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good afternoon everyone,
this year for my speech I have chosen the greatest writer of all time Roald Dahl.
Roald Dahl was born in Llandaff, Whales on September 13 1916. His parents were Norwegian and he was the only son of a second marriage. His father, Harold and older sister Astri died when he was only three. Roald and his sisters always begged for their mother to tell them stories. Even at a very young age, Roald fell in love with story writing and story telling.
Roald was married twice. He first married a Broadway and Hollywood actress in 1953, Named Patricia Neal whom he had five children with- Olivia, Theo, Tessa, Ophelia, and Lucy. Olivia sadly died at the age of seven from Measles and Theo suffered from brain damage. All in all Roald loved all of his children. He then married a woman named Felicity Crosland in 1983. Although they lived On the same street, Roald and Felicity never met until 1972.
One of the reasons Roald wrote for children is because when he told stories to his own children, their faces glowed.
From the age of 7, Roald attended Llandaff Cathedral School. He was 9 when he attended St. Peter’s Boarding School. At St. Peter’s, Roald got into the habit of writing to his mother once a week. He continued to do so until her death 32 years later. When his own children went to boarding School, Roald wrote to them twice every week to brighten up their days.
At the age of 23 a war broke out and Roald signed up with the Royal Air Force. He was trained on the Birdplane Gladiator fighters, mainly in Iraq. He then flew to join his squadron in the Western Desert of Libya, but crashed en-route. In 1942 he was sent to Washington with the air force. It was there that he met Eleanor Roosevelt who was an important writer and would set him on the path to a new career.
Roald’s career as a children’s author did not begin until the 1960’s. Roald Dahl’s first book for children was not, as many believe James and the Giant Peach, but a picture book called the Gremlins. Walt Disney invited Roald- now 25 to Hollywood where they wanted the Gremlins to be made into a movie. In the end, the movie idea was cancelled, but Roald’s book got published. His first newspaper article was called A Piece of Cake, which he wrote for the Post. He went on writing a total of sixteen stories for the Post.
Roald Dahl is not only a writer for children, but also for adults. For the first fifteen years of his writing career, he concentrated on writing for adults. Roald was not a quick writer. It could take him six months just to finish his rough draft! Then of course there is the editing, the proof reading and the final draft. By the time the book was on the shelves, a year and a half had already passed. But as bad as that was, it could have taken Roald one month to write the first page! Roald refused to write at all- unless he had a funny, interesting plot.
Roald first became interested in writing children’s books and novels by making up bed time stories for his two daughters, Olivia and Tessa. This was how James and the Giant Peach came to be. Soon after the book became popular in both North America and the UK. His second book, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory also became a favorite. The book became a hit everywhere. They even got a Chinese copy made and it sold over two million copies-just in China!
In 1990 Roald was diagnosed with a very rare disease which affected his sleeping, the colour of his skin, and his brain. Sadly, on November 23, 1990 at the age of 74 Roald Dahl died.
Although Roald Dahl is not here to day, he is my favorite author and his stories will live in people’s hearts forever. THANK YOU!!!!
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