FAYE MOSS: Hello again! I'm Faye Moss, and welcome to Superstars in History, the only talk show that brings you exclusive interviews with fabulous famous people from the past.
I know you'll be as thrilled about today's guest as I am. He was a pilot and a spy during World War II, but you probably know him for his wacky and enormously entertaining children's books. Boys and girls, meet the author of James and the Giant Peach, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Matilda, and more . . . Roald Dahl!
ROALD DAHL: Hello!
FAYE MOSS: Hi, Roald. Thanks so much for being here today on Superstars in History. Your books are so famous, they're like required reading for kids. Maybe that's because they feature kid characters in challenging situations. How much of your writing was inspired by your own childhood?
ROALD DAHL: That's quite a difficult question to answer, Faye. I was born in Wales in 1916, the third of five children. When I was three years old, my oldest sister suddenly died, and weeks later, my father died too. My mother considered moving the family to Norway, where my parents had been born, but she ultimately decided to stay in Wales and move later to England. You see, my father believed English schools were the best in the world and he wanted his children to be educated there.
FAYE MOSS: In your novel Matilda, you spend a lot of time focusing on Matilda's school life. There's even a terrifying headmistress famous for her violent and creative punishments. Did you draw on real-life experiences for this?
ROALD DAHL: Well, I do remember my school days quite vividly. Back then, punishments were very harsh, and they often hurt. My last boarding school was particularly violent. The teachers were brutal, and older students were allowed to beat and bully younger ones.
FAYE MOSS: Oh my. I can't even imagine. You must have terrible memories from your school days!
ROALD DAHL: It wasn't all bad. The great chocolate manufacturer, Cadbury, sent samples of chocolate to students at one of my schools. Then we'd fill out a form to let them know how we liked them. I used to dream of making a marvelous chocolate bar that would impress Mr. Cadbury himself.
FAYE MOSS: Hmm . . . that sounds like something that may have inspired one of your books! Did you know early on that you wanted to be a writer?
ROALD DAHL: Not at all—in fact my teachers thought I was a terrible writer. After high school, I didn't attend university, and in 1934, I started working for an oil company. A few years later, they dispatched me to Africa, and I was there when World War II began. I joined the Royal Air Force and became a pilot, but before I even saw combat, I crashed my plane in the desert.
FAYE MOSS: Luckily you survived!
ROALD DAHL: Indeed! But my injuries were serious, and I spent a long time in a hospital. It took six months before I was declared fit to fly again, and my career as a pilot ended up quite brief. The injuries from my crash still affected me, so the RAF sent me back to England.
FAYE MOSS: You were only 24, and already you'd had such an exciting life! You weren't even a famous author yet.
ROALD DAHL: We're getting to that part. In 1942 I was sent to work in Washington D.C. at the British Embassy. Another British government worker was writing an article about the war for a magazine. He asked me for some recollections of my war experience, so I wrote down an account of my plane crash for him. Once he read my story, he decided to submit it, without making any changes! This inspired me to write more stories.
FAYE MOSS: Many of your early stories were about your short career as a pilot, right?
ROALD DAHL: Right. Walt Disney even wanted to make a movie out of one of my stories. The movie never got made, but it was adapted into a children's book that became popular with Eleanor Roosevelt.
FAYE MOSS: Walt Disney! Eleanor Roosevelt! Wow, you knew a lot of famous people. I've heard rumors that you even spied on President Roosevelt!
ROALD DAHL: I guess you could say I was a spy, but in truth, I was a very boring spy. The prime minister of the United Kingdom, Winston Churchill, wanted to stay informed about President Roosevelt's thoughts and feelings. My job was to pass on any such information. Not very exciting, you see! After the war, I married Patricia Neal, a Hollywood actress, started a family, and continued to write.
FAYE MOSS: It wasn't until 1960 that you started writing specifically for children. Why the sudden change?
ROALD DAHL: By 1960 I had run out of ideas for stories, and my publisher was becoming impatient. Meanwhile I'd been making up stories for my own children. I wrote one of them down and sent it to my publisher, and eventually it became James and the Giant Peach. By the end of the year, I had finished the first draft of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
FAYE MOSS: You achieved professional success in the 1960s, but they were a very hard time for you personally, weren't they?
ROALD DAHL: Yes, the 1960s were a time of great personal difficulty. My infant son was in a serious accident in 1960. He survived but was plagued with health issues. In 1962 my oldest daughter died of measles. And in 1965 my wife suffered a series of strokes, and she had to learn to walk and talk all over again.
FAYE MOSS: That sounds really challenging.
ROALD DAHL: It was, and through all of it, I continued writing and working on film and TV projects. Did you know that I wrote the original script for the movie Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory?
FAYE MOSS: Yes, I did. In total, you wrote 34 books that have been translated into 58 languages and have sold over 250 million copies. That's quite a remarkable career!
Thank you for joining me today, Roald. We'll let you get back to history now.
ROALD DAHL: Good-bye, Faye.
FAYE MOSS: Thanks, everyone, for tuning in for my interview with Roald Dahl. He continued his fantastic career until November 23, 1990, when he died at the age of 74. He left behind a large body of work that still brings joy and a love of reading to people all over the world.
Our time is up for today, but I'll be back again soon with a new special guest from the past. You've been watching Faye Moss. Good-bye!