biography of roald dahl in 100 words

Children's author Roald Dahl wrote the kids' classics 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,' 'Matilda' and 'James and the Giant Peach,' among other famous works.

(1916-1990)

Who Was Roald Dahl?

Roald Dahl was a British author who penned 19 children's books over his decades-long writing career. In 1953 he published the best-selling story collection Someone Like You and married actress Patricia Neal. He published the popular book James and the Giant Peach in 1961. In 1964 he released another highly successful work, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory , which was later adapted for two films.

Early Life and Education

Dahl was born in Llandaff, South Wales, on September 13, 1916. Dahl's parents were Norwegian. As a child, he spent his summer vacations visiting with his grandparents in Oslo. When Dahl was four years old, his father died.

The young Dahl received his earliest education at Llandaff Cathedral School. When the principal gave him a harsh beating for playing a practical joke, Dahl's mother decided to enroll her rambunctious and mischievous child at St. Peter's, a British boarding school, as had been her husband's wish.

Dahl later transferred to Repton, a private school with a reputation for academic excellence. He resented the rules at Repton; while there, the lively and imaginative youngster was restless and ached for adventure.

While Dahl hardly excelled as a student, his mother offered to pay for his tuition at Oxford or Cambridge University when he graduated. Dahl's response, as quoted from his autobiography, Boy: Tales of Childhood , was, "No thank you. I want to go straight from school to work for a company that will send me to wonderful faraway places like Africa or China."

And that he did. After Dahl graduated from Repton in 1932, he went on an expedition to Newfoundland. Afterward, he took a job with the Shell Oil Company in Tanzania, Africa, where he remained until 1939.

Over his decades-long writing career, Dahl composed 19 children’s books. Despite their popularity, Dahl’s children’s books have been the subject of some controversy, as critics and parents have balked at their portrayal of children’s harsh revenge on adult wrongdoers. In his defense, Dahl claimed that children have a cruder sense of humor than adults, and that he was merely trying to appeal to his readers.

'James and the Giant Peach' (1961)

Dahl first established himself as a children’s writer in 1961, when he published the book James and the Giant Peach , a book about a lonely little boy living with his two mean aunts who meets the Old Green Grasshopper and his insect friends on a giant, magical peach. The book met with wide critical and commercial acclaim.

'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory' (1964)

Three years after his first children’s book, Dahl published another big winner, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory . A quirky, solitary businessman, Willy Wonka, has been holed up alone inside his fantastical chocolate factory until he releases five golden tickets inside the wrappers of candy bars. Winners — including the poor little boy Charlie Bucket, who doesn’t have much to eat — are awarded a visit. Some critics have accused Dahl of portraying a racist stereotype with his Oompa-Loompa characters in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

'Fantastic Mr. Fox' (1970)

Three farmers are out to get the cunning trickster Mr. Fox, who outwits them every time. Mr. Fox lives in a tree with his wife and family, which was inspired by a real 150-year beech tree Dahl knew as the “witches tree” standing outside his house.

'The BFG' (1982)

Of his many stories, Roald Dahl said The BFG was his favorite. He came up with the idea for a giant who stores dreams in bottles for kids to enjoy when they sleep several years before, and he told the story of the Big Friendly Giant to his own kids at bedtime.

'The Witches' (1983)

A boy happens upon a witch convention, where the witches are planning to get rid of every last child in England. The boy and his grandmother must battle the witches to save the children.

'Matilda' (1988)

Roald Dahl’s last long story follows the adventures of a genius five-year-old girl, Matilda Wormwood, who uses her powers to help her beloved teacher outwit the cruel headmistress.

Dahl wrote several television and movie scripts. Several film adaptations of his books have also been created (all of those made during his lifetime Dahl famously despised), most notably:

'Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory' (1971)

This Dahl favorite, originally known as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory as a book, starred Gene Wilder as Willy Wonka. An originally titled remake of the film, starring Johnny Depp , was released in 2005.

'The BFG' (1989, 2016)

The BFG was first made into a stop-motion animated film in 1989, with David Jason playing the voice of the Big Friendly Giant. The movie was remade in 2016 by Steven Spielberg and featured live actors.

'The Witches' (1990)

In this live-action film features Anjelica Huston as the Grand High Witch. Rowan Atkinson also appeared as hotel manager Mr. Stringer.

'Matilda' (1996)

Danny DeVito directed this movie adaptation and also voiced the narrator.

'The Fantastic Mr. Fox' (2009)

In 2009, Wes Anderson directed this quirky, touching animated feature about the adventures of the farm-raiding Mr. Fox (voiced by George Clooney ), with a cast including Meryl Streep (Mrs. Fox) and Bill Murray (Badger).

'The Witches' (2020)

Another live-action film of the book starring Anne Hathaway .

Short Stories

Dahl began his writing career with short stories; in all, he published nine short story collections. Dahl first caught the writing bug while in Washington, D.C., when he met with author C.S. Forrester, who encouraged him to start writing. Dahl published his first short story in the Saturday Evening Post . He went on to write stories and articles for other magazines, including The New Yorker .

Of his early writing career, Dahl told New York Times book reviewer Willa Petschek, "As I went on the stories became less and less realistic and more fantastic." He went on to describe his foray into writing as a "pure fluke," saying, "Without being asked to, I doubt if I'd ever have thought to do it."

Dahl wrote his first story for children, The Gremlins , in 1942, for Walt Disney . The story wasn't terribly successful, so Dahl went back to writing macabre and mysterious stories geared toward adult readers. He continued in this vein into the 1950s, producing the best-selling story collection Someone Like You in 1953, and Kiss, Kiss in 1959.

Wives and Children

The same year that Someone Like You was published, Dahl married film actress Patricia Neal, who won an Academy Award for her role in Hud in 1961. The marriage lasted three decades and resulted in five children, one of whom tragically died in 1962.

Dahl told his children nightly bedtime stories that inspired his future career as a children's writer. These stories became the basis for some of his most popular kids' books, as his children proved an informative test audience. "Children are ... highly critical. And they lose interest so quickly," he asserted in his New York Times book review interview. “You have to keep things ticking along. And if you think a child is getting bored, you must think up something that jolts it back. Something that tickles. You have to know what children like."

After Neal suffered from multiple brain hemorrhages in the mid-1960s, Dahl stood by her through her long recovery. The couple would eventually divorce in 1983. Soon after, Dahl married Felicity Ann Crosland, his partner until his death in 1990.

Dahl died on November 23, 1990, at the age of 74. After suffering an unspecified infection, on November 12, 1990, Dahl had been admitted to the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford, England.

QUICK FACTS

• Name: Roald Dahl
• Birth Year: 1916
• Birth date: September 13, 1916
• Birth City: Llandaff, South Wales
• Birth Country: United Kingdom
• Gender: Male
• Best Known For: Children's author Roald Dahl wrote the kids' classics 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,' 'Matilda' and 'James and the Giant Peach,' among other famous works.
• Writing and Publishing
• Astrological Sign: Virgo
• Interesting Facts
• Of the films that were adapted from his books during his lifetime, Roald Dahl came to despise them.
• Of his many stories, Roald Dahl said 'The BFG' was his favorite.
• Death Year: 1990
• Death date: November 23, 1990
• Death City: Oxford
• Death Country: United Kingdom

We strive for accuracy and fairness.If you see something that doesn't look right, contact us !

• Children are ... highly critical. And they lose interest so quickly. You have to keep things ticking along. And if you think a child is getting bored, you must think up something that jolts it back. Something that tickles. You have to know what children like.
• As I went on, the stories became less and less realistic and more fantastic. But becoming a writer was pure fluke. Without being asked to, I doubt if I'd ever have thought of it.
• A little nonsense now and then is relished by the wisest men.
• The writer for children must be a jokey sort of a fellow. He must like simple tricks and jokes and riddles and other childish things. He must be ... inventive. He must have a really first-class plot.

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Biography Online

Roald Dahl Biography

Roald Dahl – (13 September 1916 – 23 November 1990) was a best selling British children’s author and a flying ace in the Second World War.

Short Bio Roald Dahl

Roald Dahl was born in 1916, Cardiff to Norwegian parents. At a young age, his father passed away, and Roald was sent to boarding schools in England. His childhood years left a lasting impression on Roald, and he later serialised these in his autobiography – Boy .

These times were generally unhappy for Roald; he recounts the excessive strictness, corporal punishment and fear amongst the boys. The brutal canning meted out to boys by both staff, and ‘prefects’ particularly stuck in the mind of the young Dahl.

“All through my school life I was appalled by the fact that masters and senior boys were allowed quite literally to wound other boys, and sometimes very severely.” Roald Dahl

He recounted the fear and pain in great detail. He also mentioned a friend who was flogged – by the then headmaster of Repton, leaving a trail of blood. Roald wrote this headmaster went on to become Archbishop of Canterbury and this is one incident that turned him away from religion and God.

Roald Dahl never really fitted in with the public school ethos of discipline and fags. Fags were young boys who would serve elder prefects – for example, Roald wryly wrote how he was chosen to be the favoured ‘bog warmer’ of his prefect. – His job was to sit on an outside toilet to warm it up for his prefect. Despite excelling at sports, Roald later turned down the opportunity to be a prefect as he admitted he could not agree with the general principles.

The only glimpses of happiness were in the school holidays when he visited the beautiful Norwegian Fjords of his parents’ homeland and also towards the end of his school career when he got his first motorbike.

On leaving school, Roald got a job with Shell Petroleum company and in 1934 he was transferred to Dar es Salaam in Tanzania. He enjoyed his job and made good progress. However, on the outbreak of war in August 1939, he soon joined the Royal Air Force and became a fighter ace. He gained little training in an old Tiger Moth before being flung into brutal dogfights.

On an early flying mission, Roald Dahl crashed on route to Egypt. He was badly injured and was blinded for several weeks. By February 1941, he was discharged from hospital and was transferred to the Greek Campaign. This was a fight against overwhelming odds as the British forces were outnumbered with only a few aircraft to defend against the German invasion. Roald Dahl was one of the few airmen to survive the bitter dog fighting and was evacuated to Egypt before the fall of Athens. During that time he shot down numerous enemy aircraft, though the exact number was difficult to ascertain. His official figure was confirmed as 5, though this was likely to be more.

After a medical condition, Dahl was invalided back to Britain. For the remainder of the war, he was given a job writing propaganda for the allies. He also supplied intelligence to the British Security Coordination which was part of MI6.

After the war, Dahl began to concentrate more on writing as a career. His first successful story was an account of his crash in Egypt – “A Piece of Cake” – initially published as “Shot down over Libya”. This led to his first children’s book – Gremlins, commissioned by Walt Disney.

He went on to create some of the most memorable children’s books. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, James and the Giant Peach, Matilda . They set a new tone for children’s books. They often featured a dark sense of humour, grave injustice and grotesque figures (often fat e.g. Augustus Gloop, Bruce Bogtrotter).

“Fairy tales have always got to have something a bit scary for children – as long as you make them laugh as well.” – Roald Dahl

Using elements of semi-autobiography his stories often featured a divide between one or two good people against people who were abusing their positions of power. In books such as Danny The Champion of the World , he introduces elements of class conflict and the triumph of the underdog. His books often had unexpected endings.

In the 1960s, Dahl acquired an old-fashioned gypsy caravan which he parked in his garden where he lived in Great Missenden, Oxfordshire. He used this caravan to write some of his children’s books.

He also wrote short adult short stories, and in the 1960s he also wrote two successful screenplays – Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and the James Bond film – You Only Live Twice. But, it is primarily for his best selling children’s books that he is remembered. In a poll commissioned by Canon UK, Canon was considered Britain’s greatest storyteller – above both Dickens and J.K.Rowling.

