13th September 1916
Roald Dahl born
Dahl's childhood was filled with tragedy. His father and sister
died when Dahl was three, and he was later brutally abused at his
boarding school. After high school, he traveled widely, joining an
expedition to Newfoundland and later working in Tanzania.
In World War II, he joined the Royal Air Force and became a fighter
pilot. He flew missions in Libya, Greece, and Syria, and was shot
down in the Libyan desert, suffering serious injuries. (He saved a
piece of his femur, removed in an operation after the accident, and
later used it as a paperweight in his office.)
Dahl wrote his first book, The Gremlins, for Walt Disney, in 1943,
and the story was later made into a Disney film. He wrote several
popular adult books, including Someone Like You (1953) and Kiss
Kiss (1959), and began writing stories for his own four children in
1960. James and the Giant Peach and Charlie and the Chocolate
Factory became bestsellers.
He also wrote the screenplay for Charlie (with a title change-the
movie was called Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory), Chitty
Chitty Bang Bang (1968 ), and a James Bond film, You Only Live
Twice (1967).
