Roald Dahl Day

Roald Dahl was my favourite author as a child and his was the first real book I ever read.

I remember our year 3 teacher read to us a little from George's Marvellous Medicine, every day during English class and I don't know if it was her engaging way or it was Dahl's storytelling, having the point of view of a child, either way, I fell in love with him as a writer. As soon as she finished the book with us, she told us to pick a book from the library and read it ourselves.

Of course as soon as we entered, I rushed to the librarian and asked for a book by Roald Dahl. She suggested Matilda. It was a great choice because I loved it very much that it made reading, a hobby to me.

Biography (Timeline):

Roald Dahl was born on 13th September 1916 to Norwegian immigrants living in Wales. He had three sisters. The all spoke Norwegian as their first language and followed the Protestant Church.

In 1920, his older sister died of apendicitis and weeks later his father died of pnuemonia. Dahl and his family still stayed in England.

He was very much like the characters in his stories, where he'd play pranks on adults. But he didn't go unpunished and was immediately expelled. His mother then sent him to a boarding school which he hated.

In 1929, he moved to another school where he was abused. In his biography he said:

“All through my school life I was appalled by the fact that masters and senior boys were allowed literally to wound other boys, and sometimes quite severely... I couldn’t get over it. I never have got over it.”

Boy:Tales of Childhood, 1984

Dahl spent his summer holidays in Norway with his mother's family, which he enjoyed, especially pranking everyone around.

In 1934, he joined a petroleum company and worked in Mombasa, Kenya then Tanzania.

In 1939, during World War II, he joined the Royal Air Force and was promoted a number of times. He gained many injuries while on duty, so he was made a spy for British Intellingence instead.

In 1942, his first article was published in The Saturday Evening Post.

In 1943, his first children's book The Gremlins was published and was a success. Even Walt Disney was thinking of turning it into an animation but unfortunately it didn't go through.

In 1953, Dahl married Patricia Neal, an American actress mostly known for her role in Breakfast At Tiffany's, 1961. They had five children.

In 1960, one of his children was hit by a taxi while on his pram and developed hydrocephalus. Dahl and his friends developed a device to reduce the pain and they called it Wade-Dahl-Till. The device helped over 3000 children with the same condition around the world.

In 1983, He divorced Patricia and married the second and last time.

In 1990, Dahl died of a rare blood cancer.

What were your favourite Roald Dahl books growing up?

Mine were Matilda and George's Marvellous Medicine naturally.

What is your favourite Roald Dahl quote?
 

 

The Twits, 1980                           

I think today would be a wonderful day to introduce your children to Roald Dahl books or even read to them a little. You can also celebrate Dahl's life just by reading anything really because as he said through Matilda:

"If you are going to get anywhere in life you have to read a lot of books"