He married Patricia Neal on 2 July 1953 in New York. They had five children during their 30-year marriage.

Citation: Pettinger, Tejvan . “ Roald Dahl “, Oxford, UK www.biographyonline.net , 22nd Jan. 2010. Last updated 18 February 2018.

Storyteller: The Authorized Biography of Roald Dahl

Storyteller: The Authorized Biography of Roald Dahl at Amazon

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Roald Dahl (September 13, 1916–November 23, 1990) was a British writer. After serving in the Royal Air Force during World War II , he became a world-famous author, particularly due to his best-selling books for children.

Fast Facts: Roald Dahl

• Known For:  English author of children's novels and adult short stories
• Born:  September 13, 1916 in Cardiff, Wales
• Parents:  Harald Dahl and Sofie Magdalene Dahl ( née  Hesselberg)
• Died:  November 23, 1990 in Oxford, England
• Education:  Repton School
• Selected Works:   James and the Giant Peach (1961), Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (1964), Fantastic Mr. Fox (1970), The BFG (1982), Matilda (1988)
• Spouses:  Patricia Neal (m. 1953-1983), Felicity Crosland (m. 1983)
• Children:  Olivia Twenty Dahl, Chantal Sophia "Tessa" Dahl, Theo Matthew Dahl, Ophelia Magdalena Dahl, Lucy Neal Dahl
• Notable Quote:  “Above all, watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places. Those who don't believe in magic will never find it.”

Dahl was born in Cardiff, Wales in 1916, in the district of Llandaff. His parents were Harald Dahl and Sofie Magdalene Dahl (née Hesselberg), both of whom were Norwegian immigrants. Harold had originally immigrated from Norway in the 1880s and lived in Cardiff with his French first wife, with whom he had two children (a daughter, Ellen, and a son, Louis) before her death in 1907. Sofie immigrated later and married Harold in 1911. They had five children, Roald and his four sisters Astri, Alfhild, Else, and Asta, all of whom they raised Lutheran. In 1920, Astri died suddenly of appendicitis, and Harold died of pneumonia only weeks later; Sofie was pregnant with Asta at the time. Instead of returning to her family in Norway, she stayed in the UK, wanting to follow her husband’s wishes to give their children an English education.

As a boy, Dahl was sent to an English public boarding school , St. Peter’s. He was intensely unhappy during his time there, but never let his mother know how he felt about it. In 1929, he moved to Repton School in Derbyshire, which he found equally unpleasant due to the culture of intense hazing and the cruelty with which older students dominated and bullied the younger ones; his hatred for corporal punishment stemmed from his school experiences. One of the cruel headmasters he loathed, Geoffrey Fisher, later became the Archbishop of Canterbury, and the association somewhat soured Dahl on religion.

Surprisingly, he was not noted as a particularly talented writer during his schoolboy days; in fact, many of his evaluations reflected precisely the opposite. He did enjoy literature, as well as sports and photography. Another of his iconic creations was sparked by his schooling experiences: the Cadbury chocolate company occasionally sent samples of new products to be tested by Repton students, and Dahl’s imagination of new chocolate creations would later turn into his famous Charlie and the Chocolate Factory . He graduated in 1934 and took a job with the Shell Petroleum Company; he was sent as an oil supplier to Kenya and Tanganyika (modern-day Tanzania).

World War II Pilot

In 1939, Dahl was first commissioned by the army to lead a platoon of indigenous troops as World War II broke out . Soon after, however, he switched to the Royal Air Force , despite having very little experience as a pilot, and underwent months of training before he was deemed fit for combat in the fall of 1940. His first mission, however, went badly awry. After being given instructions that later proved to be inaccurate, he wound up crashing in the Egyptian desert and suffering serious injuries that took him out of combat for several months. He did manage to return to combat in 1941. During this time, he had five aerial victories, which qualified him as a flying ace, but by September 1941, severe headaches and blackouts led to him being invalided home.

Dahl attempted to qualify as an RAF training officer, but instead wound up accepting the post of assistant air attaché at the British Embassy in Washington, D.C. Although unimpressed and uninterested with his diplomatic posting, he became acquainted with C.S. Forester, a British novelist who was tasked with producing Allied propaganda for American audiences. Forester asked Dahl to write down some of his war experiences to be turned into a story, but when he received Dahl’s manuscript, he instead published it as Dahl had written it. He wound up working with other authors, including David Ogilvy and Ian Fleming, to help promote British war interests, and worked in espionage as well, at one point passing information from Washington to Winston Churchill himself.

The knack for children’s stories that would make Dahl famous first appeared during the war as well. In 1943, he published The Gremlins , turning an inside joke in the RAF (“gremlins” were to blame for any aircraft problems) into a popular story that counted Eleanor Roosevelt and Walt Disney among its fans. When the war ended, Dahl had held the rank of wing commander and squadron leader. Several years after the end of the war, in 1953, he married Patricia Neal, an American actress. They had five children: four daughters and one son.

Short Stories (1942-1960)

• "A Piece of Cake" (published as "Shot Down Over Libya," 1942)
• The Gremlins (1943)
• Over to You: Ten Stories of Flyers and Flying (1946)
• Sometime Never: A Fable for Superman (1948)
• Someone Like You (1953)
• Kiss Kiss (1960)

Dahl’s writing career began in 1942 with his wartime story. Originally, he wrote it with the title “A Piece of Cake,” and it was bought by The Saturday Evening Post for the substantial sum of $1,000. In order to be more dramatic for war propaganda purposes, however, it was renamed “Shot Down Over Libya,” even though Dahl had not, in fact, been shot down, let alone over Libya. His other major contribution to the war effort was The Gremlins , his first work for children. Originally, it was optioned by Walt Disney for an animated film , but a variety of production obstacles (problems with ensuring the rights to the idea of “gremlins” were open, issues with creative control and RAF involvement) led to the project’s eventual abandonment.

As the war came to an end, he kicked off a career writing short stories, mostly for adults and mostly published originally in a variety of American magazines. In the waning years of the war, many of his short stories remained focused on the war, the war effort, and propaganda for the Allies. First published in 1944 in Harper’s Bazaar , “Beware of the Dog” became one of Dahl’s most successful war stories and eventually was loosely adapted into two different movies.

In 1946, Dahl published his first short story collection. Entitled Over to You: Ten Stories of Flyers and Flying , the collection includes most of his war-era short stories . They’re notably different from the more famous works he’d later write; these stories were clearly rooted in the wartime setting and were more realistic and less quirky. He also tackled his first (of what would only be two) adult novels in 1948. Some Time Never: A Fable for Supermen was a work of dark speculative fiction, combining the premise of his children’s story The Gremlins with a dystopian future imagining worldwide nuclear war. It was largely a failure and has never been reprinted in English. Dahl returned to short stories, publishing two consecutive short story collections: Someone Like You in 1953 and Kiss Kiss in 1960.

Family Struggles and Children’s Stories (1960-1980)

• James and the Giant Peach (1961)
• Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (1964)
• The Magic Finger (1966)
• Twenty-Nine Kisses from Roald Dahl (1969)
• Fantastic Mr. Fox (1970)
• Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator (1972)
• Switch Bitch (1974)
• Danny the Champion of the World (1975)
• The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Six More (1978)
• The Enormous Crocodile (1978)
• The Best of Roald Dahl (1978)
• My Uncle Oswald (1979)
• Tales of the Unexpected (1979)
• The Twits (1980)
• More Tales of the Unexpected (1980)

The beginning of the decade included some devastating events for Dahl and his family. In 1960, his son Theo’s baby carriage was hit by a car, and Theo nearly died. He suffered from hydrocephalus, so Dahl collaborated with engineer Stanley Wade and neurosurgeon Kenneth Till to invent a valve that could be used to improve treatment. Less than two years later, Dahl's daughter, Olivia, died at age seven from measles encephalitis. As a result, Dahl became a staunch proponent of vaccinations and he also began questioning his faith—a well-known anecdote explained that Dahl was dismayed at an archbishop’s remark that Olivia’s beloved dog could not join her in heaven and began questioning whether or not the Church really was so infallible. In 1965, his wife Patricia suffered three burst cerebral aneurysms during her fifth pregnancy, requiring her to relearn basic skills like walking and talking; she did recover and eventually returned to her acting career.

Meanwhile, Dahl was becoming more and more involved in writing novels for children. James and the Giant Peach , published in 1961, became his first iconic children’s book, and the decade saw several more publications that would go on to endure for years. His 1964 novel, though, would be arguably his most famous: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory . The book received two film adaptations, one in 1971 and one in 2005, and a sequel, Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator , in 1972. In 1970, Dahl published The Fantastic Mr. Fox , another of his more famous children’s stories.

During this time, Dahl continued to turn out short story collections for adults as well. Between 1960 and 1980, Dahl published eight short story collections, including two “best of” style collections. My Uncle Oswald , published in 1979, was a novel using the same character of the lecherous “Uncle Oswald” who featured in a few of his earlier short stories for adults. He also continuously published new novels for children, which soon surpassed the success of his adult works. In the 1960s, he also briefly worked as a screenwriter, most notably adapting two Ian Fleming novels into films: the James Bond caper You Only Live Twice and the children’s movie Chitty Chitty Bang Bang .

Later Stories for Both Audiences (1980-1990)

• George's Marvelous Medicine (1981)
• The BFG (1982)
• The Witches (1983)
• The Giraffe and the Pelly and Me (1985)
• Two Fables (1986)
• Matilda (1988)
• Ah, Sweet Mystery of Life: The Country Stories of Roald Dahl (1989)
• Esio Trot (1990)
• The Vicar of Nibbleswick (1991)
• The Minpins (1991)

By the early 1980s, Dahl’s marriage to Neal was falling apart. They divorced in 1983, and Dahl remarried that same year to Felicity d’Abreu Crosland, an ex-girlfriend. Around the same time, he caused some controversy with his remarks centered on Tony Clifton's picture book  God Cried , which depicted the siege of West Beirut by Israel during the 1982 Lebanon War. His comments at the time were widely interpreted as antisemitic , although others in his circle interpreted his anti-Israel comments as non-malicious and more targeted at the conflicts with Israel.

Among his most famous later stories are 1982’s The BFG and 1988’s Matilda . The latter book was adapted into a much-beloved film in 1996, as well as an acclaimed stage musical in 2010 on the West End and 2013 on Broadway. The last book released while Dahl was still alive was Esio Trot , a surprisingly sweet children’s novel about a lonely old man trying to connect with a woman he has fallen in love with from afar.

Literary Styles and Themes

Dahl was far and away best known for his very particular and unique approach to children’s literature . Certain elements in his books are easily traced to his ugly experiences at boarding school during his youth: villainous, terrifying adults in positions of power who hate children, precocious and observant children as protagonists and narrators, school settings, and plenty of imagination. Although the boogeymen of Dahl’s childhood certainly made plenty of appearances—and, crucially, were always defeated by the children—he also tended to write token “good” adults as well.

Despite being famous for writing for children, Dahl’s sense of style is famously a unique hybrid of the whimsical and the gleefully macabre. It’s a distinctively child-centric approach, but one with a subversive undertone to its obvious warmth. The details of his antagonists’ villainy are often described in childlike but nightmarish detail, and the comic threads in stories such as Matilda and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory are laced with dark or even violent moments. Gluttony is a particular target for Dahl’s sharply violent retribution, with several notably fat characters in his canon receiving disturbing or violent ends.

Dahl’s language is notable for its playful style and intentional malapropisms . His books are littered with new words of his own invention, often created by switching around letters or mix-and-matching existing sounds to make words that still made sense, even though they weren’t real words. In 2016, for the centenary of Dahl's birth, lexicographer Susan Rennie created  The Oxford Roald Dahl Dictionary , a guide to his invented words and their “translations” or meanings.

