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[[Image:Dahlneal.jpg|thumb|[[Patricia Neal]] and Roald Dahl, photographed by [[Carl Van Vechten]], 1954]]
[[Wing_Commander_%28rank%29|Wing Commander]] '''Roald Dahl''', [[Royal Air Force|RAF]] (ret) ([[13 September]], [[1916]] – [[23 November]], [[1990]]) was a [[United Kingdom|British]] [[novel]]ist and [[short story]] author of [[Norway|Norwegian]] descent, famous as a writer for both [[children's fiction|children]] and adults.
Among his most popular books are ''[[Charlie and the Chocolate Factory]]'', ''[[James and the Giant Peach]]'', ''[[Matilda (novel)|Matilda]]'', ''[[The Witches]]'', ''[[The BFG]]'', and ''[[Kiss Kiss (book)|Kiss Kiss]]''.
==Biographical==
===Childhood===
Roald Dahl was born in [[Llandaff]], [[Wales]], on [[13 September]], [[1916]], to Norwegian parents, Harald Dahl and Sofie Magdalene Dahl (''née'' Hesselberg). He was named after the explorer [[Roald Amundsen]], a national hero in Norway at the time.
In 1920, when Roald was still only three years old, his seven-year-old sister, Astri Dahl, died from [[appendicitis]]. His father Harald died of soon after, at the age of 57. Nevertheless, his mother was determined to keep the family in Britain rather than head back to [[Norway]] and live with her relatives, because of her husband's wish to have their children educated in English schools as he thought they were the best schools in the world, even better than the Welsh schools.
Because the family still lived in Wales, Roald first attended [[Llandaff Cathedral]] School.
At the age of eight, Roald and four of his friends were caned by the headmaster after putting a dead mouse in a jar of sweets at the local sweet shop owned by a "mean and loathsome" old woman called Mrs. Pratchett. Thereafter he was sent to several [[boarding school]]s, which was an unpleasant experience for him and his friends. He was very homesick and wrote to his mother almost every day. Only when she died did he find out she had saved every single one of his letters, in small bundles held together in green tape.
When he was nine, Roald Dahl was sent to [[St Peter]]'s [[Preparatory school (UK)|Preparatory school]], a private school in the seaside town of [[Weston-super-Mare]], which he attended from [[1923]] to [[1929]]. From 13 he was educated at [[Repton School]] in [[Derbyshire]], where he was a personal servant for a [[prefect]], became captain of the school [[Fives]] and [[Squash|Squash (sport)]] team (also playing for the [[soccer]] team) and developed <!--no pun intended--> an interest in [[photography]]. During his years at Repton, [[Cadbury-Schweppes|Cadbury]], a chocolate company, would occasionally send boxes of new chocolates to the school to be tested by the pupils. Dahl himself apparently used to dream of inventing a new chocolate bar that would win the praise of Mr. Cadbury himself, and this proved the inspiration for him to write his third book for children, [[Charlie and the Chocolate Factory]].
Throughout his childhood and adolescent years he spent his summer holidays in his parents' native Norway. His childhood is the subject of his autobiographical work, ''[[Boy: Tales of Childhood]]''.
Though his mother expected him to attend university after leaving school, Roald Dahl instead found a job with [[Royal Dutch Shell|Shell Petroleum]], which sent him to other parts of the world.
===Adult life===
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