Roald Dahl Day!

Morning all, how is everyone? Probably doing better than me. This past week spiralled out of control in a big way – as I’ve mentioned previously I have been in an ME crash for the past  three months and have been struggling to recover ever since, well, this week I took a very serious turn for the worse due to the immense stress and emotional turmoil that happened caused by a very serious argument with my sister which ended our relationship, as of Thursday last week I said my final words to her and said I didn’t want anything to do with her and the toxic relationship that’s been occurring over the years, I’m not going to go into any more detail as it’s a private matter and I’m not the type of person to talk about others and share things that are personal and because I don’t feel it would be right, so I’m going to end that bit there and say that since it happened, it has affected me in a very bad and serious way. In other news, we retrieved a lot of our belongings from our storage unit, so we now have all our books back and other home comforts which has been lovely to see again as I’d forgotten I had some of the things that were in their, so it’s like Christmas at our house at the minute! 

Speaking of books, I’ve actually managed to find my Roald Dahl collection, which I’ve acquired over the years ever since I was a child, and how fitting is it that today marks the brilliant storytellers 107th birthday, so in order to celebrate his birthday and the day officially dedicated to him, I thought I would do a celebration post to commemorate the ‘Phizz-Whizzing’ and ‘Gloriumptious’ that is Roald Dahl…

A writer of both children’s fiction and short stories for adults, Roald Dahl is best known as the author of the 1964 children’s book Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (he also wrote the script for the 1971 movie version). Dahl has been described as a master of story construction with a remarkable ability to weave a tale. To celebrate all the brilliant books, playful poems and witty words he gave us over the years, read on and learn about the writer behind them and some fantastic facts about the author’s life, and boy are there some humdingers…

About

Early Life:

Roald Dahl was born September 13, 1916, in Llandaff, South Wales, United Kingdom, to Norwegian parents Harald Dahl and Sofie Magdalene Dahl. Dahl was named after Norwegian polar explorer Roald Amundsen. His first language was Norwegian, which he spoke at home with his parents and his sisters Astri, Alfhild, and Else. The children were raised in Norway’s Lutheran state church, the Church of Norway, and were baptized at the Norwegian Church, Cardiff. His maternal grandmother Ellen Wallace was a granddaughter of the member of parliament Georg Wallace and a descendant of an early 18th-century Scottish immigrant to Norway. Dahl’s sister Astri died from appendicitis at age seven in 1920 when Dahl was three years old, and his father died of pneumonia at age 57 several weeks later. Later that year, his youngest sister, Asta, was born.

After his father died when Dahl was four, his mother followed her late husband’s wish that Dahl be sent to English schools. When he was six years old, Dahl met his idol Beatrix Potter, author of The Tale of Peter Rabbit featuring the mischievous Peter Rabbit, the first licensed fictional character. Dahl first attended Llandaff Cathedral School, where he began a series of unfortunate adventures in school. he and four of his friends were caned by the headmaster after putting a dead mouse in a jar of gobstoppers at the local sweet shop, which was owned by a “mean and loathsome” old woman named Mrs. Pratchett. Dahl transferred to St Peter’s boarding school in Weston-super-Mare. His parents had wanted him to be educated at an English public school, and this proved to be the nearest. Dahl’s time at St Peter’s was unpleasant; he was very homesick and wrote to his mother every week but never revealed his unhappiness to her, but did inspire much of his gruesome fiction. And after her death in 1967, he learned that she had saved every one of his letters.

From 1929, aged 13, Dahl attended Repton School in Derbyshire, which he thoroughly detested due to the hazing and environment of ritual cruelty and status domination enacted from the older boys and Masters. He was never seen as a talented writer in his school years; however, Roald loved literature and photography. Roald completed his education at Repton School in 1934, aged 17. After finishing his schooling, in August 1934 Dahl crossed the Atlantic on the RMS Nova Scotia and hiked through Newfoundland with the Public Schools Exploring Society. He also worked for the Shell Petroleum Company. After two years of training, he was assigned to live in Mombasa, Kenya, then to Dar es Salaam in the British colony of Tanganyika (now part of Tanzania).

Fighter Pilot & Post-War Life:

In 1939, aged 23, Dahl joined the Royal Air Force (RAF) in Kenya at the outbreak of the Second World War, and became a fighter pilot. Unfortunately, he crash-landed in the Western Desert of North Africa. His plane was destroyed, and he suffered serious injuries to his head. He was taken to a hospital in Egypt, where he slowly recovered. He returned to the RAF, but began to suffer from headaches which caused him to black out, meaning it was too dangerous for him to fly any longer. After being discharged from the RAF, Roald became a British Intelligence Officer, passing on important information to the government during the war. He worked alongside another spy, Ian Fleming, who later became famous for his James Bond 007 series.