Near the end of his life, Dahl was diagnosed with myelodysplastic syndrome, a rare cancer of the blood, typically affecting older patients, that occurs when blood cells do not “mature” into healthy blood cells. Roald Dahl died on November 23, 1990, in Oxford, England. He was buried at the Church of St. Peter and St. Paul, Great Missenden, in Buckinghamshire, England, in a fittingly unusual fashion: he was buried with some chocolates and wine, pencils, his favorite pool cues, and a power saw. To this day, his grave remains a popular site, where children and adults alike pay tribute by leaving flowers and toys.

Dahl’s legacy largely dwells in the enduring power of his children’s books. Several of his most famous works have been adapted into several different media, from film and television to radio to stage. It’s not just his literary contributions that have continued to have an impact, though. After his death, his widow Felicity continued his charitable work through the Roald Dahl Marvellous Children’s Charity, which supports children with various illnesses throughout the UK. In 2008, the UK charity Booktrust and Children's Laureate Michael Rosen joined forces to create The Roald Dahl Funny Prize, awarded annually to authors of humorous children's fiction. Dahl’s particular brand of humor and his sophisticated yet approachable voice for children’s fiction have left an indelible mark.

• Boothroyd, Jennifer.  Roald Dahl: A Life of Imagination . Lerner Publications, 2008.
• Shavick, Andrea.  Roald Dahl: The Champion Storyteller . Oxford University Press, 1997.
• Sturrock, Donald.  Storyteller: The Authorized Biography of Roald Dahl , Simon & Schuster, 2010.
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50 Amazing Words Roald Dahl Made Up

Deputy Enterprise Editor, Culture, HuffPost

One hundred years ago, a man named Roald Dahl came into the world. Born in Wales in 1916, he ascended to literary fame in the 1940s, producing some of the most recognizable children’s literature of our time: Matilda , Charlie and the Chocolate Factory , Fantastic Mr. Fox , The Witches , James and the Giant Peach , The BFG.

Dahl blended fantasy, horror and folklore into books that enchanted readers, not simply because his stories were fantastical tales of candy factories and witches and telekinesis, but because he often made heroes of unlikely children. He crafted funny and violent narratives told from the perspective of girls and boys, giving orphans and poor kids and bullied students the platform to best mythical creatures and wayward adults. It’s no surprise that many of his books were adapted into films that stretched his legacy into the 21st century ― every title above has made its way to the silver screen; even the 1984 classic “Gremlins” is said to be partly inspired by a story he wrote in 1942.

Like authors before him ― William Shakespeare, Lewis Carroll, Dr. Seuss ― Dahl’s literature is particularly unique because it’s based on a language without boundaries. His characters speak in alliteration, onomatopoeia, anagrams and portmanteaus, choosing to say “churgle” instead of “laugh” or “bish” instead of “ruin.” Terms like “zozimus” define a thing (in this case, the stuff dreams are made of) so magical yet based in reality, that his tendency to create entire sentences in Dahlian gibberish only elevated his characters’ ability to communicate complex concepts like fear and hate.

In honor of his centennial birthday, Oxford University Press has packaged the words utterly distinct to Dahl’s universes, whether they’re familiar terms imbued with new meaning or entirely made-up phrases originating in the belly of a giant. The Oxford Roald Dahl Dictionary , compiled by Dr. Susan Rennie, is both an unconventional tool for teaching kids how to read and an expansive survey of one man’s contribution to literary history.

From “argy” to “zozimus,” these are just 50 of the magnificent expressions the late, great author left behind:

1. Argy (verb) : If giants or human beans or cattlerpiddlers are argying, they are having an argument.

“ One of the biggest chatbags is the cattlepiddlers ... They is argying all the time about who is going to be the prettiest butterfly.” - The BFG

2. Biffsquiggled (adjective) : If you feel biffsquiggled, you are confused or puzzled.

“’You must not be giving up so easy,’ the BFG said calmly. ‘The first titchy bobsticle you meet and you begin shouting you is biffsquiggled.’” - The BFG

3. Bibble (verb) : When something bibbles, it makes a soft gurgling sound.

“All around them lay the vast black ocean, deep and hungry. Little waves were bibbling against the side of the peach.” - James and the Giant Peach

4. Bish (verb) : If you bish something, you ruin it.

“’This is it!’ he whispered to himself under his breath. ‘The greatest moment of my life is coming up now! I mustn’t bish it. I mustn’t bosh it! I must keep very calm.’” -Esio Trot

5. Bundongle (noun) : A bundongle is something that contains only air.

“I thought all human beans is full of brains, but your head is emptier than a bundongle.” - The BFG

6. Catasterous (adjective) : A catasterous situation is very bad indeed, and a catasterous disastrophe is the worst of all.

“’Catasterous!’ cried the BFG. ‘Upgoing bubbles is a catasterous disastrophe!’” - The BFG

7. Churgle (verb) : When you churgle, you gurgle with laughter.

“The fact that it was none other than Boggis’s chickens they were going to eat made them churgle with laughter every time they thought of it.” - Fantastic Mr. Fox

8. Crodsquinkled (adjective) : If a giant is crodsquinkled, he is in a hopeless situation.

“’I is slopgroggled!’ squakwed the Gizzardgulper. ‘I is crodsquinkled!’ yowled the Bloodletter.” - The BFG

9. Daddle (verb) : If you daddle, you run very fast.

“So start to run! Oh, skid and daddle / Through the slubber slush and sossel! / Skip jump hop and try to skaddle! / All the grobes are on the roam!” - Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator

10. Darksome (adjective) : Dark and murky.

“’This one is a nasty fierce bogrotting nightmare ... I would be hating to get this one inside me on a darksome night.’ the BFG said.” - The BFG

11. Diddly (adjective) : Individual or distinct.

“Every human bean is diddly and different. Some is scrumdiddlyumptious and some is uckyslush.” - The BFG

12. Dispunge (verb) : If you dispunge something, you hate or loathe it.

“’Here is the repulsant snozzcumber!’ cried the BFG, waving it about. ‘I squoggle it! I mispise it! I dispunge it!’” - The BFG

13. Dreadly (adjective) : A dreadly creature, such as the dreadly vindscreen-viper, is feared because it is so dreadly.

“’Save our souls!’ bellowed the Fleshlumpeater. ‘Sound the crumpets! ... The teeth of the dreadly viper is still sticking into me!’” - The BFG

14. Exunckly (adverb) : If you say “exunckly” to someone, you are agreeing with what they have just said.

“It’s a funny thought,’ Sophie said. ‘Exunckly,’ the BFG said.” - The BFG

15. Flavory-savory (adjective) : Sweet and delicious, as fresh walnuts taste to monkeys.

“A walnut fresh from the tree is scrumptious-galumptious, so flavory-savory, so sweet to eat that it makes me all wobbly just thinking about it.”- The Giraffe and the Pelly and Me

16. Fizzwiggler (noun) : A fizzwiggler is someone who is mean and cruel. The BFG thinks that Mrs. Clonkers is a real fizzwiggler because she is cruel to the children in the norphanage.

“’The filthy old fizzwiggler!’ shouted the BFG. ‘That is the horridest thing I is hearing for years!’” - The BFG

17. Fluckgungled (adjective) : See “crodsquinkled.”

“’I is gunzleswiped!’ shouted the Meatdripper. ‘I is fluckgungled!’ screamed the Maidmasher.” - The BFG

18. Frumpet (noun) : If you call someone a frumpet (not that you would), you mean that they are old and unattractive.

“Mrs. Twit ... suddenly called out at the top of her voice, ‘Here I come, you grizzly old grunion! You rotten old turnip! You filthy old frumpet!’” - The Twits

19. Giganticus (adjective) : Grand and spectacular.

“’So now!’ barked the Grand High Witch. ‘So now I am having a plan! I am having a giganticus plan for getting rrrid of every single child in the whole of Inkland!’” - The Witches

20. Glimp (noun) : A very quick glimpse or peek.

“I is showing you now who is going to eat you up if they is ever catching even one tiny glimp of you.” -The BFG

21. Gloomness (noun) : Darkness or nighttime.

“At the witchy hour of gloomness, / All the grobes come oozing home.” - Charlie and the Great Elevator

22. Gollup (noun) : A big gulp or swallow.

“I’ll bet if you saw a fat juicy little child paddling in the water over there at this very moment, you’d gulp him up in one gollup!” - The Enourmous Crocodile

23. Grinksludging (adjective) : A grinksludging dream is one that is no fun at all.

“If I is giving a girl’s dream to a boy ... the boy would be waking up and thinking what a rotbungling grinksludging old dream that was.” - The BFG

24. Grunch (verb) : When a Gruncher grunches, it easts its food (usually Minpins) noisily by grinding and crunching.

“The one waiting for you down there is the fearsome Gruncher, the Red-Hot Smoke-Belching Gruncher. He grunches up everything in the forest.” - The Minpins

25. Grunion (noun) : A very mean or grumpy person.

“George ... was especially tired of having to live in the same house as that grizzly old grunion of a Grandma.” - George’s Marvel lous Medicine

26. Horrigust (adjective) : Something horrigust is truly horrible and disgusting.

“You is saying it is grizzling and horrigust for giants to be eating human beans, right or left?” - The BFG

27. Inky-booky (adjective) : An inky-booky taste is the taste you get from chewing a piece of paper with writing on it. School-chiddlers taste like this to giants, perhaps because they read more than giants do.

“I is very fond indeed of English school-chiddlers. They has a nice inky-booky flavour.” - The BFG

28. Jumpsy (adjective) : If you feel jumpsy, you feel anxious and the slightest thing will make you jump.

“’I is nervous myself,’ the BFG whispered. ‘I always gets as jumpsy as a joghopper when the Fleshlumpeating Giant is around.’” - The BFG

29. Lickswishy (adjective) : A lickswishy taste or flavor is gloriously delicious.

“’I knows where there is a bagglebox for boys!’ shouted the Gizzardgulper. ‘All I has to do is reach in and grab myself a handful! English boys is tasting extra lickswishy.’” - The BFG

30. Mideous (adjective) : A mideous place is horrible and nasty (but grobes still love living there).

“In the quelchy quaggy sogmire, / In the mashy mideous harshland...” - Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator

31. Mintick (noun) : A minute.

“Now hang on a mintick.” - The BFG

32. Natterbox (noun) : A natterbox is someone who cannot stop talking, usually about nothing in particular.

“Spiders is also talking a great deal. You might not be thinking it, but spiders is the most tremendous natterboxes.” - The BFG

33. Notmucher (noun) : Someone who doesn’t do very much, or will never amount to much.

“’The Queen of England,’ Sophie said. ‘You can’t call her a squifflerotter or a grinksludger ... You can’t call her a squeakpip or a notmucher either.’” - The BFG

34. Pibbling (adjective) : Very small and unimportant.

“You is not fit to be a giant! You is a squinky little squiddler! You is a pibbling little pitsqueak.” - The BFG

35. Plexicated (adjective) : If something is plexicated, it is complicated and difficult to do or make.

“’Stay there please,’ he said, ‘and no chittering. I is needing to listen only to silence when I is mixing up such a knotty plexicated dream as this.’” -The BFG

36. Plussy (adjective) : Someone who is plussy is full of life and energy. Being a plussy is the opposite of being a Minus.

