roald dahl biography activities

Roald Dahl Biography – With Comprehension Questions

Learn about the life of popular author Roald Dahl with our differentiated biographies.

This resource also includes three sets of related comprehension questions and answers.

Roald Dahl Biography – with Comprehension Questions

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Roald Dahl biography

Children read through the fact page on Roald Dahl and then gather facts to plan their own biography using the template provided.

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• BBC - The dark side of Roald Dahl
• Official Site of Roald Dahl
• Roald Dahl - Children's Encyclopedia (Ages 8-11)
• Roald Dahl - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up)

Roald Dahl (born September 13, 1916, Llandaff , Wales—died November 23, 1990, Oxford , England) was a British writer who was a popular author of ingenious and irreverent children’s books . His best-known works include Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (1964) and Matilda (1988), both of which were adapted into popular films.

Following his graduation from Repton, a renowned British public school, in 1934, Dahl avoided a university education and joined an expedition to Newfoundland. He worked from 1937 to 1939 in Dar es Salaam , Tanganyika (now in Tanzania), but he enlisted in the Royal Air Force (RAF) when World War II broke out. Flying as a fighter pilot, he was seriously injured in a crash landing in Libya . He served with his squadron in Greece and then in Syria before doing a stint (1942–43) as assistant air attaché in Washington, D.C. (during which time he also served as a spy for the British government). There the novelist C.S. Forester encouraged him to write about his most exciting RAF adventures, which were published by the Saturday Evening Post .

Dahl’s first book, The Gremlins (1943), was written for Walt Disney but was largely unsuccessful. His service in the RAF influenced his first story collection, Over to You: Ten Stories of Flyers and Flying (1946), a series of military tales that was warmly received by critics but did not sell well. He achieved best-seller status with Someone like You (1953; rev. ed. 1961), a collection of macabre stories for adults, which was followed by Kiss, Kiss (1959), which focused on stormy romantic relationships.

Dahl then turned primarily to writing the children’s books that would give him lasting fame. Unlike most other books aimed at a young audience, Dahl’s works had a darkly comic nature, frequently including gruesome violence and death. His villains were often malevolent adults who imperiled precocious and noble child protagonists. James and the Giant Peach (1961; film 1996 ), written for his own children, was a popular success, as was Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (1964), which was made into the films Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971) and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005). His other works for young readers include Fantastic Mr. Fox (1970; film 2009 ), Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator (1972), The Enormous Crocodile (1978), The BFG (1982; films 1989 and 2016 ), and The Witches (1983; film 1990 ). One of his last such books, Matilda (1988), was adapted for film (1996 and 2022) and the stage ( 2010). Many of Dahl’s books have been illustrated by the award-winning illustrator Quentin Blake .

While Dahl focused primarily on children’s literature late in his career, he continued to produce short stories for adult audiences during this time, which were published in collections such as Switch Bitch (1974), The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar, and Six More (1977), and Tales of the Unexpected (1979). Dahl also wrote several scripts for movies, among them You Only Live Twice (1967) and (with Ken Hughes and Richard Maibaum) Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968). His autobiography, Boy: Tales of Childhood , was published in 1984.

While his lasting reputation to many is that of a beloved children’s author, Dahl has also been a controversial figure both during his lifetime and after. Some of his works, such as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory , were criticized at the time of their publication for their use of racial and sexual stereotypes , but his most notable transgressions came outside of his fiction. In several interviews and nonfiction writings during the 1980s and ’90s, Dahl expressed opinions that were widely viewed as anti-Semitic . While he defended himself as being “anti- Israel ” rather than anti-Semitic, that distinction was not accepted by a number of readers, and his estate published an apology for his statements in 2020. Three years later, Dahl’s publishers announced that they had revised hundreds of insensitive and outdated passages in his classic children’s books, a move that was met with both support for reflecting a changing culture and criticism for perceived editorial overreach.

