Lerner Publications, 2008
Jacob M. Held, Roald Dahl and Philosophy: A
Little Nonsense Now and Then. Rowman &
Littlefield, 2014
External links
Official website (https://www.roalddahl.com)
Roald Dahl's darkest hour (biography excerpt) (https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/biogr
aphyandmemoirreviews/7930233/Roald-Dahls-darkest-hour.html)
Roald Dahl (http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ea.cgi?Roald_Dahl) at the Internet Speculative Fiction
Database
Roald Dahl (https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001094/) at IMDb
Roald Dahl (https://lccn.loc.gov/n79055236) at Library of Congress Authorities, with 155
catalogue records
Works by Roald Dahl (https://openlibrary.org/authors/OL34184A) at Open Library
Radio interview by NRK (1975) (https://web.archive.org/web/20090108190247/http://www1.nr
k.no/nett-tv/klipp/7365) (in Norwegian)
"The Devious Bachelor" (https://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/19/books/review/Heilbrunn-t.html),
Sunday Book Review of The Irregulars, Roald Dahl and the British Spy Ring in Wartime
Washington by Jennet Conant, The New York Times, 17 October 2008
Profile of Patricia Neal (2011) (http://www.voanews.com/learningenglish/home/Patricia-Neal-19

26-2010-Actress-Had-Great-Success-and-Personal-Tragedy-116810828.html) on Voice of
America (VOAnews.com), with transcript
Footage of one Whitbread Book Prize presentation by Dahl (1982) (http://www.itnsource.com/s
hotlist//ITN/1982/11/09/AS091182009/)
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12/09/2021 Roald Dahl - Wikipedia

Roald Dahl[a] (13 September 1916 – 23 November 1990) was

Dahl was born in Wales to affluent Norwegian immigrant

for antisemitism, racism and misogyny.

Unexpected. Repton School

Fighter pilot Danny, the Champion of

Criticisms Felicity Crosland (m.

Writing roles Nicholas Logsdail

Dahl first attended The Cathedral School, Llandaff. At age eight, he

From 1929, when he was 13, Dahl attended Repton School in

In November 1939, Dahl joined the Royal Air Force as an

He was assigned to No. 80 Squadron RAF, flying obsolete Gloster

In February 1941, Dahl was discharged from the hospital and

Diplomat, writer and intelligence officer

Olivia Twenty (1955–1962);

On 5 December 1960, four-month-old Theo Dahl was severely injured

In 1972 Roald Dahl met Felicity d'Abreu Crosland, niece of Francis

In the 1986 New Years Honours List, Dahl was offered an

Dahl also had a successful parallel career as the writer of macabre

Those who don't believe in magic will never find it.

— Roald Dahl, The Minpins

1. Just add chocolate

Dahl was also influenced by Lewis Carroll’s Alice's Adventures in

Death and legacy

In 2002, one of Cardiff Bay's

In 2008, the UK charity Booktrust and Children's Laureate Michael

Regarded as "one of the greatest storytellers for children of the 20th

Year Title Role Notes

Year Title Role Notes

Year Title Role Notes

17. "Blue plaque marks Dahl sweet shop" (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/south_east/8253467.st

47. Dahl 1988, p. 103.

75. Farrell 1971.

100. "Why we love the mischievous spirit of Roald Dahl" (https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandr

122. "BFI: Film and TV Database – Tales of the Unexpected" (https://web.archive.org/web/2009011

142. Burton 2006, p. 223.

Profile of Patricia Neal (2011) (http://www.voanews.com/learningenglish/home/Patricia-Neal-19

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Roald_Dahl&oldid=1042638896"

This page was last edited on 6 September 2021, at 01:14 (UTC).

Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License;

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