“She’s a Minus no longer! She’s a lovely Plus! She’s as plussy as plussy can be!” - Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator

37. Razztwizzler (noun) : Something wonderfully exciting or enjoyable.

“I must say it’s quite an experience,’ Sophie said. ‘It’s a razztwizzler,’ the BFG said. ‘It’s gloriumptious.’” - The BFG

38. Re-inscorched (adjective) : Metal that is re-inscorched has been toughened to make it extra strong.

“’It’s a steel rope,’ said Mr. Wonka. ‘It’s made of re-inscorched steel. If they try to bite through that their teeth will splinter like spillikins.’” - Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator

39. Ringbeller (noun) : A ringbeller is a really splendid dream, the kind that makes you wake up smiling and happy.

“’What a funny dream,’ Sophie said. ‘It’s a ringbeller,’ the BFG said. ‘It’s whoppsy.’” - The BFG

40. Rommytot (noun) : If someone talks rommytot, they are talking nonsense.

“’Human beans is juicier,’ the Bloodletter said. ‘You is talking rommytot,’ the BFG said, growing braver by the second.” - The BFG

41. Scrotty (adjective) : If you feel scrotty, you feel sad and gloomy.

“Whenever I is feeling a bit scrotty,’ the BFG said, ‘a few gollops of frobscottle is always making me hopscotchy.’” - The BFG

42. Shootle (verb) : Shootling means shooting with guns, which grown-ups with no common sense do to each other.

“’But human beans is squishing each other all the time,’ the BFG said. ‘They is shootling guns and going up in aerioplanes to drop their bombs on each other’s heads every week.’” - The BFG

43. Sickable (adjective) : Something that is sickable looks or tastes so vile that it makes you feel instantly sick.

“’It’s disgusterous!’ the BFG gurgled. ‘It’s sickable! It’s rotsome! It’s maggotwise! Try it yourself, this foulsome snozzcumber!’” - The BFG

44. Squishous (adjective) : Something squishous is very easy to squish, like a boneless Knid.

“’Oh you Knid, you are vile and vermicious,’ cried Mr Wonka. ‘You are slimy and soggy and squishous!’” - Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator

45. Suspichy (adjective) : If a giant is suspichy, he is suspicious about something.

“The Fleshlumpeater turned and started at the BFG. ‘What is you doing here with all these grotty twiglets!’ he bellowed. ‘You is making me very suspichy.’” - The BFG

46. Telly-telly bunkum box (noun) : A television.

“’If you do go back, you will be telling the world,’ said the BFG, ‘most likely on the telly-telly bunkum box and the radio squeaker.’” - The BFG

47. Vermicious (adjective) : Something vermicious is vicious and nasty, just like a Knid.

“’It’s worse than that!’ cried the Chief of Police. ‘It’s a vermicious Knid! Oh, just look at its vermicious gruesome face!’” - James and the Giant Peach

48. Whiffsy (adjective) : Something whiffsy is always moving.

“’Giants is never dying,’ the BFG answered ... ‘Mostly us giants is simply going on and on like whiffsy time-twiddlers.’” - The BFG

49. Whunking (adjective) : Big and heavy.

“So what you soldiers has to do is to creep up to the giants while they is still in the Land of Noddy and tie their arms and legs with mighty ropes and whunking chains.” - The BFG

50. Zozimus (noun) : Zozimus is what dreams are made of. The BFG whisks zozimus with an eggbeater until it forms bubbles just like soapy water.

“Dreams is not like human beans or animals. They has no brains. They is made of zozimus.” - The BFG

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FAMOUS AUTHORS

Roald Dahl was a British novelist, writer of short stories, screen writer and fighter pilot. He was born in Wales in 13th September 1916. Before writing he also served in the Air Force and fought in the World War two. He was a flying ace and also an intelligence agent. Known as one of the greatest storytellers for children, he was in the list of ‘The 50 greatest British writers since 1945’.

Dahl went to The Cathedral School where corporal punishment was common. He also became victim to it several times for his mischievousness. As his father had considered English schools to be the best even after his death his mother abided by his wishes. He was then put into boarding school in England named Saint Peters. His time in Saint Peters is mentioned in his autobiography ‘Boy: Tales of Childhood’. In 1929 Dahl was shifted to Repton School in Derbyshire. This was where his writing skills first became noticed by his English teacher who said:

“I have never met anybody who so persistently writes words meaning the exact opposite of what is intended.”

While he was studying at Repton, the chocolate company ‘Cadbury’ would send boxes of chocolate to there to get tasted. This is where Dahl took inspiration for his most notable work ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’ which was published in 1963. Taking inspiration from his life incidence and people he met is very common in his writings. Another example of such inspiration is in his book ‘The Witches’ published in 1983 in which the main character is a Norwegian boy.

In 1934 he started working at the Shell Petroleum Company. After training two years in the UK he transferred to Kenya and then Daar-es-Salaam where he lived a very luxurious life due to his job. After serving in the Second World War, he married Patricia Neal in 1953. They remained married for thirty years and had five children after which they got divorced. His married life was filled with many unfortunate incidences such as the terrible accident of his four month old son and death of his seven years old daughter. His five had three burst cerebral aneurysms while pregnant for the fifth time. After his divorce Dahl married Felicity Crosland.

Dahl’s books involve imagination and fantasy and they were humorous too. His first book for children was ‘The Gremlins’. His book most loved by children is ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’. This was made into two films; one was Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory’ in 1971 and ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’ in 2005. Another famous work is ‘Matilda’ published in 1988 which was made into a movie in 1988. Some other books of Dahl are Fantastic Mr. Fox (1970) and the movie in 2009, ‘The Minpins’ (1991), ‘The Giraffe and the Pelly and Me’ (1985). Some short story collections are ‘Roald Book of Ghost Stories’ (1983), ‘Two Fables’ (1986), ‘The Roald Dahl Treasury’ (1997).

Roald Dahl died on 23rd November 1990 due to a blood disease in Oxford, England. There is a Roald Dahl Children’s Gallery opened in his honor.

Buy Books by Roald Dahl

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• Born September 13 , 1916 · Llandaff, Cardiff, Wales, UK
• Died November 23 , 1990 · Oxford, Oxfordshire, England, UK (leukemia)
• Height 6′ 6″ (1.98 m)
• Dahl was born in Wales in 1916. He served as a fighter pilot in the Royal Air Force during World War II. He made a forced landing in the Libyan Desert and was severely injured. As a result, he spent five months in a Royal Navy hospital in Alexandria. Dahl is noted for how he relates suspenseful and sometimes horrific events in a simple tone. - IMDb Mini Biography By: Matt Dicker
• Roald Dahl was a famous short story writer who became one of the most successful and beloved children's writers of all time. He also wrote several screenplays. Born in Wales to Norwegian parents, he attended British schools, but never went to university, opting to go work for the Shell Oil Company instead. He worked there for a few years, but when World War II started, he joined the RAF. While assistant air attaché in Washington DC, he began writing, which after the war became his life-long vocation. He wrote two novels, two autobiographies, nineteen children's books, and many short story collections, the most notable being Kiss Kiss (1959) and Switch Bitch (1974). He died of leukemia in 1990. - IMDb Mini Biography By: Hein Haraldson Berg
• Spouses Liccy Dahl (December 15, 1983 - November 23, 1990) (his death) Patricia Neal (July 2, 1953 - November 17, 1983) (divorced, 5 children)
• Children Theo Dahl Lucy Dahl Ophelia Dahl Tessa Dahl Olivia Dahl
• Relatives Phoebe Dahl (Grandchild) Sophie Dahl (Grandchild)
• Gluttonous characters: Augustus Gloop from Charlie and The Chocolate Factory, Bruno Jenkins from The Witches, Boggis from Fantastic Mr Fox and Bruce Bogtrotter from Matilda.
• Main characters are often children.
• Villains are often adults who hate children
• Orphans; James from James and the Giant Peach, the main character from The Witches and Sophie from The BFG.
• His villains are often extremely ugly
• His only son, Theo Dahl , suffered a brain injury when his baby carriage was struck by a taxi when the boy was just four months old. The most serious of his injuries was hydrocephalus (commonly known as water on the brain). Dahl got together with a pair of friends--a neurosurgeon and an engineer--and created a device called the Wade-Dahl-Till valve to alleviate cranial pressure. Theo recovered before the device was perfected, but it allowed thousands of others suffering from hydrocephalus to recover from their injuries. His book "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" is dedicated to Theo, who almost died.
• When his first wife, Patricia Neal , suffered a series of devastating strokes in 1965, he was appalled at the lack of effective rehabilitation. He subsequently designed techniques that restored her to full functionality after doctors had told him she would never recover. His techniques are now standard procedure throughout the world in the treatment of stroke victims.
• Wrote his novels in his garden shed.
• 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".
• Wrote two screenplays based on books by Ian Fleming : You Only Live Twice (1967) and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968) . Coincidentally, Fleming's cousin, Christopher Lee , appears in the film Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005) , based on Dahl's book. He also appears in Gremlins 2: The New Batch (1990) , which is named after a word Dahl coined.
• [when asked what the his formula for success was as an author of children's books] Conspiring with children against adults.
• [1988 interview with Todd McCormack] When you're writing a book, with people in it as opposed to animals, it is no good having people who are ordinary, because they are not going to interest your readers at all. Every writer in the world has to use the characters that have something interesting about them and this is even more true in children's books. I find that the only way to make my characters really interesting to children is to exaggerate all their good or bad qualities, and so if a person is nasty or bad or cruel, you make them very nasty, very bad, very cruel. If they are ugly, you make them extremely ugly. That, I think, is fun and makes an impact.
• A little nonsense now and then is relished by the wisest men.
• A person is a fool to become a writer. His only compensation is absolute freedom.
• A writer of fiction lives in fear. Each new day demands new ideas and he can never be sure whether he is going to come up with them or not.

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By Claire Messud

• Sept. 30, 2010

At 6 feet 5 inches tall, Roald Dahl was larger than life. His imposing and complicated personality makes all the more sense when you picture him as a near giant: Donald Sturrock notes that at their first meeting, “his body seemed larger than the doorway and far, far too big for the proportions of the cottage.” How to capture him in words? Dahl told Sturrock, “while munching on a lobster claw,” that “biographies were boring,” and Sturrock has set out to prove him wrong. He is significantly aided in this by the flamboyance of the subject himself.

Almost all of us — anyone who has been, in the last 50 years, either a parent or a child — has at some point loved Roald Dahl, or perhaps hated him. His books, and now the films of his books, have punctuated Anglophone childhood, and their characters, vocabularies and ditties have slipped into our common parlance. Charlie’s chocolate-factory encounters with Oompa-Loompas, Augustus Gloop and snozzberries; the horrid aunts Spiker and Sponge in “James and the Giant Peach”; the villains of “Fantastic Mr. Fox,” “Boggis and Bunce and Bean / One fat, one short, one lean. / Those horrible crooks / So different in looks / Were nonetheless equally mean” — Dahl’s invented worlds have achieved that rare literary transcendence: they live, in all their deliciousness, in our collective imaginations.

It seems inevitable, then, that we should want to know his biography. But the children who adore his stories are wisely indifferent to the details of the author’s life; and the adults who delve into them risk finding their affection for the author somewhat tarnished. Sturrock’s new biography, which comes 20 years after Dahl’s death and follows but does not supplant Jeremy Treglown’s acclaimed and insightful 1994 account, exists as the “authorized” version. Dahl’s widow was unhappy with Treglown’s book — so much so that she sought to retrieve rights to Dahl’s books from his American publisher, Farrar, Straus & Giroux — and the family commissioned Sturrock, a former BBC producer and friend of Dahl’s, to write an alternative version. Granted wide access to Dahl’s papers and letters, Sturrock, a novice biographer, has produced a thorough, if not especially literary, book. He writes that he has tried, “everywhere possible, to keep Dahl’s own voice to the fore, and to allow the reader to encounter him as I did, ‘warts and all.’ ”

His is an unenviable task (pleasing family members and providing a truthful account are not obviously compatible aims), and there are places where his portrayal verges uncomfortably on the reverent. This is particularly true in Sturrock’s somewhat breathless assessments of the work. In ­describing Dahl’s first, deservedly unread novel, he calls it “extraordinary, undervalued and visionary.” And while Sturrock is frank about Dahl’s zealous youthful womanizing, about his gambling and drinking and the notorious fits of ill temper that soured many friendships and professional connections, he treads gingerly around the question of Dahl’s ­anti-Semitism, for example, and around what were obviously thorny family relations. Both Dahl’s first wife, the late Patricia Neal, and their oldest surviving daughter, Tessa, have written unflatteringly about him, but Sturrock’s book implies that time has healed all wounds. Tensions in Dahl’s relations with his son, Theo, are handled with considerable, even moving, delicacy.