In 1953, on 2 July 1953 at Trinity Church in New York City. Roald got married to American actress, Patricia Neal – Their marriage lasted for 30 years and they had five children together
Olivia Twenty (1955–1962); sadly passed away after contracting  measles encephalitis, aged seven.
Chantal Sophia “Tessa” (born 1957), who became an author, and mother of author, cookbook writer and former model Sophie Dahl (after whom Sophie in The BFG is named)
Theo Matthew (born 1960);
Ophelia Magdalena (born 1964);
Lucy Neal (born 1965).
Every night, Roald used to make up stories to tell them at bedtime. In 1983, Patricia Neal and Dahl divorced, and Dahl married Felicity d’Abreu Crosland, known as Liccy. She was a set designer that had worked with Patricia.

Writing:

Dahl titled his first work “A Piece of Cake.” It was the story of his wartime adventures. His first children’s book was The Gremlins, published in 1943, about mischievous little creatures that were part of Royal Air Force folklore. Dahl went on to write some of the best-loved children’s stories of the 20th century, such as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Matilda, James and the Giant Peach, The Witches, Fantastic Mr. Fox, The BFG, The Twits, and George’s Marvellous Medicine. Dahl also wrote morbid short stories for adults, which often blended humor and innocence with surprising plot twists. Dahl wrote more than 60 short stories. The last book published in his lifetime, Esio Trot, released in January 1990, marked a change in style for the author. Unlike other Dahl works (which often feature tyrannical adults and heroic/magical children), it is the story of an old, lonely man trying to make a connection with a woman he has loved from afar.

Dahl’s children’s works are usually told from the point of view of a child. They typically involve adult villains who hate and mistreat children, and feature at least one “good” adult to counteract the villain(s). Dahl encouraged his children and his readers to let their imaginations run free. He was famous for his inventive, playful use of language, which was a key element of his writing.

Death & Legacy:

Roald continued to write his fantastic stories until his death on 23rd November, 1990, at the age of 74 from a rare cancer of the blood, called myelodysplastic syndrome, in Oxford. He was buried in the cemetery at the Church of St Peter and St Paul, Great Missenden, Buckinghamshire, England. Today, children continue to leave toys and flowers by his grave. In November 1996, the Roald Dahl Children’s Gallery was opened at the Buckinghamshire County Museum in nearby Aylesbury. The main-belt asteroid 6223 Dahl, discovered by Czech astronomer Antonín Mrkos, was named in his memory in 1996. Dahl’s charitable commitments in the fields of neurology, haematology and literacy during his life have been continued by his widow since his death, through Roald Dahl’s Marvellous Children’s Charity, formerly known as the Roald Dahl Foundation. The charity provides care and support to seriously ill children and young people throughout the UK.

In 2005, the Roald Dahl Museum and Story Centre opened in Great Missenden, Buckinghamshire, where Dahl lived for the last 36 years of his life. The museum is crammed full of all things Roald Dahl-related – it even includes the inside of his writing hut! Over 50,000 visitors from abroad, mainly from Australia, Japan, the United States and Germany, travel to the village museum every year. Regarded as “one of the greatest storytellers for children of the 20th century”, Dahl was named by The Times one of the 50 greatest British writers since 1945. In surveys of UK teachers, parents and students, Dahl is frequently ranked the best children’s writer. In 2012, Dahl was among the British cultural icons selected by artist Peter Blake to appear in a new version of his most famous artwork—the Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band album cover—to celebrate the British cultural figures of his life he most admires. In a 2017 UK poll of the greatest authors, songwriters, artists and photographers, Dahl was named the greatest storyteller of all time, ranking ahead of Dickens, Shakespeare, Rowling and Spielberg.

In 2017, the airline Norwegian announced Dahl’s image would appear on the tail fin one of their Boeing 737-800 aircraft. He is one of the company’s six “British tail fin heroes”, joining Queen frontman Freddie Mercury, England World Cup winner Bobby Moore, novelist Jane Austen, pioneering pilot Amy Johnson and aviation entrepreneur Freddie Laker. In September 2021, Netflix acquired the Roald Dahl Story Company in a deal worth more than £500 million ($686 million) and produced the film adaptation of Matilda The Musical which was released in December 2022 featuring Emma Thompson as Miss Trunchball.

• He spent his childhood summers visiting his grandparents in Oslo, Norway.
• He was a mischievous child, full of energy, and from an early age he proved himself skilled at finding trouble. His earliest memory was of pedaling to school at a very fast speed on his tricycle, with his two sisters struggling to keep up as he whizzed around curves on two wheels.
• He worked for the Shell Petroleum Company. After two years of training, he was assigned to live in Mombasa, Kenya, then to Dar es Salaam in the British colony of Tanganyika (now part of Tanzania). He had a cook and personal servants.
• 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 – The time he spent in hospital recovering was what inspired him to begin writing, and he never looked back.
• 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.

• Dahl wrote for around four hours every single day, From 10am – 12pm, and then 4pm – 6pm
• He never learned how to type, Instead, Dahl preferred to do all his writing in an old red book in pencil. Afterwards, his secretary would type up his writing for him.
• In 1971, a real man named Willy Wonka wrote to Roald Dahl. He was a postman from Nebraska.
• 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!
• Dahl invented over 250 new words, there’s even an official Oxford Roald Dahl Dictionary to help you tell your snozzcumbers from your snozzberries. In fact, Roald Dahl invented around five hundred words over the course of his writing – some of which are in common use today. Words like uckyslush, crodsquinkled, biffsquiggled and catasterous come together to form a nonsense language that the author called ‘gobblefunk’.

