From the Editor - September 2016

It’s 100 years since
 Roald Dahl’s birth on 13 September 1916. For many years now, 13 September has been celebrated as Roald Dahl Day.

I love all of Roald Dahl’s books. I love the naughty antics his characters get up to in so many of his stories. I love reading about the fascinating life he led – especially his wartime flying exploits – and I really loved how he made the nasty grandmother in George’s Marvellous Medicine just go ‘pop’ and disappear. I think we all have someone in our life we’d like that to happen to occasionally. If you are yet to read his memoirs – Boy and Going Solo – I can’t recommend them highly enough.

Roald Dahl was born to Norwegian parents who were living in Wales. He was named after Roald Amundsen, the Norwegian explorer who is recognised as the first person to reach both the North and South Poles. Little Roald was only three years old
 when his seven-year-old sister, Astri, died from appendicitis. Sadly, it was only weeks later when his father succumbed to pneumonia.

As an eight-year-old, Roald and four of his friends were caned for what was to become known as the Great Mouse Plot of 1924 (read Boy for more details). The pint-sized pranksters placed a dead mouse in a jar of gobstoppers at the local lolly shop, which was owned by a horrid and cantankerous old woman called Mrs Pratchett. He suffered from terrible homesickness while at boarding school. Repton School was a cruel institution where beatings were regularly meted out, and younger students were made
to act as personal servants for older boys at the school. You understand where the dark side of Dahl’s books comes from once you learn about the frequent canings that children of that time had to endure. Cadbury, the chocolate manufacturer, would sometimes send boxes of their products to the school to obtain the boys’ opinions as part of their market research. Roald dreamed of inventing a new chocolate himself.This,
of course, formed the basis of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

Throughout his childhood and teenage years he enjoyed wonderful summer holidays with his mother’s family in Norway. Another sign of his mischievous nature, that would later appear in his books, was apparent when he replaced the tobacco in a relative’s pipe with goat droppings. But he didn’t feel too bright or mischievous after his adenoids were removed while lying on the kitchen table during another holiday. As an adult he hiked through Newfoundland and lived and worked in Kenya and Tanzania. In 1939, at the age of 23, he joined the RAF while in Africa and became a fighter pilot. With less than eight hours of flying experience he went on to fly solo. In 1940, Dahl was ordered to fly his plane to 80 Squadron’s forward airstrip, 48 km south of Mersa Matruh in Egypt. He had already landed twice to
 refuel before the final approach and, running 

low on fuel, he couldn’t find the airstrip. Forced to land in the desert and causing the undercarriage to hit a boulder, he crashed the plane. He fractured his skull, smashed his nose and was temporarily blinded. He managed to drag himself away from the blazing wreckage but then passed out. He was rescued and it was later discovered that the flight plan he was given was wrong. 

In 1953 he married American actress Patricia Neal.They had five children.Their son,Theo, was badly injured while in his baby carriage when it was struck by a car. He suffered as a result of an accumulation of cerebrospinal fluid in the brain. Roald Dahl worked with an engineer and a neurosurgeon to invent a device that would alleviate the problem, not only for Theo but also for 3000 other children around the world. His eldest daughter, Olivia, died at the age of seven from measles encephalitis. He became a fervent advocate for immunisation and dedicated his book The BFG to Olivia. He became disillusioned with his faith after seeking solace from the former Archbishop of Canterbury, who told the author that although Olivia was in Paradise, her beloved dog Rowley would never join her there.Why was the hereafter only for humans? Dahl couldn’t believe it. 

After he died from leukemia his family gave him what his granddaughter has described as a ‘sort of Viking funeral’. He was buried with his snooker cues, some very good burgundy, chocolates, HB pencils and a power saw. You can visit his gravestone at St Peter and St Paul’s Church, Great Missenden, Buckinghamshire. 

I raise my glass of Frobscottle to you, Roald Dahl. You were a great man who led an amazing life, survived harrowing ordeals and adventures and left a truly wonderful legacy for generations to come. 

We will never forget you.

Rowena