If Sturrock does not dwell on these interior darknesses, it may be in part because the life affords so much external drama. Interestingly, Dahl does not emerge as a particularly reflective individual: his ­puerile humor, his lively imagination, his rebellious zeal and his determination were all strongly at odds with any analytical bent. It’s no surprise that “Get on with it” was one of his favorite phrases.

Born in Wales in 1916 to prosperous Norwegian parents, Dahl lost his elder sister, Astri, to peritonitis in 1920, when she was 7 and he was 3. (In a hideous echo of this anguish, he would lose his own beloved firstborn daughter, Olivia, to measles in 1962, when she too was 7.) His father, grief-stricken, succumbed to pneumonia shortly thereafter, leaving Roald’s “dauntless” mother to raise four children and two stepchildren alone.

Dahl, just 9 when he was sent to boarding school, was rebellious from an early age. He disdained university and went instead to work for the Asiatic Petroleum Company, later part of Royal Dutch Shell. In 1938, he was posted to Tanganyika (now Tanzania), where “much of his spare time was spent playing squash, darts and golf at the whites-only Dar es Salaam Club or socializing at the colonial cocktail parties.” When war broke out, he decided to join the Royal Air Force. It was, Sturrock says, “a fateful decision, perhaps the most important he ever made.”

There is no question that Dahl’s brief but difficult war changed him forever. He crashed his plane in North Africa before ever reaching combat and was so severely injured that he suffered for the rest of his life. Dahl “suspected that the brain injuries which he received . . . had materially altered his personality and inclined him to creative writing”; but whatever the reason, he began thereafter to write, initially about his experiences as a fighter pilot.

He was also liberal with the truth. He told the story of his plane crash as though he had been shot down, which was not true. He told it as though he had been alone, when in fact a fellow pilot had been flying as well, landed his own plane safely and probably saved Dahl’s life. He was, from the first, a writer of fiction.

But he would not gain fame as a children’s writer until he was in his mid-40s. While working in Washington for the British government (eventually as a spy), he began writing fiction; and it was as an author of short stories for adults that he would first be known in the United States. He was, for many years, more successful here than in his native Britain. As Sturrock observes, with an unfortunately frequent Nancy Drew-like clunkiness, “The Americans took the handsome, uniformed, opinionated outsider to their hearts.”

Contradictory and contrary, Dahl loved glamour and isolation alike: he married Neal, a rising young actress, in 1953, soon after her breakup with Gary Cooper, then whisked her off to live in rural England. Theirs was not a particularly happy union. As Sturrock puts it, again clunkily, “If his writing career was blooming, Roald’s short but already storm-tossed marriage seemed to be heading straight for the rocks.” Nevertheless, together they had five children: Olivia, Tessa, Theo, Ophelia and Lucy. They also faced an inordinate share of adversity. In addition to the loss of Olivia, Theo was seriously injured as an infant in a car accident in New York and spent years in recovery, and Neal had a severe stroke at the age of 39, when she was pregnant with Lucy.

Dahl’s brutal iron discipline brought Neal back from near death to the summum of her acting career. What they achieved is the stuff of legend, but it also took an untenable toll on their marriage. When, in 1972, Felicity Crosland (known as Liccy) appeared at their house to work on a television commercial with Neal, Dahl “experienced a violent and dramatic coup de foudre ,” Sturrock tells us. Thus began a 10-year affair that culminated in Dahl’s divorce and happy remarriage.

Roald Dahl’s life was extraordinary in the share of pain, both physical and emotional, he was forced to endure, and in his steely determination to triumph in spite of his tragedies. Sturrock’s account, while not elegant, is authoritative, and offers us a careful, loving outline of a difficult man. Dahl’s literary self, however — what he actually thought, and how he created, and how he captures, so fully and slyly, the minds of children and adults alike — ­remains a secret.

This, as any child knows, is surely for the best.

STORYTELLER

The authorized biography of roald dahl.

By Donald Sturrock

Illustrated. 655 pp. Simon & Schuster. $30

Claire Messud is the author, most recently, of “The Emperor’s Children.”

43 Roald Dahl (1916–1990)

Roald Dahl (1916–1990) was a British novelist, short story writer, poet, screenwriter, and fighter pilot. His books have sold more than 250 million copies worldwide.

Born in Wales to Norwegian immigrant parents, Dahl served in the Royal Air Force during the Second World War. He became a flying ace and intelligence officer, rising to the rank of acting wing commander. He rose to prominence as a writer in the 1940s with works for both children and adults, and he became one of the world’s bestselling authors. He has been referred to as “one of the greatest storytellers for children of the 20th century.” 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 since 1945.”

Dahl’s short stories are known for their unexpected endings, and his children’s books for their unsentimental, macabre, often darkly comic mood, featuring villainous adult enemies of the child characters. His books champion the kind-hearted and feature an underlying warm sentiment. Dahl’s works for children include  James and the Giant Peach ,  Charlie and the Chocolate Factory ,  Matilda ,  The Witches ,  Fantastic Mr Fox ,  The BFG ,  The Twits  and  George’s Marvellous Medicine . His adult works include  Tales of the Unexpected . His story “The Landlady” first appeared in The New Yorker issue of 28 November 1959 and was subsequently published in his story collection Kiss, Kiss (1960).

The Landlady

You can read the full text here: “The Landlady” by Roald Dahl [PDF] .

Study Questions

• Give one example of foreshadowing.
• What poison tastes like bitter almonds?
• Characterize the landlady. What is a taxidermist?
• Is what happens to Billy believable?
• Give one supernatural element in the story.
• How old is Billy Weaver? Why does he stay?
• Why is Billy’s desire to act briskly dangerous?
• What do chrysanthemums often symbolize?
• Give an example of irony in the story.
• Why does the landlady keep forgetting Billy’s name?

View this 24-minute film adaptation of Dahl’s “The Landlady” , filmed in 1979 as part of a British television series called Tales of the Unexpected, which features film adaptations of Dahl’s stories and a brief introduction to the film by Dahl. How would you rate this film? Are the changes made good ones, or do they detract from the original story?

Text Attributions

• Biography: “Roald Dahl” by Wikipedia . Adapted by James Sexton. © Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported Licence

Media Attributions

• Roald Dahl by Van Vechten, 1954 © Carl Van Vechten is licensed under a Public Domain license

Composition and Literature Copyright © 2019 by James Sexton and Derek Soles is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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13 phizz-whizzing facts about Roald Dahl

We’ve put together some fantastic facts about roald dahl’s life, and boy are there some humdingers….

13th September 2020 marks what would have been Roald Dahl’s 104th birthday!

To celebrate all the brilliant books , playful poems and witty words he gave us over the years, we’ve put together some fantastic facts about the author’s life, and boy are there some humdingers…

Did you know that we have a FREE downloadable Roald Dahl primary resource ? Great for teachers, homeschoolers and parents alike!

Roald Dahl facts

1. dahl wrote many of his stories in a little shed at the bottom of his garden.

Known as his ‘writing hut’, Dahl sat in a battered old armchair and penned famous tales such as Matilda and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory .

2. He was a fighter pilot in World War II 

During a flight in a Gloster Gladiator (fighter plane) in 1940 over Libya, Dahl crash landed in the desert and survived – all because he’d been given the wrong directions!

3. Dahl wrote for around four hours every single day

From 10am – 12pm, and then 4pm – 6pm

4. He never learned how to type

Instead, Dahl preferred to do all his writing in an old red book in pencil.

5. When Roald Dahl died in 1990, he was buried with some of his favourite things

Including a power drill, chocolate, snooker cues and of course, his HB pencils.

6. There are strange mementos still sitting in his writing hut

These include a huge ball made of old chocolate wrappers, and a piece of hip bone that he had to have removed!

Quentin Blake illustrated many of Dahl’s much loved books over the years.

7. dahl was a spy.

During World War II he passed intelligence to MI6 from Washington.

8. Dahl invented over 250 new words

There’s even an official Oxford Roald Dahl Dictionary to help you tell your snozzcumbers from your snozzberries.

9. Many of Dahl’s characters were based on people he’d met in real life

The grandmother in The Witches is said to be based on Dahl’s mother, and the little girl in The BFG was named after his granddaughter, Sophie. 

10. Dahl was born in Wales, but his parents were Norwegian

As a child, Roald spoke fluent Norwegian and English. He’s even named after the famous Norwegian polar explorer, Roald Amundson.

11. Writing wasn’t his strong point at school

– according to his teachers, anyway!

12. In 1971, a real man named Willy Wonka wrote to Roald Dahl

He was a postman from Nebraska.

13. Roald Dahl was a giant!

Okay, not quite like the ones in his stories, but he was 6 foot 6 inches tall! This earned him the nickname ‘Lofty’ when he served in the RAF.

Which is your favourite Roald Dahl book? Let us know by leaving a comment, below!

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Nice facts and my favourite book is... The BFG

George’s Marvellous Medicine, because it’s SO funny!

Esio Trot is my favourite, because it just is!

its very creative!

thx for the facts

I got the whole collection of Roald Dahl books yesterday, I've already read two and love them! My favourite is Matilda though!

My favorite book: The witches and Charlie and the chocolate factory

I all most read every book he has

Thank you and very interesting

i love roald dahl

The fantastic Mr fox

The Fantastic Mr Fox

Ilove reading his books so much

James and giant peach

wow i did not know that

hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii coooooooooolllllllllllllll

My favourite book was the twits

Love the info

I like this info

I love this facts but they can be shorter

I like Matilda

Thanks for the info

he is a auspicious author and i am a fan of him

Fantastic Mr.Fox !!!!

I like matilda

easy to find.

The Twits is my favorite book

My favrourite is Danny The Campion of The world so far. I found out the arthor Roald Dahl when I was in the Op-shop.

My favourite Roal Dahl book is Matilda

My dog is called Sophie my favorite is the bfg

I love Roald Dahl! Matilda is my favourite. And to think writing wasn’t his strong point at school?!

I don't have a favorite because all of them are TRULY AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I loved roald dahl's books , and I have always wanted to meet him. But sadly, he has already past away.

#1 fan roald dahl my 3 favourite books are the twits, matilda and james and the jient peach love you roald xoxoxo

We like the BFG because there are amazing twists about the story.

i love reading Roald Dahl books my fav book is the witches :) :] ps. i love you Roald Dahl

Brilliant I love his books

I love all of Roald Dahls books

the bfg is my favourite. and the little girl is called sophie because his granddaughter sophie used to call him the bfs.

#1 fan! My favourite book is Mischief and Mayham. Your the BEST Roald Dahl.

Roald Dahl is AWESOME! My favourite book is Mischief and Mayham.

My favourite book is CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY Well done Roald Dahl

I love Matilda

Love the facts

I love Roald Dahl

My favorite is Matilda because I like the adventure, the Trunchbull and her super power.

love love love thease amazing books so cool

my favourite is the BFG

I love Roald Dahl books, especially The BFG and Matilda

my favourites are probably The BFG because it is so entertaining and funny. next is Matilda because it has so much in it!

All his books are the MOST BEST BOOKS EVER

BFG because its funny and intresting

I have Roald Dahl audio books... all of them!