• 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.
• During his years at Repton, the Cadbury chocolate company occasionally sent boxes of new chocolates to the school to be tested by the pupils. Dahl dreamt of inventing a new chocolate bar that would win the praise of Mr. Cadbury himself; this inspired him in writing his third children’s book, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (1964), and to refer to chocolate in other children’s books.
• Mrs. Pratchett inspired Dahl’s creation of the cruel headmistress Miss Trunchbull in Matilda, and a prank, this time in a water jug belonging to Trunchbull, would also appear in the book.
• He wrote James Bond film “You Only Live Twice”- The script for the 1967 film starring Sean Connery was written by Dahl.
• He invented the infamous Child Catcher– In another link with the Bond author Roald Dahl wrote the screenplay for Ian Fleming’s book “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang”, inventing an ultimate evil villain.

• Standing 6ft 6in in adulthood, Dahl was exceptionally tall, earning him the nickname “Lofty” while in the army. This was rare for an RAF pilot and today would be slightly over the accepted height limit.
• In 1952, while Dahl was living in New York he met Hollywood actress Patricia Neal. They married the following year and would go on to have five children together: Olivia, Chantal, Theo, Ophelia and Lucy.
• He was a medical pioneer. At the age of four months old, Dahl’s son Theo was seriously ill with a rare condition called hydrocephalus after being hit by a taxi. This causes water to form on the brain. Dahl put all his efforts into helping his son recover, which included inventing a new type of valve with the help of a neurosurgeon and a toymaker (yes, really!). The valve went on to be used worldwide to treat children with brain conditions.
• Patricia Neal, Roald Dahl’s wife, experienced three cerebral aneurysms. As a result, she lost the ability to talk and walk. Roald Dahl took control of her rehabilitation and Patricia was eventually able to talk and walk again.
• Roald Dahl’s granddaughter is Sophie Dahl, the author and former model). The Sophie character in Dahl’s The BFG is named after her.

• Out of all his stories, Roald Dahl said that The BFG was probably his favourite. The story has now been made into a blockbuster film by Steven Spielberg.
• Some of his favourite authors were: Rudyard Kipling, Charles Dickens and William Makepeace Thackery.
• He enjoyed photography-Alongside writing, Roald Dahl enjoyed photography and often carried a camera with him.
• Dahl was still writing when he died in 1990. The final story he worked on was about a young girl who taught her dog to talk. It’s not the only unreleased work by Dahl either. Just a few years ago, a previously unpublished chapter of Charlie and the Chocolate factory was made public, featuring a new ‘vanilla fudge room’. There were originally meant to be fifteen children on the trip in total.
• The Enormous Crocodile was published in 1978 and was the first Dahl story to be illustrated by Quentin Blake. This marked the beginning of their famous partnership and Blake then went on to illustrate the rest of Dahl’s children’s stories and even went back to illustrate some of his older ones.

• Roald Dahl died on 23rd November 1990. He was 74 and was suffering with myelodysplastic syndrome (a type of blood disease).
• 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.
• The Roald Dahl Children’s Gallery was opened at the Buckinghamshire County Museum in 1996.
• Regarded as “one of the greatest storytellers for children of the 20th century”, Dahl was named by The Times one of the 50 greatest British writers since 1945. He ranks amongst the world’s best-selling fiction authors with sales estimated at over 300 million, and his books have been published in 63 languages. In 2000 Dahl topped the list of Britain’s favourite authors.
• In honor of Dahl, the Royal Gibraltar Post Office issued a set of four stamps in 2010 featuring Quentin Blake’s original illustrations for four of the children’s books written by Dahl during his long career; The BFG, The Twits, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and Matilda. A set of six commemorative Royal Mail stamps was issued in 2012, featuring Blake’s illustrations for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, The Witches, The Twits, Matilda, Fantastic Mr. Fox, and James and the Giant Peach.

Roald is credited with being the spark that has ignited the fire of imagination in many a child, and rightfully so. His delightful stories have the capability of drawing in the reader, no matter what age, into a world of fantasy and leave them with a warm feeling in their hearts as they go along with the twists and turns of the narrative. He taught us so much: that friendships can come from the strangest of places, the power of dreams and imagination, how to be confident in our abilities, the importance of not judging others by their appearence and that just being yourself would always be good enough. Roald Dahl inspired a generation of writers and will go on to inspire so many more. Happy Birthday Roald!

Before I say goodbye I also want to wish my Mum a Happy Birthday for tomorrow, she has been my rock throughout my life and my one true best friend, I honestly don’t know how I would’ve got through life without her and also this past week, as I know she’ll read this, I want to say a massive thank you to her for sticking by me especially through the tough times, Love you Mum!

Thank you for visiting my blog and reading today’s post, I hope you all have a lovely week and I shall see you next Wednesday.