You might know Roald Dahl; he was an author and poet.
Do you know of the Oompaloompas or Willy Wonka? They are characters from his
book Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. There is also a movie with the same
title. Would you like to know more about this author who has written so many
interesting books? If yes, read on.
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| Illustration by my father |
Roald Dahl was born on
13th September 1916 in Llandaff, Wales. His parents- Harald Dahl and
Sofie Magdalene Dahl were Norwegian immigrants. Roald Dahl had 5 siblings Astri
Dahl, Else Dahl, Louis Dahl, Asta Dahl and Ahlfild Dahl. For his primary
education he went to the local school Llandaff Cathedral School, Llandaff but left
it because of the brutal punishments. He then went to St. Peter’s, Weston-Super-Mare
but left it too due to the same reason. He then went to Repton School,
Derbyshire which he liked a lot. After graduating from school, he took up a job
in Shell Oil. They offered him a post in Egypt which he refused saying that
Egypt was a very sandy and dry place. After a while Shell offered him a post in
Tanzania which he accepted happily. He then sailed to Dar es Salaam. In Tanzania
he sold oil to businessmen who needed it. He did this for some time. Then came
World War II, all the men in the town were enlisted in the army whether they
had had military training or not. After being in this untrained army for a
while, he decided to enlist in the RAF (Royal Air Force). So, of he went to
Nairobi, Nigeria for his training.
In Nairobi he was trained to fly Hurricanes. After his training
he joined his squadron- 80 squadron in Egypt. Once, while flying, his plane
crashed in a desert in Egypt because his fuel got over. He was taken to the Anglo-Swiss
Hospital in Alexandria. It was then discovered that his skull had got fractured
in the crash. This caused him to go blind for 3 months. After he recovered, he resumed
flying but unfortunately started going blind at times. He reported this to the
army surgeon who told him he wasn’t fit to fly anymore and would be sent home.
After the war he went to the U.S as an employee of the British Embassy. It has been said that he was a spy. After Roald Dahl retired, he took up writing
as a career. He has written many children’s books like The Minipins, Charlie
and the Chocolate Factory, The BFG, The Twits, The Witches, George’s Marvellous
Medicine, Matilda, Fantastic Mr. Fox, James and the Giant Peach, The Magic Finger,
Danny the Champion of the World, The Giraffe the Pelly and Me, Charlie and the
Great Glass Elevator, Boy, Going Solo, Esio Trot and The Enormous Crocodile.
Roald Dahl passed away on 23rd November 1990. Roald Dahl is as
memorable as the new and funny words he has invented. These are my favourite
words frothbungling, frobscottle, chatbag etc.
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