My favourite Roald Dahl stories are The witches and The BFG

wow that is a lot of facts about one of my fave author Roald Dahl!!!!! :)

My favourite Roald Dahl book is Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - because i like chocolate, my dad doesn't like the umpa-lumpas

He is my most favourite author of all times.

I love Matilda!

bfg its awesome

I think number 12 is super cool

my favourite book is the BFG

My fav is Matilda.

Great facts

My favourite book of roald dahl is the witches because it teaches us to not go with strangers.

my favorite roald dahl book is the twits

my favourite Roald Dahl book is the BFG. Fun fact I was born in the same month as Roald Dahl...SEPTEMBER!!!

All of them and thank you for the facts

he was the greatest story teller but how did he die?

I love Roald Daul books!

Matilda is awsome

my favarrite book is the bfg

This is amazing and cool to learn facts about Ronald Dahl !.

cool facts i love it

I like the BFG because he says silly words and blows dreams i wondered where dreams came from.

i like esio trot

my favourite book is danny the champion of the world

BEST FACTS EVER!!!

Amazing Roald dahl is one of my favorite authors eve!!!!

I love Matilda.

My favourite Roald Dahl book is Georges Marvellous Medicine!

Loved his books ( especially the bfg) I knew most of these facts but the others were great to know

James and the giant peach!!!

Matilda is my favourite book

Charlie and the chocolate factory

My favourite Roald Dahl book is Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Im planning to become a storyteller when I grow up.

I love the BFG!

My favourite book is the BFG

I really like the book Matilda. I like the way Dahl put the characters together. Miss Trunchbull is super freaky and cool at the same time:-)

I love the BFG because of all the hilarious words!

My favourite Roald Dahl book is Charlie and the chocolate factory because it is all about chocolate and I love chocolate.

My favourite book by Roald Dahl is the bfg

Favourite book? How can I choose just one? The BFG is wonderful but Danny the Champion of the World also holds a special place in my heart! A grown up child of 40!

Roal Dhal is an amazing author. My favorite Roal Dhal book is Matilda.

he is 100 today and i went to school first day and i did not know he died in 1990

My favourite Roald Dahl book is Matilda because it is funny and enjoyable and i love reading just like her

the twits is my fav

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Roald Dahl Was Born 100 Years Ago. Here’s His Life Story in 1 Minute

O ne hundred years after the birth of Roald Dahl , it’s hard to imagine childhood without his fantastic fictions : on the page and the screen, characters like Willy Wonka, Matilda and the BFG have come to represent the magic of youth.

Dahl’s own life may have been more conventional than his characters’ (what mere mortal’s wouldn’t be?) but it was nevertheless filled with challenges and adventures. A dissatisfied schoolboy, Dahl opted out of college in favor of traveling the world and serving with the Royal Air Force. His first attempt at children’s literature, a Disney book called Gremlins , was a flop, but he saw success with the adult story collection Someone Like You . In 1961, with the publication of James and the Giant Peach , his legendary career truly began.

Dahl continued to dabble with adult stories—in addition to writing screenplays for Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory and another children’s story, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang , he wrote the screenplay for the 1967 James Bond film You Only Live Twice . But he solidly occupied the domain of young readers with classics like Fantastic Mr. Fox and The Witches , made all the more iconic thanks to Quentin Blake’s signature illustrations that manage to be both spooky and charming. To date, his books are estimated to have sold more than 200 million copies worldwide. Years after his 1990 death, movie adaptations continue to hit the big screen, including Steven Spielberg’s take on The BFG , which pleased crowds this summer.

Get your history fix in one place: sign up for the weekly TIME History newsletter

Watch 100 years of Dahl’s life and legacy unfold in one minute in the video above.

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Roald Dahl at 100: The Greatest 10 Books of All Time

This month, book lovers around the world come together to celebrate 100 years since the birth of Roald Dahl- the world’s number one storyteller, whose trademark sense of humour has captivated generations of readers. And to mark the occasion, we would like to welcome you to revisit these ten timeless classics ranging from amusing tales for children to morbid adult stories.

Children’s Books

James and the giant peach.

Written in the 1960s, this ‘dark, brutal and vulgar’ tale was destined to change the perception of children’s literature. Embellished with famous illustrations by Quentin Blake, designed to fuel the reader’s imagination, the story is centred around James Henry Trotter. When an orphaned young boy is sent to live with his wicked aunts in their country home, his life takes turn for the worst. Subjected to daily abuse from the elderly spinsters, James is often found contemplating his dire circumstances. However, through a twist of fate, he comes into possession of magical green pellets, which, when accidentally spilled, produce a enormous peach in their garden. Unwilling to miss on this golden opportunity, the aunts let greed take the better of them. Together with Ladybug, Centipede and other peach residents, the young boy makes it his mission to free the peach from exploitation. Soon, the unlikely companions embark on an exhilarating journey taking them from the English countryside to American shores. The story reaches a heart-warming ending when New York hails the peach crew members as true heroes.

Charlie and The Chocolate Factory

Any reader with a sweet tooth will not be able to resist this beautifully written confectionary delight. For Charlie Bucket — a young boy from a humble background — drawing the Golden Ticket that grants an entry to mysterious chocolate factory is almost synonymous with winning a lottery. Along with his counterparts, Charlie is invited to take a tour around the candy-making facility led by an extraordinary, egocentric character Willy Wonka. Unbeknown to the children, a visit to a factory turns into a challenging test designed to select an heir to the chocolate empire. As the thrilling adventure reveals Charlie’s selfless and kindhearted nature, in stark contrast to his obnoxious companions, the pool of candidates is narrowed to one lucky boy. A moral story enriched with social issues, this delicious treat will be enjoyed by both children and adults alike. 

Fantastic Mr Fox

“Mr. Fox looked at the four Small Foxes and he smiled. What fine children I have, he thought. They are starving to death and they haven’t had a drink for three days, but they are still undefeated. I must not let them down.”

Country life at a farm might sound like a tranquil place, but the only one who stands to enjoy it is a farmer himself. From hungry predators to livestock raised to become a meal, animals are exposed to danger on a daily basis. And Mr Fox is no exception! In his battle for survival, Mr Fox resorts to stealing from three wealthy farmers. Soon the rapid disappearance of farm animals raises suspicions, leaving farmers no other option, but to hunt the fox down. In his attempts to save his family from the hands of enraged farmers, Mr Fox teams up with underground animals to find another way into the farms. But will his cleverly-devised plan help him to outfox the humans? Mr Fox is portrayed as a multi-dimensional character who displays courage and ingenuity, turning from the chicken-thief into an unlikely hero of the story. 

The Enormous Crocodile

Infused with wicked humour, this delightful tale of greed and punishment revolves around an insatiable beast. The story offers a hair-raising portrayal of a predator who ‘licks his lips and dribbles with excitement’ at a mere sight of children. Driven by his enormous appetite for juicy plump youngsters, ghastly villain deploys all tricks in his arsenal to secure a satisfying lunch. However, the crocodile makes a crucial mistake by sharing his malicious intentions with other inhabitants in the jungle. Tired of his secret games, animals join forces to put a stop to his murderous schemes once and for all. In this heart-warming story, Dahl conveys virtue through elements of comedy, heroism and danger keeping the young readers at the edge of their seats. 

‘Human beans is the only animals that is killing their own kind. Even poisnowse snakes is never killing each other… Has you ever thought about that?’

The story of the BFG follows the life of Sophie who is battling through her childhood adversity under the roof of London orphanage. One eventful night, as the midnight escape from the place Sophie loathes the most turns into her abduction, not even in her wildest dreams can she ever imagine what her future holds for her. Being whisked away to the Giant Country, the little girl sets off on the most exciting adventure of her life. The author goes into a great detail describing the kidnapper- a big snozzcumber-eating, whizzpopping giant- whose manners Sophie finds bemusing and baffling at the same time. The giant even uses his own jumbled form of language with its peculiar and insulting made up phrases designed to thrill the young audience worldwide. The BFG skilfully reinforces the moral values teaching some important life lessons about kindness, strength, sacrifice and dignity.

Adult Books

Someone like you.

Someone Like You is not your ordinary collection of short stories. The master of macabre, Roald Dahl displays genius for creating seemingly impossible life scenarios and developing them into sinister plots. The author lifts the veil of an ugly face of a nefarious world exposing the human weaknesses and perversion. Here, a cold-blooded killer cooks up an evidence, while a sadistic gambler collects some bone-chilling tokens from the unfortunate game losers. From short and poignant tales to dark and morbid accounts, these fifteen classic tales mystify and challenge the reader, sending a shiver down the spine. 

‘I stuff all my little pets myself when they pass away. Will you have another cup of tea?’

What could possibly go wrong when a young man finds a shelter under the roof of a taxidermist? What would stand in the way of ripping the gains from the deceitful bargain? Wonderously dark, these eleven devious tales offer a glimpse into the seedy underbelly of a criminal world shocking the readers with an unexpected turn of events. From duplicity and vindictiveness to selfishness, Roald Dahl explores different shades of human wickedness, creating a brooding atmosphere of unease. Through the chilling portrayal of his unscrupulous characters, the author allows the readers to draw their own inferences about what they might find uncomfortable. 

My Uncle Oswald

Oswald Cornelius has been called many names by many people- a rapscallion, a fornicator, a scoundrel – just to name but a few. In his series of candid memoirs, the scandalous bon vivant, whose entire existence is dedicated to decadence and dissipation, indulges in the memories of a youth filled with elaborate scheming and raunchy escapades. Having discovered a source of great wealth, an irresistibly attractive young man wields a lethal combination of male magnetism, which, he is genuinely convinced, it would be a sin not to put to a good use! Garnished with pathos and sprinkled with a touch of irony, this ‘festival of bad taste’ makes a perfectly guilty pleasure some readers might find addictive.

Tales of The Unexpected

If you have ever wondered what sinister plans might lurk in the hearts of men driving the powers of darkness, then Tales of The Unexpected might hold the answers you have been searching for. From deceiving wine connoisseurs and shameless philanders to obsessive social climbers, the villains baffle the readers with their ingenuity. Dahl’s signature style effortlessly delivers a delectably morbid ending by injecting a lethal twist into ordinary life stories turning them into alarmingly disturbing tales of terror. The master of subtle implications, Roald Dahl concocts his own brand of sparklingly wry black humour that seeps from the very first pages of this critically-acclaimed bestseller.

“Life is made up of a great number of small incidents and a small number of great ones.”

One of the most fascinating autobiographies ever written invites you to join the author on his heart-pounding adventures across Africa, Egypt, Italy and Lebanon. Set during World War II, Dahl’s light-hearted account of his time as an Royal Air Force Pilot represents a comical portrayal of grave situations involving poisonous snakes, plane crashes and adverse weather conditions. Along with wartime exploits, the author enriches the story with luscious descriptions of African Savannah with its exotic flora and fauna. The original letters and memorabilia included in the book add authenticity to the story, enthralling the readers. Told with the same irresistible appeal, this compelling page-turner will delight both seasoned travellers and book lovers alike!

Stella is a Marketing Consultant and has been writing content for Full Text Archive since 2015. When she is not writing, she is meticulously planning our social and e-mail campaigns. Stella holds a bachelor’s degree in English and Russian Literature, which has provided a broad foundation from which she continues to explore the written world. She spends her free time reading, visiting old castles and discovering new coffee shops. She can be reached at stella

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Roald Dahl Fans

Fan site for author Roald Dahl (1916-1990)

“Roald Dahl and the Creative Process: Writing from Experience”

The following essay was written by Julia Round, an MA student in Cardiff, Wales, in 2000. I hope you all find her paper as interesting and thought-provoking as I did. Standard disclaimer rules apply though: Please DO NOT copy any part of it and claim it as your own. That would be ILLEGAL and both she and I would be very angry. If you’d like to contact her to comment or ask questions, her email address is  [email protected] .

