Art Friday: Roald Dahl

Happy birthday Roald Dahl

Roald Dahl was born on this day in 1916 in Cardiff, Wales to Norwegian parents.

What is your favourite Roald Dahl book?

Which books do your children enjoy reading/listening to?

Mine favourite book was always Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and this was also my children's favourite book, followed closely by Matilda and James and the Giant Peach.  We all loved the 1971 Gene Wilder adaptation of Charlie and the Chocolate factory movie.  I wasn't as keen on the Johnny Depp version.

Dahl with his family

Did you know:

• Dahl wrote all his children's stories in a hut at the bottom of his garden.

• He was a Hurricane fighter pilot during WW2

• He had 2 steel hips and 6 operations on his spine.

• He wrote the screenplays for the James Bond movie "You only love twice" and "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang"

• He loved chocolate, but not chocolate cake or chocolate ice-cream.

• He always wrote in pencil on yellow paper.

• He did not start to write children's books until he had children of his own.

• Dahl loved pets and had 3 dogs called Eva, Jelly and Chopper.

• Dahl had 5 children, 4 girls and 1 boy: Olivia, Tessa, Theo, Ophelia and Lucy. Sadly Olivia died from measles when she was 7 years old.  He kept a photo of her in his writing hut so she was always near.

Dahl's writing hut

The author working in his hut

So true!!