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Roald Dahl is one of the most loved
children’s authors in the
world and September
13th 2016 marked
100 years since the
legend himself was
born.
Roald Dahl was born in 1916 in Llandaff,
South Wales and died on November 23rd
1990 when he was 74 years old.
In 1932 Roald Dahl took a job with the
Shell Oil Company in Tanzania (Tanganyika)
which is in Africa, he stayed there till 1939.
Not only that, Roald Dahl then joined the
Royal Air Force. He was involved in a plane
crash where he broke his nose. While in
Washington D.C he met the author C.S
Forrester, who encouraged Roald to start
writing.
Roald Dahls books were illustrated by
Quentin Blake. Quentin Blake had some
troubles illustrating The BFG because he
struggled to draw the sandals; so Roald
Dahl sent him his own sandal to draw/copy
which lead to Dahl’s very own footwear
being part of the illustrations.
Although Dahl was a great writer he did not
do so well in school; especially in English
lessons. He did not do well in English
because he made up his own words and
put them in his work, which is how he
ended up creating the language of
Gobblefunk. Some of the Gobblefunk
words are:
• Delumptios - Delicious
• Human beans - Human beings
• Jiggyraffes - Giraffes
• Scrumdiddlyumptious - Scrumptious
• Frumpkin Fry - Pumpkin pie
• Snoozcumber - Gruesome vegetable
only found in Giant country.
Some characters created by Roald Dahl
are based on real people. The Big
Friendly Giant (BFG) was a combination
of his builder friend and Roald himself
and the horrible Miss Trunchbull was
based on his lovely next door neighbour.
He took inspiration from members of his
family too. The character of Sophie was
inspired by his granddaughter, Sophie
Dahl, although originally he named her
Jody.
Here are the authors of this article and
their favourite Roald Dahl books:
Agata Jezewska - Matilda
Hannah Vinnard – Going Solo
Jessica Powell – George’s Marvellous
Medicine
Jessica Arnold – The Twits
Mackenzie Meredith – The Enormous
Crocodile
Billie-Jo Lewis - Matilda
These are our top 5
favourite books