It’s the birthday of British author Roald Dahl, whose beloved children’s books such as James and the Giant Peach (1961), Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (1964), The BFG (1982), and Matilda (1988) tend to feature children pitted against hostile and malevolent adults.

Dahl was born in Llandaff, Wales, to Norwegian parents; Dahl grew up bilingual. His older sister and father both died when Dahl was just three years old. Dahl attended a couple of boarding schools during his childhood, including Repton School in Derbyshire; both schools were fairly vicious and involved severe canings from headmasters and hazing from older boys. Dahl would later write in his memoir Boy, “All through my school life I was appalled by the fact that masters and senior boys were allowed literally to wound other boys, and sometimes quite severely. I couldn’t get over it. I never have got over it.” So that’s fun.

After school, Dahl went on an exploration to Newfoundland. (What’s to explore? I mean, it’s right there.) During WWII he was a fighter pilot for the Royal Air Force and crashed in Libya badly enough to be seriously injured (cracked his skull and like that) but not badly enough to get out of further service. After flying more dangerous ops, he eventually served as assistant air attaché at the British Embassy in Washington, D.C. He also spied on Washington for Churchill. (I’d tell you more, but then I’d have to neutralize you.) It was during this time that Dahl met British novelist C.S. Forester, who published Dahl’s first story in the Saturday Evening Post. (For more on this, see http://www.susangilbertcollins.com/susans-almanac-project/susans-almanac-project-for-august-27-2018/).

Dahl’s first novel was The Gremlins (1943), written for children, followed by several short story collections for adults. He married actress Patricia Neal in 1953 and began writing stories for their five children, starting with James and the Giant Peach, and his career as a famed and beloved children’s author took off. (Dahl and Neal divorced after 30 years.) Several of his books were adapted for film, most recently The BFG, directed by Steven Spielberg in 2016.

In 2014, the British Royal Mint rejected a proposal to issue a coin commemorating Dahl’s birth due to Dahl’s history of antisemitic remarks, including such subtle statements as, “…I’ve become antisemitic…” (Sigh.) Spielberg himself described the cognitive dissonance he felt upon learning this, given that Dahl’s work often embraces racial and cultural differences.

In 2019, lexicographer Susan Rennie published a dictionary called Roald Dahl’s Rotsome and Repulsant Words to teach children the rollicking fun and great power of language.

Dahl died at 74 of cancer of the blood.

Have a green-but-summer’s-waning sort of Friday and stay scrupulously honest to the data, however painful.