Roald Dahl - Life as He Lived

Roald Dahl

Life As He Lived

Through time there have been many great inspiring authors and English writers. Many people have talent in writing stories, but there is one author in particular that caught my eye specifically. It is very hard to choose a nearly perfect writer, but one man who is among some of the most amazing and gifted writers out there is, Roald Dahl. Roald Dahl was the sole person who had written “James and The Giant Peach” and “Charlie and The Chocolate Factory” among other award winning children’s books (Roald Dahl).

Roald Dahl was born in Wales on September 13, 1916. He graduated from Repton School, after graduation he went to work for Shell Oil Company of East Africa until the start of World War II. He served in the British Royal Air Force at 23 years old. Serving as a fighter pilot, he became a wing commander. In 1940 he found his life in danger. As World War II was coming to a halt he made a forced landing in the Libyan Desert when his plane was hit by machine gun fire. Dahl was severely injured and rescued by a fellow pilot. It took him six months to recover. Although Dahl did rejoin his squadron in Greece in the spring of 1941, the excruciating pain from his head and back injuries grew worse, becoming so bad that he was later forced to return to England on medical leave. Dahl was sent to Washington D.C. as an assistant attaché. It was there that his writing career began to take shape. While there he was interviewed by C.S. Forester about his experiences in the war. The men met over lunch and due to Forester’s lack of concentration Dahl offered to write the notes for the interview. Dahl simply wrote the story himself, after the meeting, and sent it to Forester. He had titled it “A Piece of Cake”. Forester liked the story so much that he sent it to “The Saturday Evening Post,” where it was then published. Dahl was paid $1,000 for the story, and his writing career had begun (Facts on Roald Dahl).

On Dahl’s medical leave he retreated to his mother’s cottage in England and stayed with her. While he stayed with his mother he found himself bored and started writing a story called “The Gremlins.” In 1943, he finally finished “The Gremlins” as his first ever children’s book. He was so enthusiastic