Roald Dahl was born in 1916 in Wales of Norwegian parents. He was educated in England before starting work for the Shell Oil Company in Africa. He began writing after a 'monumental bash on the head', sustained as an RAF pilot during WW2. Roald Dahl is one of the most successful and well-known of all children's writers. His books include THEGIRAFFE, THE PELLY AND ME, THE BFG and JAMES AND THE GIANT PEACH. Roald Dahl died in 1990 at the age of seventy-four.