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Roald Dahl was born in Wales on 13th September 1916 to Norwegian parents. His father died when he was 3 years old and he was raised by his mother. He had a fairly unhappy time at boarding school which provided some of the inspiration for his later stories.

After leaving school he worked for the Shell Oil Company based in Africa until the outbreak of World War II, when he signed up with the Royal Air Force. Unfortunately he was injured in action and eventually returned home as an invalid. He was then sent to Washington DC to work as an attaché where, almost by accident, he started his writing career. When he was interviewed for an article about his time in action he offered to write about his experiences. His piece was published in the Saturday Evening Post, who signed him up to write more articles.

In 1943 he wrote his first children's book, The Gremlins, which was originally intended to be made into an animated film by Walt Disney. The film was not made and instead Dahl turned to writing adult fiction, not writing another children’s story until the 1960s.

By this time he was a father himself and had started making up stories to entertain his own children. From this came the stories of James and the Giant Peach and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. He went on to write 21 children’s books including Charlie and The Chocolate Factory, The BFG, Matilda, and The Witches, all of which have been made into films. Roald Dahl died on 23rd November 1990.

"If you are going to get anywhere in life you have to read a lot of books.”" Roald Dahl

Roald Dahl Printables

Learn to Draw Roald Dahl

Just for fun, learn to draw your own picture of Roald Dahl with this fun step by step tutorial.

Roald Dahl Alphabet Challenge

Here's a fun challenge for the kids, ideal for Roald Dahl day or any other time! Can the kids come up with words related to Roald Dahl's books for each letter of the alphabet? 

Roald Dahl Colouring Page

Here's a simple colouring page of Roald Dahl aimed at younger children. You can see he's holding a Golden Ticket for the Willy Wonka Chocolate Factory tour!

Roald Dahl Poster

Print this poster - aimed at a younger age group - for display in your book corner or library, or perhaps for Roald Dahl Day on 13th September.

"Every evening after my sister Lucy and I had gone to bed, my father would walk slowly up the stairs, his bones creaking louder than the staircase, to tell us a story. I can see him now, leaning against the wall of our bedroom with his hands in his pockets looking into the distance, reaching into his imagination. It was here, in our bedroom, that he began telling many of the stories that later became the books you know.” " Ophelia Dahl

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37 Roald Dahl Day Activities & Free Lesson Plans

September 13th is just around the corner and I can’t wait to share with you some splendiferous Roald Dahl Day activities for you to enjoy with the kids.

These fun holiday activities for kids are a great way to celebrate all things Roald Dahl.

Roald Dahl got his own “Day” in 2006 and it is celebrated every year on his birthday, September 13th.

**There may be affiliate links in this post. You can read my full disclosure at the bottom of the page.**

Table of Contents

Roald Dahl Day

Roald Dahl Day is celebrated on September 13th around the world. I have added over 36 Roald Dahl activities for you to do either in school, in homeschool, or just for fun.

He was such an inspirational and creative author, and he wrote so much! I wonder how many of the facts below you didn’t know!

Roald Dahl Fun Facts

Why not do a Roald Dahl research project and get the kids to find out more about the great author?

Get ready to have your mind blown by some seriously fun facts about Roald Dahl:

He was born on 13th September 1916 in Llandaff, Wales, United Kingdom.

Born to Norwegian parents.

He was named after Roald Amundsen , the first man to reach the South Pole.

Roald spent most of his early years in a boarding school in Weston Super Mare, England.

He traveled to Canada and East Africa while he was working for an oil company.

Enlisted in the Royal Air Force when he was 23 at the outbreak of World War II.

Roald also became a spy for MI6.

He married Patricia Neal, an American actress, and had 5 kids together. They divorced 30 years later.

His granddaughter Sophie Dahl was the inspiration for Sophie in the BFG (and was a former supermodel!)

His second wife was Felicity “Liccy” Crosland.

Roald Dahl’s first book was the Gremlins in 1943.

