Roald Dahl
By Ben Canty
Early Years & Schooling 1918-1929
Roald Dahl was born September 13th, 1916 in Llandaff, Wales. He had 5 siblings but his sister and father died in 1920 when he was four. After the birth of his sister in 1918, the family moved to Radyr, Wales. When he was five, the family moved back to Llandaff. In 1923 Dahl was enrolled in the Cathedral School and remained there until 1925, when he was enrolled in St. Peters Weston-super-Mare.
Career With Shell Oil 1934-1938
In 1934 Dahl started working for Shell Oil and in 1938 he traveled to Dar-es-Salaam. Dahl left the company in 1939 to fight in WW2.
Military Career
Following the start of WW2, Dahl became a Royal Air Force Pilot. In 1940 Dahl was posted to 80th Squadron in Libya and while he was stationed there he was in a plane crash. After the crash, Dahl spent 6 months in Libya recovering from severe head, nose and back injuries caused by the crash. In 1941 Dahl rejoined his squadron in Athens, Greece and took part in The Battle of Athens. Later in 1941 while Dahl and his squadron were in northern Israel, Dahl complained of debilitating headaches and as a result was deemed unfit to fly and sent back to Britain. After a stay in Britain with his mother Dahl, 26, was posted to the British Embassy in Washington, D.C. in April, 1942 as an assistant air attache. This was the last thing Dahl did in the Royal Air Force.
Writing Career 1939- 1990 ( Year He Died)
While Dahl was stationed in D.C, he met C.S Forester who encouraged Dahl to write about his experiences in the desert. Dahl took Forester's advice and released his books The Saturday Evening Post and Shot Down Over Libya. In 1942 Dahl started work on The Gremlins which was published a year later in 1943. In January 1946, Dahl released his first short-story series titled Over To You. In 1948 Dahl released his first dystopian book called Some Time Never. In the 1950's Dahl published Someone Like You and The Honeys which was Dahl's only stage play. In the 1960's Dahl published Kiss Kiss, James and the Giant Peach, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, The Magic Finger, You Only Live Twice and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. In the 1970's Dahl published Fantastic Mr. Fox, The Night Digger, Charlie and the Glass Elevator, Switch B***h, Danny, The Champion of The World, The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar, The Enormous Crocodile and My Uncle Oswald. In the 1980's Dahl published The Twits, George's Marvelous Medicine, Revolting Rhymes, The BFG (My favorite), Dirty Beasts, The Witches, Roald Dahl's Book of Ghost Stories, Boy: Tales of Childhood, The Giraffe and the Pelly and Me, Two Fables, Going Solo, Matilda, Rhyme Stew, and Ah, Sweet Mystery of Life. Roald Dahl past away in 1990 but a number of his stories were published after his death. Those stories include: Esio Trot, The Vicar of Nibbleswicke, The Minpins, Roald Dahl's Guide To Railway Safety, The Roald Dahl Cookbook, My Year, The Roald Dahl Treasury, Songs and Verse and More About Boy.
Family
Roald Dahl met Patricia Neal in 1951 and they married two years later in 1953. Dahl's first daughter, Olivia, was born in 1955. In 1957, Dahl's second daughter, Tessa was born. In 1960 Dahl's first son, Theo was born. In 1962, Olivia Dahl died of measles. In 1964, Dahl's third daughter, Ophelia was born. In 1965 Dahls fourth daughter, Lucy,was born. In 1983, Dahl and Neal got divorced. Dahl married Felicity Ann d'Abreu Crosland in the same year. Dahl had 7 grandchildren.
The BFG
The BFG is the story about Sophie, an orphan in London, England. One night she is taken by a friendly giant because she saw him giving dreams to the other children. In the land that the BFG lives in, the BFG is the only friendly giant and the rest are man eaters and since the BFG doesn't eat humans, he and Sophie are forced to eat a disgusting thing called snozzcumber. Will Sophie survive? Read the BFG to find out.
Video
This is a link to a Roald Dahl Story: