Who was Roald Dahl? Taking notes a writing a short biography

 

Roald Dahl was a British children’s author who created world-famous stories such as James and the Giant Peach, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Matilda. His works are globally renowned for inspiring children, and his books have sold more than 250 million copies across the world. To learn more about this famous author, including the history of Roald Dahl for kids, explore this post.

Roald Dahl was born on the 13th September 1916 in Llandaff, Wales. His parents, Norwegian-born Harald Dahl and Sofie Magdalene Hesselberg Dahl named Roald after the first man to reach the South Pole. Sadly, Roald’s sister and father died in 1920 when he was just 3 years old, meaning he was raised alone by his mother in Wales.

Roald Dahl spent the first years of his childhood and early life in Cardiff, attending The Cathedral School in Llandaff. However, both of his parents had wanted him to have the best education. From a young age, Dahl was sent away to public schools, firstly St. Peter’s boarding school in Weston-super-Mare, and then Repton boarding school in Derbyshire from the age of 13.

Dahl’s early life at school was not a happy experience. He was very homesick and wrote to his mother nearly every week, detailing parts of his school life in his letters. He felt the boarding school system was harsh and filled with unnecessary rules. He also encountered a variety of mean teachers and an unkind school matron, who would provide the inspiration for some of the nasty adult characters in his books. However, there were lighter moments, such as the Cadbury's chocolate factory sending out boxes of new chocolate for children to try. These incidents, recorded in his letters, would go on to inspire Dahl’s future children's books such as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

You can also read about some of the significant moments from Roald Dahl’s early life and childhood in his autobiographical book Boy: A Tale of Childhood. For example, in the novel he recounts how he once faked having appendicitis in order to be sent home during a particularly bad bout of homesickness. Of course, the doctor sussed him out straight away - but he still signed him off school for a period of 'recovery', acknowledging the young Dahl's homesickness, which had caused him to fake the illness.

Roald Dahl’s military career

Upon the outbreak of World War II, when Dahl was just 23 years old, he enlisted in the Royal Air Force. He trained to become a pilot in Kenya and Baghdad until he was commissioned as a Pilot Officer and joined the battles on the front line. In 1940, after an emergency landing, Dahl sustained a head injury and was transferred to the Royal Navy Hospital in Alexandria. He made a full recovery, and by 1941 Dahl returned to fight in the war until its end in 1945.

After the war, Dahl was assigned to a new post in Washington, D.C. During this time, he worked with other established British authors such as Ian Fleming, who wrote the James Bond series. Dahl was also working as a British spy during his time in Washington, and would provide information to MI6.

Roald Dahl’s personal life

Dahl married Patricia Neal, an American actor, in 1953 at Trinity Church in New York. Over their 30-year marriage, they had five children. His third child, Theo Dahl, sustained a serious injury when he was just four months old. To aid his recovery, Roald became heavily involved in the invention and development of the Wade-Dahl-Till, a device used to manage a condition where water is on the brain. This device has since been successfully used on children around the world.

He married a second time in 1983, this time to the film producer Felicity Crosland. The couple had no children but remained together for the rest of Dahl’s life.

Roald Dahl’s writing career

Roald Dahl didn’t start writing children’s books until he had children himself. The first book to be published was James and the Giant Peach in 1961, followed closely by Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Fantastic Mr Fox was then released in 1970, and throughout the 1980s stories such as The Twits, Matilda and The BFG were published. His books went on to sell over 250 million copies worldwide, establishing Dahl as one of the greatest and best-loved children’s authors of all time.

Roald Dahl legacy

On 23rd November 1990, Roald Dahl died. He was 74 years old. He was buried at St Peter and St Paul’s parish church in his home village of Great Missenden, a small village in Buckinghamshire, England, where Dahl lived for the last 36 years of his life.

After his death, Dahl’s wife, Felicity Crosland, established Roald Dahl's Marvellous Children's Charity in his name, to celebrate his legacy. She was also instrumental in the establishment of the Roald Dahl Museum and Story Centre, based in Great Missenden. The attraction has dazzled and delighted children and adults alike since it first opened in 2005.

With such a far-reaching legacy and so many iconic stories under his belt, just how many books did Roald Dahl write? Roald Dahl wrote almost 50 books in his lifetime, including books for adults as well as children. His works include:

1. The Gremlins
2. James and the Giant Peach
3. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
4. Kiss Kiss
5. Fantastic Mr. Fox
6. Danny the Champion of the World
7. The Enormous Crocodile
8. My Uncle Oswald
9. The Twits
10. Revolting Rhymes
11. The BFG
12. The Witches
13. Boy
14. Going Solo
15. Matilda
16. Esio Trot
17. The Minpins
18. George's Marvellous Medicine
19. The Magic Finger
20. The Giraffe and The Pelly and Me
21. The Vicar of Nibbleswicke
22. And many more!

Dahl is best remembered for his 22 children’s books, in which he created some of the most memorable characters in the world of fiction. From Willy Wonka to Mr Fox, The BFG and Miss Trunchbull, we all remember our favourite Roald Dahl characters!

Roald Dahl also wrote film screenplays. His works for the big screen include You Only Live Twice and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

Why are Roald Dahl’s books important?

Roald Dahl’s stories are often written from the point of view of a child, making his works easily accessible and understandable for children. They also often feature evil adults, who hate or despise children, and at least one good adult who helps the children. Roald Dahl’s early life and childhood experiences with adults definitely shaped the characters he wrote. He gives his child characters power because he felt powerless in his own childhood.

Roald Dahl genre

It’s basically impossible to define Roald Dahl’s genre, because his work is so original! His children’s stories fall into a number of categories:

Fantasy. Roald Dahl’s stories and characters could definitely be said to be fantastical. From the striking figure of the BFG through to the magical world of the Chocolate Factory, and imaginative creatures like the Roly-Poly Bird, Dahl’s books and characters definitely don’t belong in the real world. However, like many fantasy books, they do mirror real life and teach us something about ourselves.

Comedy.One of the biggest parts of Roald Dahl’s appeal for children is his ability to make them laugh! His books are filled with hilarious incidents, often at the expense of the adult characters.

Suspense. Suspense is another Roald Dahl genre, because his books are full of high stakes and they keep us guessing what will happen next. There’s always a baddie to outwit and a mission of some kind for the lead characters to complete.

So, while we can’t categorise Roald Dahl’s genre, we can see that there are a few genres his books belong to. Above all, however, his stories belong in a genre all of their own, even incorporating many words that he made up himself.

Roald Dahl themes

Roald Dahl’s books tend to include a warm underlying meaning. A regular theme in his novels is that the good will always overpower the wicked. For example, Matilda demonstrates that even a little girl can stand up and fight for what she believes in. Similarly, The Twits promotes the message that “good thoughts will shine out of your face like sunbeams and you will always look lovely”.

These inspiring messages provide good examples of morals for children to learn and understand, while also teaching children about the world around them.