Roald Dahl was a British author who penned 19 children's books over his decades-long writing career. In 1953 he published the best-selling story collection Someone Like You and married actress Patricia Neal. He published the popular book James and the Giant Peach in 1961. In 1964 he released another highly successful work, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, which was later adapted for two films. Early Life and Education Roald Dahl was born in Llandaff, South Wales on September 13th 1916. His parents were Norwegian, and were called Harald and Sofie. He went to Repton school, in Derbyshire, and left school in 1933.

Dahl died on November 23, 1990, at the age of 74. After suffering an unspecified infection, on November 12, 1990, Dahl had been admitted to the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford, England.

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I love a good joke book so I was excited to get to this book during my Roald Dahl readathon. I went into it with high hopes and I am happy to say I wasn’t disappointed.

In 2009, Wes Anderson directed this quirky, touching animated feature about the adventures of the farm-raiding Mr. Fox (voiced by George Clooney), with a cast including Meryl Streep (Mrs. Fox) and Bill Murray (Badger). 'The Witches' (2020) Dahl first established himself as a children’s writer in 1961, when he published the book James and the Giant Peach, a book about a lonely little boy living with his two mean aunts who meets the Old Green Grasshopper and his insect friends on a giant, magical peach. The book met with wide critical and commercial acclaim. 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory' (1964)Roald Dahl’s Marvellous Joke Book is a must-have for all young readers and all readers who are young at heart. MISS TRUNCHBULL: What do you call the outer part of a tree? BRUCE BOGTROTTER: Don't know, Miss! MISS TRUNCHBULL: Bark, silly! Bark! BRUCE BOGTROTTER: Woof, woof! Of his early writing career, Dahl told New York Times book reviewer Willa Petschek, "As I went on the stories became less and less realistic and more fantastic." He went on to describe his foray into writing as a "pure fluke," saying, "Without being asked to, I doubt if I'd ever have thought to do it." TEACHER: You aren't paying attention. Are you having trouble hearing? No, sir. I'm having trouble listening!

As I went on, the stories became less and less realistic and more fantastic. But becoming a writer was pure fluke. Without being asked to, I doubt if I'd ever have thought of it. The BFG was first made into a stop-motion animated film in 1989, with David Jason playing the voice of the Big Friendly Giant. The movie was remade in 2016 by Steven Spielberg and featured live actors. 'The Witches' (1990) In the second world war he fought as a fighter pilot, and was badly injured when his plane crashed. After the war he worked in America, and soon started writing stories.Of the films that were adapted from his books during his lifetime, Roald Dahl came to despise them. TEACHER: What are you reading? PUPIL: I dunno! TEACHER: But you're reading aloud! PUPIL: Yeah, but I'm not listening! Of his many stories, Roald Dahl said The BFG was his favorite. He came up with the idea for a giant who stores dreams in bottles for kids to enjoy when they sleep several years before, and he told the story of the Big Friendly Giant to his own kids at bedtime. 'The Witches' (1983) If you get on the wrong side of Miss Trunchbull, she can liquidize you like a carrot in a BLENDER." And that he did. After Dahl graduated from Repton in 1932, he went on an expedition to Newfoundland. Afterward, he took a job with the Shell Oil Company in Tanzania, Africa, where he remained until 1939.

Lusting for yet more adventure, in 1939, Dahl joined the Royal Air Force. After training in Nairobi, Kenya, he became a World War II fighter pilot. While serving in the Mediterranean, Dahl crash-landed in Alexandria, Egypt. The plane crash left him with serious injuries to his skull, spine and hip. Following a recovery that included a hip replacement and two spinal surgeries, Dahl was transferred to Washington, D.C., where he became an assistant air attaché. Books As with all of the Roald Dahl books I have read recently, this book was illustrated by Quentin Blake. The illustrations in this book perfectly capture and elevate the jokes and situations that the jokes are set it. Having images to go with the jokes just made everything more entertaining.This Dahl favorite, originally known as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory as a book, starred Gene Wilder as Willy Wonka. An originally titled remake of the film, starring Johnny Depp, was released in 2005. 'The BFG' (1989, 2016) Roald Dahl was a British novelist, short story writer and screenwriter of Norwegian descent, who rose to prominence in the 1940's with works for both children and adults, and became one of the world's bestselling authors. After Neal suffered from multiple brain hemorrhages in the mid-1960s, Dahl stood by her through her long recovery. The couple would eventually divorce in 1983. Soon after, Dahl married Felicity Ann Crosland, his partner until his death in 1990. Death The same year that Someone Like You was published, Dahl married film actress Patricia Neal, who won an Academy Award for her role in Hud in 1961. The marriage lasted three decades and resulted in five children, one of whom tragically died in 1962. Danny DeVito directed this movie adaptation and also voiced the narrator. 'The Fantastic Mr. Fox' (2009)