Name __________________________ date _______

Roald Dahl Biography

Roald Dahl was born in Wales on 16th September

1916 to Norwegian parents. His father died when he was 3 years old

and he was raised by his mother. He did not enjoy his time at

boarding school and his school memories provided some of the

inspiration for his later stories.

After leaving school he worked for the Shell Oil Company and was

based in Africa, until the outbreak of World War II in 1939, when

he signed up with the Royal Air Force. Unfortunately, on a flight into

enemy territory he ran out of fuel and crashed in the Libyan desert.

He was sent to Washington DC to work as an attaché where, almost

by accident, he started his writing career. When he was interviewed

for an article about his time in action, he offered to write about his

experiences. His piece was published in the Saturday Evening Post,

who signed him up to write more articles in 1941.

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.

The film was not made and instead Dahl turned to writing adult

fiction.

In 1945 he moved back to the UK, but in the early fifties returned

to America, and in 1953 he married his first wife, the actress

Patricia Neal. They had five children together but got divorced in

1983. The last years of his life were very happy and he wrote some

of his best books during this period: The BFG, The Witches and

Matilda. In total, he wrote 21 children’s books. Roald Dahl died on

23rd November 1990 in Oxford, England.

1. How old was Roald Dahl when he died?

_____________________

2. Why did his plane crash in the desert?

_______________________________________________

_______________________________________________

3. How many children did he have?

__________________________

4. Name two of his books ___________________________

_____________________________________________

5. Complete the following timeline of Dahl's life (fill in all the

blanks!):

1916 Dahl was born in South Wales

1919

1934-39 Worked for Shell Oil in London and Africa

1939

1941 Published a newspaper story in the USA

1943

1945

Got married to ...

Died in Oxford

Complete the titles of these Roald Dahl books.

Charlie and the _____________ Factory

Danny, the Champion of the __________

Esio _______

Fantastic Mr ______

George's ______________ Medicine

James and the _________ Peach

M___________

The BF__

The Enormous ____________

The G____________

The Magic __________

The M___________

The T________

The W________

Marvellous Chocolate World

Fox Giant G

Matilda Crocodile Trot

Minpins Witches Finger

Twits Gremlins