You may not know that during World War II, Dahl worked as a British spy in Washington, D.C. Part of the job seemed to involve sleeping with Georgetown's wealthiest women, including, apparently, Clare Booth Luce. He also drummed up pro-British and anti-Nazi propaganda to battle elements of the American public that were against U.S. entry into World War II." I myself, did not know this about him. Roald's parents Harald Dahl and Sofie Magdalene Dahl (née Hesselberg)were both Norwegian . His father had moved from Sarpsborg in Norway and was said to have settled in Cardiff in the 1880's. As lovers do, his mother came over to marry his father in 1911. Roald Dahl was named after the polar explorer Roald Amundsen, a national hero in Norway at the time.
He spoke Norwegian at home along with his sisters Astri, Alfhild and Else. Roald and his sisters were christened at the Norwegian Church, Cardiff. After the War Roald married American actress Patricia Neal on July 2nd 1953 at Trinity Church in New York City. Roald and Patricia's marriage lasted for over 30 years and had 5 children during that time. Including Olivia,Tessa, Theo, Ophelia and Lucy. On December 5th 1960 something tragic happened. Their 4 month old Theo Dahl was severely injured when his baby carriage was struck by a taxicab in New York City.
For awhile he suffered from hydrecephalus and as a result Roald became involved in the development of what became known as the "Wade-Dahl-Till" (or WDT) valve, a device to alleviate the condition. Then in November 1962 Olivia Dahl died of measles encephalitis at the early age of 7. Roald Dahl subsequently became a proponent of immunisation and dedicated his 1982 book The BFG to his daughter. He must have had a rough time when later his wife Patricia suffered three burst cerebral aneurysms while pregnant with their 5th child Lucy. Roald took care of her rehabilitation and she eventually re-learned to talk and walk. She even returned to her acting career.
He ended up divorcing Patricia Neal though in 1983 and married Liccy Crosland. Rumor has it they had been previously in a relationship before the divorce from Neal? 1983 quote from Roald Dahl "There's a trait in the Jewish character that does provoke animosity ... I mean there is always a reason why anti-anything crops up anywhere; even a stinker like Hitler didn't just pick on them for no reason." Roald states that he was anti-Israel rather than anti-Semitic and he maintained friendships with a number of Jews including philosopher Isaiah Berlin who said "I thought he might say anything. Could have been pro-Arab or pro-Jew. There was no consistent line." In the 1986 New Years Honours List Roald Dahl was offered the Order of the British Empire (OBE) but turned it down.
He also is the father of author Tessa Dahl and grandfather of author, cookbook writer and former model Sophie Dahl as in Sophie in "The BFG".James and the Giant Peach was one of the first books I've ever reak and it really opened up my imagination. Did you know that he wrote The Gremlins? Probably not the Gremlins your thinking of though. I also liked The Witches.
