True Kelley - Who Was Roald Dahl?

In 1940, during World War II, Roald Dahl was a fighter pilot in the British Royal Air Force. He had to fly a biplane to a secret airstrip in Africa accompanied by a pilot in a second plane. Roald was nervous about finding the airstrip. It was hidden and could be hard to spot. It was also very near enemy lines.

When they took off, it was already getting dark. Roald figured the airstrip was about fifty minutes away. But after about an hour, there was still no airstrip in sightjust empty desert, rocks, and boulders. Roald circled the area desperately. Had he been given the wrong directions? He was low on gas. It was growing darker. He had to do an emergency landing. He had to take a chance.

The plane crashed!

Roalds nose was smashed, his skull was fractured, and he was knocked out. The plane burst into flames. The pilot in the second plane managed to land safely and rescue Roald.

It took a long time for Roald to get better. Did he go back home? No! He still wanted to be a fighter pilot. By the time Word War II ended in 1945, he had shot down five enemy planes. His war adventures in far-off Africa made good stories. Roald started writing about them for magazines.

Today, however, Roald Dahl is not world famous for being a war hero or a magazine writer. Millions of people know him because of the amazing books he wrote for children. In a tiny hut near his house in the English countryside, he wrote such classics as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, James and the Giant Peach, Matilda, The BFG, and Fantastic Mr. Fox.

Roald Dahl was imaginative and funny. He invented words like buzzwangle, zippfizzing, and frobscottle and creatures like Oompa-Loompas and snozzwangers. He remembered what it was like to be a child, and he knew what children would like to read.

Roald Dahl is remembered as one of the greatest storytellers of our time.

Roald Dahl was born September 13, 1916, in Wales. Wales borders England and is part of Great Britain. His parents, Sofie and Harald, were from Norway. They named him Roald after a famous Norwegian explorer, Roald Amundsen, who reached the South Pole in 1911.

Haralds job was to provide ships in Wales with coal and supplies. He got quite rich doing it. As a young man, Harald had lost his arm in an accident. Much later, Roald thought it was amazing that his father could tie his shoes faster using only one hand than Roald could with two.

Sofie was Haralds second wife. (His first wife died very young.) Sofie was smart and well educated. Like Harald, she loved beautiful things. She and Harald had three daughters, Astri, Alfhild, and Else, and one son, Roald. Being the only boy, Roalds sisters called him the apple. That was short for the apple of his mothers eye, which meant that Roald was her favorite.

His mother was a great storyteller. She told the children stories about Norwegian monsters, trolls, and fairies. Roald certainly inherited a lot from her!

When Roald was two, his family moved to a mansion in a small village in Wales. They spoke English, but also spoke Norwegian at home. The Dahls were a close, happy family.

When Roald was only about three years old, his life was shattered. His seven-year-old sister, Astri, died of appendicitis. A few months later, his brokenhearted father also died. Sofie was left to care for her three children. She was also raising two stepchildren from Haralds first marriage. And on top of that, she was expecting another child. She had to manage the big house, grounds, servants, farmers, and gardeners. Roalds mother was practical and brave. After baby Asta was born, she moved the family to a smaller house in town. Roald later said his mother was a rock, a real rock, always on your side whatever youd done.