In 1961 James and the Giant Peach was published in America.

He wrote two major screenplays, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and James Bond You Only Live Twice.

Most of his books were written from his garden shed!

He wrote 49 books, only 21 of which were aimed at children. (check out our favorite Roald Dahl books that every child should read.)

He invented over 500 new words (Oompa-Loompas, scrumdiddlyumptious, snozzcumbers, and frobscottle)

Roald Dahl died on 23 November 1990, aged 74.

Roald Dahl Activities

• Read one of his many books
• Watch a movie
• Complete an activity pack ( Roald Dahl author study )
• Enjoy spending time with FREE printables and Roald Dahl coloring pages
• Do a Roald Dahl themed puzzle (If you are looking for a fun game to play inspired by the great Roald Dahl you are going to love our free Roald Dahl memory game .)
• Roald Dahl themed baking
• Dress Up with No Sew Costume Ideas!
• If local go and visit the Roald Dahl museum

Keep scrolling down for links to all of the fun Roald Dahl Day activities, most of these are completely FREE.

Roald Dahl Lesson Plans

I have come across so many FREE lesson plans I have only included my top 20!!

• Matilda worksheet
• Charlie and the Chocolate Factory worksheet
• Roald Dahl word search
• Roald Dahl maths worksheets for KS1
• Roald Dahl: How to insult like Miss Trunchbull
• For some writing fun, check out our Roald Dahl words within words worksheets .
• Roald Dahl: Odd word out
• Make a marvelous magic potion
• Roald Dahl: Propsposterous plants
• Roald Dahl: Find awesome antonyms
• Matilda Lesson Plans
• Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Lesson Plans
• The BFG Lesson Plan
• The Witches – Summary & Characters
• Boy Lesson Plan
• Resource pack to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
• I’ve got a golden ticket writing worksheets
• Charlie & the Chocolate Factory Make your own candy bar
• Character Description Interactive Writing Template to Support Teaching on Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
• Roald Dahl Reading Comprehension

Roald Dahl Guess Who Template $5 $6.99

Roald Dahl Unit Study $1.50

Fun Roald Dahl Activities

• Roald Dahl coloring pages
• Roald Dahl memory game
• Roald Dahl bookmarks to print out and colour in for free.
• Print out your own golden ticket
• Gazumping Galloping Giants Maze
• Sneaky Secret Message Coloring In
• Witches Word Search
• Witches Mad Libs
• The Inventing Room Activity
• Charlie and the Chocolate Factory wordsearch
• Draw your favourite book cover
• How to make your own BFG Dream Jar

Roald Dahl Day Costumes

If you are looking for an easy and quick Roald Dahl costume , check out this post with no-sew options!!

If you are not particularly creative (like me!) check out these costumes .

Roald Dahl Book Club

Why not join a Roald Dahl book club on Outschool (if you have not tried Outschool yet, they have live classes on pretty much every subject, check out our Outschool review .). They have lots of different classes on Roald Dahl, and we just love them.

Jigsaw Puzzles

Have fun with one of the following Roald Dahl games :

• Matilda 500 piece puzzle
• Inside the Chocolate Factory 1000 piece puzzle
• James and the Giant Peach 500 piece puzzle

Roald Dahl Themed Baking

Why not cook up a feast with these Roald Dahl inspired recipe books:

• Roald Dahl’s Even More Revolting Recipes
• Roald Dahl Revolting Recipes Cookbook

Roald Dahl Virtual Museum

If you are in the UK you can have a fun day at the museum, which is located in Great Missenden, England.

Unfortunately, you can’t have a virtual tour though, but I have found a few YouTube videos

Roald Dahl Books in Order

Explore Roald Dahl’s iconic literary creations through a collection of his notable works spanning decades. These are all in date order, and you may be surprised by a few of them!

Get his 16 most popular children’s books here in this Roald Dahl books box set .

