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| children = Olivia Dahl Tessa Dahl Theo Dahl Ophelia Dahl Lucy Dahl | relatives = Nicholas Logsdail (nephew) | signature = | website = | module = }} Roald Dahl (;〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Pronunciation of Roald Dahl: How to pronounce Roald Dahl )〕 ; 13 September 1916 – 23 November 1990) was a British novelist, short story writer, poet, screenwriter, and fighter pilot. Born in Wales to Norwegian parents, Dahl served in the Royal Air Force during World War II, in which he became a flying ace and intelligence officer, rising to the rank of acting wing commander. He rose to prominence in the 1940s with works for both children and adults and became one of the world's best-selling authors.〔〔 He has been referred to as "one of the greatest storytellers for children of the 20th century".〔 His awards for contribution to literature include the 1983 World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement, and Children's Author of the Year from the British Book Awards in 1990. In 2008 ''The Times'' placed Dahl 16th on its list of "The 50 greatest British writers since 1945".〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=The 50 greatest British writers since 1945 )〕 Dahl's short stories are known for their unexpected endings and his children's books for their unsentimental, macabre, often darkly comic content, featuring villainous adult enemies of the child characters.〔 His books champion the kind-hearted, and feature an underlying warm sentiment.〔〔 Dahl's works for children include ''James and the Giant Peach'', ''Charlie and the Chocolate Factory'', ''Matilda'', ''The Witches'', ''Fantastic Mr Fox'', ''The BFG'', ''The Twits'' and ''George's Marvellous Medicine''. Adult works include ''Tales of the Unexpected''. ==Early life== Roald Dahl was born in 1916 at Villa Marie, Fairwater Road, in Llandaff, Cardiff, Wales to Norwegian parents, Harald Dahl and Sofie Magdalene Dahl (''née'' Hesselberg).〔Philip Howard, "Dahl, Roald (1916–1990)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004〕 Dahl's father had emigrated to Britain from Sarpsborg, Norway, and settled in Cardiff in the 1880s. His mother came over and married his father in 1911. Dahl was named after the polar explorer Roald Amundsen, a Norwegian national hero. His first language was Norwegian, which he spoke at home with his parents and his sisters Astri, Alfhild and Else. Dahl and his sisters were raised in the Lutheran faith, and were baptised at the Norwegian Church, Cardiff, where their parents worshipped.〔Colin Palfrey (2006) (Cardiff Soul: An Underground Guide to the City )〕 In 1920, when Dahl was three years old, his seven-year-old sister, Astri, died from appendicitis. Weeks later, his father died of pneumonia at the age of 57 while on a fishing trip in the Antarctic. With the option of returning to Norway to live with relatives, Dahl's mother decided to remain in Wales, because Harald had wished to have their children educated in British schools, which he considered the world's best.〔Jill C. Wheeler (2006) ''Roald Dahl'' p.9. ABDO Publishing Company, 2006〕 Dahl first attended the Cathedral School, Llandaff. At the age of eight, he and four of his friends (one named Thwaites) were caned by the headmaster after putting a dead mouse in a jar of gobstoppers at the local sweet shop,〔 which was owned by a "mean and loathsome" old woman called Mrs Pratchett.〔 This was known among the five boys as the "Great Mouse Plot of 1924".〔Michael D. Sharp (2006) (Popular Contemporary Writers ) p.516. Marshall Cavendish, 2006〕 A favourite sweet among British schoolboys between the two World Wars, Dahl would later refer to gobstoppers in his literary creation, Everlasting Gobstopper.〔John Ayto (2012). "The Diner's Dictionary: Word Origins of Food and Drink". p. 154. Oxford University Press〕 Thereafter, he transferred to a boarding school in England: St Peter's in Weston-super-Mare. Roald's parents had wanted him to be educated at an English public school and, because of a then regular ferry link across the Bristol Channel, this proved to be the nearest. His time at St Peter's was an unpleasant experience for him. He was very homesick and wrote to his mother every week but never revealed to her his unhappiness, being under the pressure of school censorship. Only after her death in 1967 did he find out that she had saved every single one of his letters, in small bundles held together with green tape.〔(【引用サイトリンク】 title= Roald Dahl's School Days )〕 Dahl wrote about his time at St Peter's in his autobiography ''Boy: Tales of Childhood''. From 1929, he attended Repton School in Derbyshire, where, according to ''Boy: Tales of Childhood'', a friend named Michael was viciously caned by headmaster Geoffrey Fisher, who later became the Archbishop of Canterbury and went on to crown Queen Elizabeth II in 1953. (However, according to Dahl's biographer Jeremy Treglown,〔Jeremy Treglown, ''Roald Dahl: A Biography'' (1994) , Faber and Faber, page 21. Treglown's source note is as follows: "Several people who were at the top of Priory House at the time have discussed it with me, particularly B.L.L. Reuss and John Bradburn."〕 the caning took place in May 1933, a year after Fisher had left Repton and the headmaster concerned was in fact J. T. Christie, Fisher's successor.) This caused Dahl to "have doubts about religion and even about God". He was never seen as a particularly talented writer in his school years, with one of his English teachers writing in his school report "I have never met anybody who so persistently writes words meaning the exact opposite of what is intended." Dahl was exceptionally tall, reaching in adult life.〔(Roald Dahl – Penguin UK Authors ) – Penguin UK〕 He excelled at sports, being made captain of the school fives and squash teams, and also playing for the football team.〔Shavick, Andrea (1997) (Roald Dahl: the champion storyteller ) p.12. Oxford University Press, 1997〕 As well as having a passion for literature, he also developed an interest in photography〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Roald Dahl biography )〕 and often carried a camera with him. During his years at Repton, Cadbury, the chocolate company, would occasionally send boxes of new chocolates to the school to be tested by the pupils. Dahl would dream of inventing a new chocolate bar that would win the praise of Mr Cadbury himself; and this proved the inspiration for him to write his third children's book, ''Charlie and the Chocolate Factory'' (1964), and to include references to chocolate in other children's books. Throughout his childhood and adolescent years, Dahl spent the majority of his summer holidays with his mother's family in Norway, and wrote about many happy memories from those expeditions in ''Boy: Tales of Childhood'', such as when he replaced the tobacco in his half–sister's fiancé's pipe with goat droppings.〔''Boy and Going Solo'', p.128 – p.132〕 He only experienced one unhappy memory of his holidays in Norway at around the age of eight, when his adenoids were removed by a doctor.〔''Boy and Going Solo'', p.68 – 71〕 His childhood and first job selling kerosene in Midsomer Norton and surrounding villages in Somerset are subjects in ''Boy: Tales of Childhood''.〔Dahl, Roald (1984) ''Boy: tales of childhood'' p.172. Puffin Books, 1984〕 After finishing his schooling, in August 1934 Dahl crossed the Atlantic on the and hiked through Newfoundland with the Public Schools Exploring Society.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Roald Dahl (British author) )〕 In July 1934, Dahl joined the Shell Petroleum Company. Following two years of training in the United Kingdom, he was transferred to first Mombasa, Kenya, then to Dar-es-Salaam, Tanganyika (now Tanzania). Along with the only two other Shell employees in the entire territory, he lived in luxury in the Shell House outside Dar es Salaam, with a cook and personal servants. While out on assignments supplying oil to customers across Tanganyika, he encountered black mambas and lions, among other wildlife.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Roald Dahl」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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