Roald Dahl

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Lore & Background

Roald Dahl was born in 1916 at Villa Marie, Fairwater Road, in Llandaff, Cardiff, Wales, to Norwegian parents Harald Dahl and Sofie Magdalene Dahl née Hesselberg. His first language was Norwegian, which he spoke at home with his parents and his sisters. He was named after Norwegian polar explorer Roald Amundsen. Dahl first attended The Cathedral School, Llandaff. At age eight, he and four friends were caned by the headmaster after putting a dead mouse in a jar of gobstoppers at a local sweet shop owned by Mrs Pratchett, who inspired the character of the shopkeeper in the autobiographical 'Boy', not Miss Trunchbull in 'Matilda'. Dahl transferred to St Peter's boarding school in Weston-super-Mare, where he was very homesick. From 1929, when he was 13, Dahl attended Repton School in Derbyshire. He disliked the hazing and described an environment of ritual cruelty. During his years at Repton, Cadbury chocolate company sent boxes of new chocolates to the school to be tested by pupils, inspiring him to write Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. After finishing his schooling, in the summer of 1934 Dahl crossed the Atlantic on the RMS Nova Scotia and hiked through Newfoundland with the British Public Schools Exploring Society. In 1934, after returning from Newfoundland, Dahl joined the Shell Petroleum Company, assigned first to Mombasa, Kenya, then to Dar es Salaam in Tanganyika. In August 1939, as the Second World War loomed, Dahl was commissioned as a lieutenant into the King's African Rifles.

Reader's Guide

Roald Dahl's significance lies in his enduring impact on children's literature and popular culture. His books have sold more than 300 million copies worldwide. He rose to prominence as a writer in the 1940s with works for children and for adults, and became one of the world's best-selling authors. His awards 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'. In 2021, Forbes ranked him the top-earning dead celebrity. 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 works for children include James and the Giant Peach; Charlie and the Chocolate Factory; Matilda; The Witches; Fantastic Mr Fox; The BFG; The Twits; George's Marvellous Medicine; and Danny, the Champion of the World. His works for older audiences include the short story collections Tales of the Unexpected and The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Six More. Dahl's childhood experiences—including the 'Great Mouse Plot of 1924' and testing Cadbury chocolates at Repton—directly inspired his writing. His time as a wartime fighter ace and his years in Tanganyika also informed his work.

Did You Know?

• Dahl was named after Norwegian polar explorer Roald Amundsen.
• His first language was Norwegian, which he spoke at home with his parents and sisters.
• At age eight, Dahl and four friends were caned for putting a dead mouse in a jar of gobstoppers at a sweet shop—a prank they called the 'Great Mouse Plot of 1924'.
• Dahl's time testing Cadbury chocolates at Repton School inspired him to write Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
• He served in the Royal Air Force as a fighter pilot and later an intelligence officer, rising to the rank of acting wing commander.