Date of Birth: September 13, 1916
Place of Birth: Llandaff, Wales
Died: November 23, 1990
Place of Death: Oxford, England
Classification: Builders & Titans
Not only did he author such classics as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and James and the Giant Peach, Roald Dahl also authored over 60 short stories and other screenplays that launched him as one of the world’s most revered children’s authors. Known for his darker side of writing, his adult-macabre stories have surprising twists and haunting endings.
In the latter part of his childhood, Dahl grew up in boarding schools after his father’s death. These experiences would later shape his characters, their situations, their enemies, and their helpers. At Repton School in Derbyshire, Dahl succeeded in both sports and academics. Interestingly, the Cadbury Company would send free chocolates to his school for them to taste and comment on in studies for future sales. In the movie, Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, Charlie wins a prize and by the end of the tale inherits the factory and helps Willie Wonka come up with the best new chocolate treats.
Instead of going to college, Roald Dahl worked with Shell Petroleum and was sent all over the world for exploration expeditions, and even worked for them in Tanzania. When World War II broke out, he joined the Royal Air Force and was accepted and trained in a fighter pilot program. With only seven hours of training, Dahl was allowed to fly solo. After months of training, he was given incorrect coordinates of where to fly and subsequently crash-landed in the Libyan Desert. With serious injuries and blindness that lasted over two months, he recovered. Although doctors said he would never fly again, he soon found himself training on the newest of fighter planes. By the end of the war, he was one of two pilots in his regiment who had survived the war.
Dahl then married American actress Patricia Neal. The two were married for thirty years and had five children together. When Roald met C.S. Forrester, the famed author told him he should write about his adventures, so Dahl wrote “Shot Down Over Libya”, which was published by the Saturday Evening Post. Disney bought the rights to his first book, The Gremlins, but never made the movie. He went on to write Matilda and other stories that became instant classics. Both his fiction and nonfiction have contributed greatly to the literature of the 20 th century. His adventures of young protagonists who beat the odds still carry the magic they did when they were first released