• 1943 – The Gremlins
• 1961 – James and the Giant Peach
• 1964 (US) 1967 (UK) – Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
• 1966 – The Magic Finger
• 1970 – Fantastic Mr. Fox
• 1972 – Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator
• 1975 – Danny, the Champion of the World
• 1978 – The Enormous Crocodile
• 1980 – The Twits
• 1981 – George’s Marvellous Medicine
• 1982 – The BFG
• 1982 – Revolting Rhymes (Poetry)
• 1983 – The Witches
• 1983 – Dirty Beasts (Poetry)
• 1985 – The Giraffe and the Pelly and Me
• 1988 – Matilda
• 1989 – Rhyme Stew (Poetry)
• 1990 – Esio Trot
• 1991 – The Vicar of Nibbleswicke (Posthumously)
• 1991 – The Minpins (Posthumously)
• 2005 – Roald Dahl’s Incredible Chocolate Box (published posthumously for World Book Day, and including a missing chapter from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory).

Roald Dahl Gifts

If you want to treat the kids on Roald Dahl Day these are our favourite Roald Dahl gifts that we have found:

• Roald Dahl Book Box Set
• Oxford Roald Dahl Dictionary : From aardvark to zozimus, a real dictionary of everyday and extra-usual words
• Roald Dahl Coffee Mug – Famous Characters and Quotes
• Who Was Roald Dahl Book

Roald Dahl Quotes

I mean there are lots of Roald Dahl quotes to choose from, but these are our top 10:

“Those who don’t believe in magic will never find it.”  Roald Dahl

“So please, oh please, we beg, we pray, go throw your TV set away, and in its place you can install, a lovely bookshelf on the wall.” Roald Dahl

“A person who has good thoughts cannot ever be ugly. You can have a wonky nose and a crooked mouth and a double chin and stick-out teeth, but if you have good thoughts they will shine out of your face like sunbeams and you will always look lovely.”  Roald Dahl

“Don’t gobblefunk around with words.” Roald Dahl

“If you have good thoughts they will shine out of your face like sunbeams and you will always look lovely.” Roald Dahl

“Grown ups are complicated creatures, full of quirks and secrets.” Roald Dahl

“I understand what you’re saying, and your comments are valuable, but I’m gonna ignore your advice.” Roald Dahl

“A person is a fool to become a writer. His only compensation is absolute freedom. He has no master except his own soul, and that, I am sure, is why he does it” Roald Dahl

“I’m right and you’re wrong, I’m big and you’re small, and there’s nothing you can do about it.” Roald Dahl

“Two rights don’t equal a left.” Roald Dahl

What are your plans for Roald Dahl Day this year? Let me know in the comments below.

These can also be enjoyed for your World Book Day activities .

Last Updated on 12 August 2024 by Clare Brown

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World Book Day word search

Find the Roald Dahl characters hidden in the grid

CHOCOLATE FACTORY BOOKMARKS

Colour in your very own Wonka and Charlie bookmarks

MATILDA BOOKMARKS

Turn Matilda and The Trunchbull into brilliant bookmarks

COLLAGE MR TWIT'S BEARD

A gruesome crafting challenge

Can you help Sophie find the BFG?

MR FOX ORIGAMI

Make your own Mr Fox with some clever folding

MATILDA WORDSEARCH

How would you describe Matilda? Find all the amazing adjectives.

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Roald Dahl Was a WW II Spy and Fighter Pilot Before Becoming a Beloved Children's Book Author

Prior to writing 'James and the Giant Peach,' 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,' 'Matilda,' and more, Dahl was a member of the Air Force and involved in a covert spy operation.

British author Roald Dahl had enough adventures to last several lifetimes before he found his calling writing children's books.

It all started during World War II when Dahl left his oil industry job in Tanzania to enlist in the Royal Air Force in 1939. Despite measuring well over six feet, which made it difficult for him to fit into a cockpit, he became a fighter pilot. But on his first excursion he crashed in the Libyan desert (Dahl would later write that he'd been shot down, but it was an accidental crash).