If you have an essay that you’ve written that you’d like to share, send it to me !

Message from the Author:

“I just wanted to write and tell you how much I appreciated the homepage… As interviews etc. with Dahl are really hard to find, and not many people have published work about him, the essays etc. on the website were lifesaving. I’m extremely grateful to you and all the people who contributed their work. So, I enclose MY essay. It’s fairly long, but I’d be very happy for you to put it on the website if you want to – it may help someone else like me desperately looking for quotable information on Dahl.”

Please do not copy any part of this paper without the author’s written permission. Thank you.

Autobiography would seem to be a recommended starting point for authors. It eases the transition into ‘writing’ by its very nature – those who are intimidated by the demands of authorship can justify their work as a ‘kind of diary’. It also provides wonderful material – our personal history requires no research, it is easily accessible and, most important of all, it is real. It “compels through its authenticity” 1 . But it seems to me that a creative process is still necessary: in the choice of words, of style, of structure. Writing autobiographically can help a writer “find your own distinctive voice” 2 : experience aids our creative process by providing us with material, thereby allowing us to focus on our craft.

For example, Roald Dahl describes the following experience in his second autobiography Going Solo :

Then suddenly, in the sand just a foot or so off the road, I saw a giant scorpion. Jet black she was and fully six inches long, and clinging to her back, like passengers on the top of an open bus, were her babies. I bent a little closer to count them. One, two, three, four, five… there were fourteen of them altogether! At that point she saw me. I am quite sure I was the first human she had ever seen in her life, and she curled her tail up high over her body with the pincers wide open, ready to strike in defence of her family. 3

A similar passage can be found in ‘ The Visitor ‘, one of Dahl’s adult short stories, published in Switch Bitch:

A gigantic female scorpion, not opisthophthalmus, as I saw immediately, but pandinus, the other large African burrower. And clinging to her back – this was too good to be true! – swarming all over her, were one, two, three, four, five… a total of fourteen tiny babies! The mother was six inches long at least! Her children were the size of small revolver bullets. She had seen me now, the first human she had ever seen in her life, and her pincers were wide open, her tail was curled high over her back like a question mark, ready to strike. 4

It seems obvious that these two descriptions refer to the same experience from Dahl’s life, which is described in Going Solo . The sighting occurred while Dahl was travelling “the long and lonely journey across the Sinai Desert” 5 . During this trip that he “loved” 6 , his car’s engine decided to “boil over” 7 , forcing him to stop. While he waited for it to cool Dahl ate a large watermelon he had brought with him. In his words: “I cut a chunk out of it and flipped away the black seeds with the point of my knife and ate the lovely cool pink flesh standing beside the car in the sun” 8 .

The narrator of ‘ The Visitor ‘ also breaks down while crossing the Sinai desert (a journey which “pleased me” 9 ) and is unable to carry on lest his car decides to “boil over” 10 . While waiting with his car, he too eats a watermelon he has brought with him: “I took my knife from its case and cut out a thick section. Then, with the point of the knife, I carefully picked out all the black seeds, using the rest of the melon as a receptacle” 11 .

These examples clearly illustrate how Dahl directly transposed incidents from his life, unaltered, into his fiction. In fact, not just incidents: whole contexts. If the narrator in ‘ The Visitor ‘ had seen his scorpion in a zoo (for example) then we could perceive a fictionalising process at work, but the settings and the chains of events (breakdown; watermelon; scorpion) are identical. Similarly, the tone and structure of the two passages are interchangeable: interesting since the passage from Switch Bitch is narrated by an invented character who otherwise is nothing like Dahl. Although this character’s language is more sophisticated than Dahl’s – he uses technical names and more similes – he is nonetheless credited with Dahl’s excitement and delight.

But there is more to fiction writing than description. The actual story of ‘ The Visitor ‘ was not lifted from experience; Dahl merely located his plot in a setting that was (a) appropriate (its isolation), and (b) easily described since he had experienced it. In Dahl’s mind the scorpion incident may have been intrinsic to the setting (since it was part of his experience), or he could have decided to utilise this memory as a device to add colour and realism. In contrast to my opening hypothesis, Dahl used personal experience as an aid to language and imagery, so he could focus on plot.

However, like fictional plots, our real-life experiences can also require creativity in terms of content. The passage of time is a fictionalising process: we do not remember things impartially and factually, we remember our own perception of events, no matter how warped this may be. Our past is entirely subjective: our subconscious has already fictionalised it for us. The ‘raw material’ we use has already, to some extent, been invented according to our opinions and personality; the way we saw things. And then we fictionalise it further, in the telling. As Singleton says: “We invent dialogue for ourselves, rearrange chronology, try metaphor and assonance and rhythms to heighten emotion and dramatise, telescope events, eliminate extraneous detail, focus on key moments, images, ad infinitum” 12 . And then, of course, we can always lie consciously – to make ourselves look good, or to avoid offending others involved, for instance.

Therefore, it can be argued that Dahl applied his skill as a fiction writer as much to his autobiographies as to his short stories. John Singleton defines the difference between autobiography and fiction as “the short story does not depend on memory, the recall and accurate description of past times” 13 . But by this definition, Going Solo and Boy are more like stories than autobiographies: Dahl was “extremely selective” and wrote only about those moments which he “considered memorable” 14 .

Dahl’s autobiographies are not accurate chronological accounts of his life; they are more like short story collections. For example, to convey the homesickness he felt during his first term at St. Peters boarding school, Dahl recounts a single incident when he faked appendicitis in order to be sent home 15 . Similarly, chapters such as “Little Ellis and the boil” use an isolated event to illustrate the brusque attitude that pervaded Dahl’s schooling 16 . The use of these entertaining tales, rather than detailed explanations of his past, shows how Dahl fictionalised his own life. He used his experiences only when they had been dramatised – even within his autobiographies.

It is therefore easy to see how all writing, even autobiography, can be said to involve the creative process. It is equally simple to see how our experience – that which makes us the person we are – is inseparable from our own creative process on at least a subconscious level; it affects every choice that we make. And if we write autobiography, then experience is obviously involved on a conscious level. But it is my contention that written fiction must also be derived from life, at least partially: our inspiration must come from a source we have experienced.

In order to access his experience, ritual became a very important aspect of Roald Dahl’s creative process, as described in Chris Powling’s biography: ‘Roald Dahl.’ Dahl’s writing took place in a shed hidden behind his greenhouse, at the same times every day, with a break for lunch which (he said) “is always the same: Norwegian prawns and half a lettuce” 17 . Once inside, a “grimy plastic curtain” 18 covered the window and his isolation was complete. As Dahl said: “No one goes in there but me” 19 . And the routine began:

He steps into a sleeping bag, pulls it up to his waist and settles himself in a faded wing-backed armchair. His feet he rests on a battered travelling case full of logs. This is roped to the legs of the armchair so it’s always at a perfect distance. 20

Dahl said he wrote with six yellow pencils in a jar beside him – “always six, there must be six” 21 – on American legal paper. A thermos full of coffee and an electric pencil sharpener were also “vital” 22 . There were heaters aimed at his hands in case it got too cold. And then he wrote.

The scene may seem depressing, almost an archetype of sensory deprivation – no view, no natural light, no noise, no interruptions. But it would have been familiar to Dahl: the ritual of writing at the same time every day, in the same seat, in the same room, on the same paper, with the same number of pencils in a jar beside him must have produced a feeling of stability and constancy. The setting seems to have been designed primarily with his contentment in mind – for example, the fixing of his footrest the ideal distance from his chair. Meanwhile, the monotony of the process resulted in minimum distractions.

The presence of stimulus is another important aspect of the routine. American legal paper is larger than A4 and yellow; for this reason to write on it is supposed to be more stimulating. The thermos of coffee is also a stimulant. But I cannot see these items as inspirational to creativity: they do not induce ideas, plots and characters. Stimuli like these must just ease the transition from mind to page.

Dahl’s process was obviously very isolated, very banal. Perhaps this sparsity was the real inspiration, forcing him towards his imagination and his memory. Dahl himself emphasised the importance of his hours in his shed, insisting that any story “builds and expands while you are writing it. All the best stuff comes at the desk.” 23 . He would start with “the germ of an idea” 24 and build around it. As he said “You work it out and play around with it. You doodle… you make notes… it grows, it grows…” 25 .

But what about these germs of ideas, these starting points? Powling says only that they “flit into his [Dahl’s] mind” 26 ; who knows where they originate? However, Powling also describes some of Dahl’s estate: a blue gypsy caravan on the lawn – the setting for Danny the Champion of the World – and Dahl’s extravagant car “fits almost exactly” 27 the description of the narrator’s new car at the start of the Dahl short story: ‘ The Hitchhiker ‘. Considering these things, it is certain that Dahl’s experience was vital to his fiction: as motifs (like the scorpion in ‘ The Visitor ‘), and maybe as inspiration.

For I am tempted to postulate that the caravan, and the car, while certainly striking images, could also have been the starting points for their stories. I can imagine Dahl gazing at his car one day, then sitting in his shed writing the paragraph describing it, straight from life. What do you do when you get a new car? You drive as fast as you can. If you speed you may get pulled over. This is not a good ending. So how can it be resolved in your favour… how can the story twist? What if there is another passenger – someone we know nothing about for added mystery – a hitchhiker! He could save the day… by having a special skill perhaps… almost magic…

But should writers always consciously use their own experiences in this way, should we write only from what we know? Author Graham Swift is strongly against this:

‘I could not agree with anything less. My maxim would be for God’s sake write about what you don’t know! For how else will you bring your imagination into play? How else will you discover or explore anything?’ If we rely on our own experience as material for our stories, what happens, asks Swift, once our limited stock runs out? 28

I would argue against Swift. His points as they refer to autobiography are fine – I doubt many lives could stretch to more than a few volumes – but he overlooks the huge mileage that can come from one tiny occurrence: a conversation, a view, a setting, a person. As we have seen with Dahl, whole novels can be built around experiences like these; events that set our imagination running. Swift seems to forget the role of imagination in using experience. Writers who begin from their experience can explore the ‘what ifs’ of a hundred everyday occurrences; they can discover the invented history of any person who sets them thinking.

As an illustration of this, it has often been observed that Dahl’s authoritarian characters were inspired by his school life. Without belabouring the point, a few examples may be illuminating. At Llandaff Cathedral School and Repton Dahl often suffered systematic caning and fascistic discipline: one notable figure would be his headmaster at Repton, who administered “the most vicious beatings to the boys under his care” 29 – and later became Archbishop of Canterbury. Dahl saw something deeply wrong with this authority, where sheer cruelty is hidden behind a mask of Christian values, and built many of his characters around the concept. It is enough to simply consider figures like Miss Trunchbull (the headteacher in Matilda ), Victor Hazel (the entrepreneur from Danny the Champion of the World ), Aunts Spiker and Sponge (from James and the Giant Peach ) against almost every teacher and matron from Dahl’s schooling (as described in Boy ). They are mirrors of cruelty, stupidity and general nastiness.

There was another aspect of Dahl’s creative process that was not only derived from his school experiences and frequented his stories, but was mirrored in the process itself. This was the sense of isolation, of the outsider. Dahl’s children’s stories are famous for always having the underdog as the hero, the outsider as victor. This ‘child at the centre’ acts as the focus “through whose being everything is seen or felt” 30 . Yet Dahl himself always felt like the outsider, if not the underdog. His own childhood was full of beatings, anarchic tricks and bullying, described in Boy . As an adult he was sacked from a job because he “just didn’t fit in” 31 . As further proof (and a result of his own ‘loner’ temperament) his narrative voice unwaveringly “lines up with the child reader” 32 against the bullying, stupid adults. It seems to me that Dahl’s insistence on physical isolation while he wrote also supports this theory.

