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Born in Llandaff, Wales, on 13th September 1916 to Norwegian parents. -
His mother sent him to boarding school - first to St Peter's, Weston-super-Mare; then, to Repton - where happened many bizarre and memorable events. -
With the outbreak of World War Two, he enlisted in the Royal Air Force at 23 years old. In September 1940, Dahl received severe injuries to his head, nose and back when his Gladiator crash-landed in the Western Desert. After six months recovering from his injuries in Alexandria he returned to action -
In 1943 he wrote his first children's book, The Gremlins, which was originally intended to be made into an animated film by Walt Disney. -
In 1953 Roald Dahl married the American actress, Patricia Neal, with whom he had five children. They divorced after 30 years, and he later married Felicity “Liccy” Crosland, who has furthered Roald’s legacy through the foundation of Roald Dahl's Marvellous Children's Charity and The Roald Dahl Museum and Story Centre. -
In 1961 James and the Giant Peach was published in the US. -
Charlie and The Chocolate Factory is published -
Fantastic Mr. Fox was published in 1970, the year before the film Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory was released. -
Danny the Champion of the World is published. -
The Enormous Crocodile was first published in 1978. It was the first of Roald Dahl's stories to be illustrated by Quentin Blake. -
My Uncle Oswald is published in 1979, which is a comic novel for adults. -
In 1984 Boy, Dahl's childhood autobiography is published. -
Matilda is published. -
Roald Dahl died on 23 November 1990, at the age of 74 in Oxford, and was buried in the cemetery at the Church of St Peter and St Paul, Great Missenden, Buckinghamshire, England.