The crash fractured his skull, injured his spine and destroyed his nose. Swelling left him temporarily unable to see, and it took several months for Dahl to recover. But he turned down a chance to go back home to convalesce in the hopes of flying again, and in the spring of 1941, he was cleared to join the battle against the German invasion of Greece.

In this fight, the small number of British planes were vastly outnumbered by German ones, and aerial combat was often deadly for the British pilots. Dahl survived the dangerous flights and took down some of the enemy before it was necessary to retreat. Yet after this, he only flew for a few more weeks. Suffering from increasingly painful headaches and occasional blackouts linked to his earlier injuries, he was deemed unfit to fly.

Dahl became a spy in Washington, D.C.

In 1942, America was a recent ally in World War II. But the country still had many isolationists who were unhappy about joining the fight — some even felt President Franklin D. Roosevelt had conspired to let Pearl Harbor happen in order to push America toward war. As a dashing, wounded fighter pilot, Dahl was sent to the British Embassy in Washington, D.C., to help make the case for U.S. involvement in the war.

Dahl could be charming, which won him invitations to dinners and cocktail parties. And he was helped along in society by the friendship of Charles Marsh, a newspaper owner and oil magnate (whose other mentees included Lyndon Johnson ). Eventually, Dahl became involved in the covert spy operation British Security Coordination.

BSC's agents were keeping an eye on U.S. involvement in the war, as well as scoping out any post-war plans the United States might be making. His work as a spy still called for Dahl to attend a lot of dinners and cocktail parties — but now he was reporting the tidbits and gossip he heard to BSC.

He was tight with major political players

When Dahl was invited to visit Hyde Park with President Roosevelt and First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt , he took notes to pass along to BSC. Among Dahl's other notable friends and acquaintances were Vice President Henry Wallace (the two regularly played tennis) and then-Senator Harry Truman (who Dahl joined for poker games). Dahl also had numerous affairs, including with Congresswoman Clare Boothe Luce. The congresswoman wasn't an avid supporter of British interests; Dahl may have been directed to encourage her to change these views.

Dahl's friend Marsh inadvertently aided the younger man's espionage when he showed Dahl some papers from Wallace regarding America's plans for the aviation industry once the war was over. Dahl was so intrigued by what he'd read that he arranged for someone to come and take the papers to be copied. While this was happening he lingered by the lavatory to establish an alibi should anyone wonder why it had taken him so long to read the document.

Dahl was valued enough that even when his higher-ups at the embassy didn't want him around any longer — he was a very undiplomatic diplomat who didn't care for office life — BSC arranged for his return to the States. And he had enough pull that he was able to help Ernest Hemingway travel to London, where Dahl served as Hemingway's minder, prior to D-Day.

Dahl nearly made a film with Walt Disney

Being an embassy attaché and spy would seem enough to occupy most people — but Dahl also found time to write while he was posted in the States during World War II. A piece about his crash in Libya impressed writer C.S. Forester so much that he helped Dahl get it published in the Saturday Evening Post .

Another Dahl project was about gremlins. These creatures had a long history within the RAF, often receiving the blame for mechanical failures. Dahl's work on a story about gremlins led to interest from Walt Disney , who began developing an animated feature. Dahl made trips to Hollywood to work on the film (on one occasion dining with Ginger Rogers). But he proved to be a difficult collaborator at times, arguing with Disney about how the gremlins should look. And as commercial prospects for the movie seemed to dim, Disney decided not to make it after all.

Dahl's gremlins did appear in an illustrated book published under the Disney aegis in 1943 (he sent a copy to Eleanor Roosevelt, which helped the two forge their friendship). But this book would be the only children's publication on Dahl's resume for many years to come. It wasn't until he wrote James and the Giant Peach , which was published in the United States in 1961, that he discovered his true calling: writing books for children.

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