Happy Birthday ! Roald Dahl

“Tremendous things are in store for you! Many wonderful surprises await you!” to quote he himself. 

Well, I am a little late, his birthday was September 13th. I don’t think he will mind.  In the USA, we celebrate Dr. Seuss day in elementary schools; in the UK, it is Roald Dahl Day.  I wish we celebrated both.

Did you know that Roald Dahl wrote more than children’s books? I didn’t, but I am eager to read them.  Roald Dahl is considered one of the top 20 British Writer’s since WWII. His books range from children’s literature to adult horror and mystery.  He has sold over 100 million books in over 50 languages.  ( Did you know he coined the word Gremlin when he was a pilot in WWII ?)

BBC Culture has a wonderful article about the characters of Roald Dahl. They talk about books I was unfamiliar with but now want to read. The hand that created Willy Wonka to just as deftly created villains.Take a moment and see if you want to learn more of the world’s created by Dahl. Next year is the 100th anniversary of his birth, hard to believe his stories have not always been with us.

A complete list of his works can be found on Wikipedia as well as information about the Roald Dahl’s Marvelous Children’s Charity which helps  with medical care for children. He had personal tragedies which showed him how lacking medical care was and he invested his time and gifts to improve them. In fact, some of the techniques he developed are still in use.

And if you don’t like to read: ( GASP !)  check out the movies. He was a screenwriter as well, even wrote for Alfred Hitchcock among others.  Look up Roald Dahl on the Internet Movie Database imdb and be amazed.  He has 51 credits.  Not only from books made into movies – like  Matilda, Esio Troit, Fantastic Mr. Fox, James and the Giant Peach, and the classic Charlie  and the Chocolate Factory, but so were many of his short stories.  THE BFG , directed by Steven Spielberg, is in post-production now and scheduled to be released next year.

Quotes to live by

A little nonsense now and then is relished by the wisest men.

A person is a fool to become a writer. His only compensation is absolute freedom.

imdb Roald Dahl   http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001094/?ref_=nmbio_bio_nm

BBC 7 characters of Roald Dahl http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20150917-your-7-favourite-roald-dahl-characters

Roald Dahl’s own website  http://www.roalddahl.com/

Wikipedia  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roald_Dahl