Roald Dahl
(1916–1990)
Roald Dahl grew up in Llandaff, South Wales. At sixteen he left school to join an exploratory expedition to Newfoundland. When World War II broke out in 1939, he volunteered for the Royal Air Force as a fighter pilot. Although he was seriously wounded when he crash-landed in the Libyan desert, Dahl continued to fly until 1942, when he was sent to Washington, D. C., as an assistant to the British ambassador. He later recounted these adventures in his autobiography, Going Solo (1986).
Dahl’s writing career began when the novelist C. S. Forester asked him to write an account of his most exciting flying experience. He went on to publish nine collections of short stories and nineteen children’s books, in addition to many television plays and screenplays. Among his well-known children’s books are James and the Giant Peach (1961), Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (1964), and Danny the Champion of the World (1975).