It seems obvious that Roald Dahl consciously used his experience within his creative process. It provided the inspiration for the events he depicted, the settings he chose, and the plot lines and characters he employed. It presented him with motifs and themes. It was in the physicality and ritualism of the way he wrote. It provided the background for the anarchic-sounding voice he used. Possibly it even affected his choice of genre, as a medium to use this voice and to always skirt around the edges of the macabre, the uncomfortable. It even helped to create his ‘ideal reader’ in the image of the child he once was. Essentially, Dahl wrote from and to his self.

But what of the subtler effects of experience; of its subconscious intrusions? To quote Dennis Wyatt Harding: “No one now can doubt that an author’s work may reveal features of his personality and outlook that he had no intention of expressing… of which he may even be in the strict sense unconscious” 33 . This sort of ‘invasion of personality’ is a different facet of experience within the creative process.

The intrusion of Dahl’s personality can initially be identified in his finished texts. He often used a highly judgemental narrator in his stories – for example, in James and the Giant Peach : “they [James’ aunts] were both really horrible people. They were selfish and lazy and cruel” 34 . Although this comment seems rebellious (by insulting grown-ups), it is actually a very adult and moral criticism (Dahl was 45 at the time of writing).

It is actually a very common observation that Dahl’s narrator, for all his anarchical appearance, is a closet conservative. Dahl never commented directly upon this, but frequently said that the key to his success was to conspire with children against adults: “It’s the path to their affections… Parents and schoolteachers are the enemy” 35 . But this does not seem true: Dahl’s jokey narrative hides a serious agenda and moral dictates. Children are warned against watching TV, chewing gum and acting selfishly ( Charlie and the Chocolate Factory ) or are instructed to wash regularly ( ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’ in Revolting Rhymes ). This dictatorial attitude seems strange when we consider Dahl’s use of character to continually mock the tyrannical adults from his youth.

Equally surprising is Dahl’s military career, following all the unjust rules and bullying he experienced at public school. However, I would suggest that his strict schooling fostered a need in him for discipline and order, despite his rebellious image, which may also explain his dual narrative. Without venturing too far into psychoanalysis, this can be explained in terms of aggression: “individuals who… submit to authority without complaint would necessarily experience feelings of hostility… directed toward those who violate whatever is conventional” 36 . Dahl’s authoritarianism is vented within his narrative voice – where his conservatism lurks behind the anarchic style.

Supporting this view is the evidence of Jeremy Treglown who, in his unauthorized biography of Dahl, states that there is vivid evidence in Dahl’s publishers’ files of just how heavily he relied upon his editors. As Treglown is a disinterested party, his evidence is significant: far from being a writer subversively conspiring with rebellious children against adults, Dahl used his editors to the point where they became inspired near-collaborators 37 . He would meticulously draft and re-draft his books many times, commonly spending six months on a single short story 38 . In terms of his creative process, Dahl’s adult attitudes belied the apparent anarchy of his narrator.

But Dahl’s autocracy also seems to belie the way in which he used his experience. I previously considered Graham Swift’s recommendation to write what you don’t know, in order to “discover” and “explore”: a suggestion which seems to reflect Keats’ notion of ‘negative capability’ – the use of writing to pose questions and explore them without striving uselessly for the answers. To wait patiently for knowledge, and accept the mystery of things. Keats uses Shakespeare’s characterisation and dramatisation as an example of this concept, believing that Shakespeare gave all points of view equal treatment in his plays by using autonomous characters, not puppets depicting some propagandist statement. But it has been pointed out that this ideal would require writers to know the answers to the questions they pose, in order to co-ordinate their characters 39 . This would seem to make negative capability a half-truth, as in the instance of Dahl, who exerts very tight control over each of his characters, using them to convey his moral dictates.

However, when Norman Schwenk refers to ‘Not Knowing’ in his recent review of David Hart’s poetry, he states that one function of negative capability can be to “grant readers a kind of equality with the writer, giving them the space to read creatively” 40 . While I see how this works, by giving the writer and reader a similar level of unfamiliarity with the work, it seems to me that the concept can also be allied with writers who write using ‘what ifs’. For this sort of author is explorative, not omniscient: they have only ‘guessed’ at the story they wrote. It has become theirs in the telling, but the story belongs to no one. In this way, ‘Not Knowing’ can be part of the process of writing from experience.

This theory seems to accurately reflect Dahl’s process: his writing grows from his experience in an exploratory manner. The control he exerts may simply be a facet of this exploration. And, just as writing what we know can nonetheless allow us to “discover” and “explore” (as Swift suggests), negative capability can still exist when we write from our experience: when we explore the ‘what ifs’.

For I do not see the use of experience in fiction as direct self-expression. Fiction stories are rarely thinly-veiled autobiographies; fiction writing is seldom the cathartic ‘writing out’ of a troubling occurrence in one’s life. To use experience in fiction is to grab hold of a starting point and build on it; padding around it with imagination and possibilities. It is using isolated events and random thoughts as aids to realism, or as window dressing to ‘pretty it up’. Whatever a story needs our experience can supply. John Braine (author of Writing a Novel) sums this method up: “You must use your experience, direct or indirect, but only as the purposes of the story dictate” 41 .

I find it particularly ironic that through considering ‘write what you know’ we have now arrived at another creative writing cliché: ‘show, don’t tell’. Although I don’t have time to examine this too, I hope that my exploration of ‘write what you know’ has cleared away some of the triteness surrounding the phrase, and perhaps enlivened the concept somewhat. By examining this notion in terms of specific creative processes, it has certainly become more real to me.

For it seems that Roald Dahl’s experience invaded his creative process almost entirely and took a strong place in his finished work. It affected his writing in terms of plot, character and motifs, choice of genre and implied reader, original inspiration, attitude and tone, both consciously and unconsciously. This is not a disparagement of Dahl’s creativity. And it does not appear to be unusual: experience seems to be intrinsically valuable to the creative process.

It seems obvious to me that writers must use their own experience. We must have ideas, and these must come from somewhere. However, I don’t wish to belittle the place of creativity and imagination. I hope that by examining some different aspects of the role of experience I have shown that using our experience isn’t at all simple: craft itself is fundamental to any writing. I believe that my examination of Roald Dahl shows us that his experience was essential to his process on all levels, and also contributed to his craft. But I would conclude that experience is only one part of the creative process and can never be all-important to the exclusion of everything else, even within autobiography. As Dahl says: “All the best stuff comes at the desk.”

• Ailsa Cox, ‘Writing the Self’ in The Creative Writing Handbook, ed. John Singleton and Mary Luckhurst (London: Macmillan Press Ltd, 1996), p. 78.
• Cox, ‘Writing the Self’ in The Creative Writing Handbook, p. 80.
• Roald Dahl, Going Solo, (Middlesex: Puffin Books, 1988), p. 190.
• Roald Dahl, Switch Bitch, (London: Penguin Books, 1976), p. 23.
• Dahl, Going Solo, p. 188.
• Dahl, Going Solo, p. 189.
• Dahl, Switch Bitch, p. 22.
• Dahl, Switch Bitch, p. 28
• Dahl, Switch Bitch, p. 26.
• John Singleton, ‘The Short Story’ in The Creative Writing Handbook, ed. John Singleton and Mary Luckhurst (London: Macmillan Press Ltd, 1996), p. 100.
• Singleton, ‘The Short Story’ in The Creative Writing Handbook, p. 100.
• Dahl, Going Solo, p. 1.
• Roald Dahl, Boy, (Middlesex: Puffin Books, 1986), pp. 93-98.
• Dahl, Boy, pp. 123-6.
• Chris Powling, Roald Dahl, (Middlesex: Puffin Books, 1985), p. 24
• Powling, Roald Dahl, p. 24
• Powling, Roald Dahl, p. 23.
• Powling, Roald Dahl, p. 24.
• Powling, Roald Dahl, p. 25.
• Powling, Roald Dahl, p. 67.
• Powling, Roald Dahl, p. 66.
• Powling, Roald Dahl, p. 22.
• Singleton, ‘The Short Story’ in The Creative Writing Handbook, p. 101.
• Dahl, Boy, p. 144.
• Aidan Chambers, ‘The Reader in the Book’, Signal, 23 (1977), 64-87, p. 71.
• Powling, Roald Dahl, p. 31.
• Charles Sarland, ‘The Secret Seven Vs The Twits: Cultural Clash or Cosy Combination?’, Signal, 42 (1983), 155-71, p. 162.
• Denys Wyatt Harding, Experience Into Words, (Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1974)
• Roald Dahl, James and the Giant Peach, (Middlesex: Puffin Books, 1973), p. 8.
• William H. Honan, ‘Roald Dahl, Writer, 74, Is Dead: Best Sellers Enchanted Children’, The New York Times, 24th November 1990 [WWW] <url: https://roalddahlfans.com/articles/obit.php> (Accessed 11 November 1999).
• Don Byrne, An Introduction to Personality, (New Jersey: Prentice-Hall Inc, 1974), p. 89.
• Ann Hulbert, ‘They Won’t Grow Up’, The New York Times, 12th November 1995 [WWW] <url: https://roalddahlfans.com/articles/they.php> (Accessed 11 November 1999).
• Honan, ‘Roald Dahl, Writer, 74, Is Dead: Best Sellers Enchanted Children’.
• Cedric Watts, A Preface to Keats, (London: Longman Group Limited, 1995), p. 34
• Norman Schwenk, ‘Knowing/Not Knowing’, Planet, 137 (1999), p. 113.
• Singleton, ‘The Short Story’ in The Creative Writing Handbook, p. 102.

Exploring the magical world of Roald Dahl through his writing style

I f there's one author whose books have left an enduring mark on the hearts of both children and adults, it's Roald Dahl. With a magical touch that weaves whimsy, adventure, and life lessons into every tale, Dahl's writing style is as fascinating as it is accessible. Let's hop on a journey into the enchanting world of Roald Dahl, where imagination knows no bound.

The art of simplicity

In ‘Matilda,’ Dahl introduces us to a brilliant young girl with telekinetic powers. Through Dahl's straightforward prose, we enter Matilda's world effortlessly. "It's a funny thing about mothers and fathers. Even when their own child is the most disgusting little blister you could ever imagine, they still think that he or she is wonderful," reads one of the endearing quotes in his book 'Matilda'. Dahl's ability to address complex themes, such as neglect and injustice, through simple language is a proof of his storytelling intelligence.

If we take an example of ‘The BFG,’ Dahl takes us on an extraordinary journey with a Big Friendly Giant who captures dreams. His description of the BFG's unusual way of speaking showcases Dahl's talent for creating unique and memorable characters: "Words," he said, "is oh such a twitch-tickling problem to me all my life."

A world of imagination

In the iconic ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,’ Dahl invites us into Willy Wonka's candy-filled wonderland. His descriptions of the factory are brimming with imagination, "The walls and ceiling were covered with large patches of something that looked like thick, brown fur carpet. In the places where there were no patches of fur, there were large splodges of a revolting greenish mold." Dahl's vivid imagery allows readers to visualize Wonka's eccentric world, making it a memorable reading experience.

Timeless life lessons

In ‘The Witches,’ Dahl addresses themes of courage and resourcefulness as a young boy battles a coven of witches. Dahl's straightforward language carries a powerful message, "You are using the bravery of a small boy and the intelligence of a mouse to defeat your enemy. And you are doing it brilliantly." Dahl's ability to blend simplicity with profound themes makes his stories not only enjoyable but also impactful.

Which is your favourite Roald Dahl book and why? Tell us in the comments below.

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