Roald Dahl: The Incredible Life of an Incredible Author

just before we get started with the video today do you want to mention a brand new channel that I'm hosting called mega-projects because I didn't have enough channels mega-projects is a channel all about mankind's greatest achievements where I take a deep look at incredible buildings project structures and more whether it's the world's most impressive skyscrapers the International Space Station or Chernobyl sarcophagus we cover it all new videos come out a couple of times a week on mega projects so if you think it could be for you please do head over and subscribe it's linked to below and let's get into it many of us have grown up with his stories in some cases some of us even grew up because of his stories we all know about his characters the enigmatic chocolate magnates the six-year-old girl genius and the Fox and the tortoise but how much do you know about his adventures as a fighter pilot his espionage activities and his contributions to medicine well join me today for the inspiring tragic and controversial story of Roald Dahl Roald Dahl was born in land F whales on so Dover 13th 1916 - Norwegian parents harold and sophie magdalene Hasselbeck harold and his brother Oscar had left a small town in Norway in their youth seeking fortune and adventure Harold had ended up in Wales establishing a successful ship broking firm there he married a French girl marie with whom he had two children a girl and a boy sadly Marie died while giving birth to the latter to recover from this tragedy in the summer of 1911 Harald traveled back to Norway where during a trip on a steamer he met Sophie Magdalene Harold proposed within a week and the two were married shortly thereafter the couple returned to Wales and the family immediately started to expand their eldest daughter a street was born in 1912 followed by another girl Alf filled then rolled and then finally else Kristen as will learn today the life of Roald Dahl was time and time again darkens by tragedies which struck at his closest relatives the first one happened in February of nineteen twenty when Astra died of appendicitis at just seven years old the barely had time to recover when in March it was patriarch Harold who succumbed to a pneumonia at the time so if he was pregnant with the youngest of the doll girls Astor Sophie sold the dolls large farmhouse and moved the whole family including her stepchildren from Harold's first marriage to a smaller home rolls words often look up to his mother is an example of con determination in difficult times in September of 1923 aged seven Roald was enrolled at land F Cathedral the preparatory school for boys characterized by stir discipline and traditional values in his autobiographical work boy Roald focuses on one episode his early school years the Great Mouse plot of September 1925 rolled in his friends sits an insatiable sweet tooth in which frequent the candy shop owned by mrs. pratchett nasty piece of work with small malignant pig eyes constantly mistreated by the candy lady Roald decided to punish her by placing a dead mouse inside a jar of gobstoppers when mrs. pratchet dipped a hand into the container and found the dead rodents she fainted in shock the shop owner got her revenge reporting rolled and his accomplices to the headmaster Koons of llandaff Cathedral the boys were caned mercilessly on the buttocks by Koons as mrs. Pratchett watched with sadistic glee doll reported that he was caned so often that even in his adult life he could not sit for more than two hours without feeling discomfort in January of 1930 was boarding a trap turn near Dobby a traditional English public school here discipline was harsh and Roald was frequently punished by teachers Headmaster's and House prefect the senior pupils a typical humiliation ritual involved younger children like rolls being forced to warm up their seats of outdoor toilets on winter mornings before the prefix took over the throne Roald made the most of his time sitting on the bowl by reading his favorite authors Charles Dickens William Thackeray and ambrose bierce the Repton experience left roles with a profound distrust of formal Authority which became evidence in his works of fiction one of the few good memories from Repton was related to a nearby Chocolate Factory Cadbury's Cadbury's management had selected reps and students to test new candy bar recipes so young darlin friends regularly received big cardboard boxes full of the best chocolate the Britain to offer this first planted the seed of an idea that somewhere inside a factory there could be a man inventing new sweet recipes to delight the taste buds of downtrodden children in 1934 rolled turned 17 and he finally left Repton ready to start University at either Oxford or Cambridge as was expected from most middle class young men in those days but rolls was clearly not most middle-class men so instead of continuing his studies he decided to look for a job one that would allow him to travel to faraway places he applied for an apprenticeship at the Shell petrol company but his teachers had warned him applicants from more prestigious schools like eaten or Harrow would have an advantage roles brought something to the table that the other tough kids simply didn't though his six-foot-four stature and his fighting skills you see Roald Dahl was his school's heavyweight boxing champion the shell managers were impressed by this kid he could clearly handle himself in a sticky situation far from home and they hired him on the spot two years later shell sent rolls to DA s-salam the capital of the East African British colony of modern-day Tanzania he loved this work spending as little time as possible in an office while roaming the villages and landscapes of the country this was the type of adventure that he was craving yet an even bigger one was just around the corner on September the 3rd 1939 mr. Chamberlain in London declared war on Nazi Germany Roald was conscripted into the Kings African Rifles leading a platoon of Ascari's tasked with rounding up and interning hundreds of German residents Dahl soon decided that service on land was not to his taste it rather serve in the Royal Air Force in November he drove to Nairobi Kenya to attend flight school with 15 other trainees out of those 16 only three survived the war Roald earned his wings by flying obsolete de Havilland Tiger Moth biplane with open cockpits the training was made complicated by his size as his head stuck out of the cockpit nonetheless training continued first in Uganda and then in Hibernia near Baghdad in May 1940 Roald qualified as a pilot and in August he was commissioned as a second left his first post was Elia Egypt where he was assigned to the near 80 squadron flying another biplane a Gloster gladiator on September the 19th 1940 second left-handed Dahl was tasked with flying his gladiator solo to an airstrip south of Mercia mattre not far from Italian forces in Libya with little instructions no radio and just a map straps to his knee Dahl managed to reach the fuuka air base for her refueling stop from that he set out to Massa Matra calculating a flight time of 50 minutes based on further vague instructions received when he was refueling the mersa Matruh was nor it should have been the fifty minutes were arpund fuel was running dangerously low dolls only option was to attempt an emergency landing the gladiator hit the sand at 75 miles per hour and Dahl smashed his forehead against the reflector sites with his skull and nose fractured his front teeth knocked out and his eyes temporarily blind Dahl managed to crawl out of his Gloucester just in time before the fuel tank ignited in an explosion the biplane blew up spraying loose ammunition all around the desert we can only imagine that at this point Dahl lit a cigarette and walked away from the explosion as slowly as possible and he certainly didn't look at it more likely he probably just over to the grounds and then ran for his life he was later rescued by a British infantry patrol an inquiry after the fact revealed that a commanding officer of phuket provided the wrong directions for Merce Amara which was located a further 50 miles to the south no wonder he had trust issues with higher authorities Roald had suffered some pretty serious injuries requiring a long hospitalization in Alexandria by 1941 he was discharged and returned to his squadron by now the units had ditched the obsolete gladiators replacing them with more modern hurricane fighters after a training period the squadron moved to Greece it was April 1941 and Greece was under the threat of a full-scale axis invasion his squadron number 80 and squadron number 33 were placed at a Lucis airbase under the leadership of a South African officer named Marmaduke Thomas cynjohn pattle he was called Pat for short how was one of the RAF highest-scoring fighter pilots of world war ii with an estimated 51 kill doll described him as possessing the deeply wrinkled face of a cat who knew that all of its nine lives had been used up doll soon realized that the situation was desperate the Greeks and the Brits were outnumbered and outgunned by the Luftwaffe as a fighter pilot dolls main targets would be the Yunker 88 bombers heavily armed with front and tail guns these beasts were as fast as the Hurricanes despite their size fellow pilot David Koch brief doll as such the Greeks are our radar we have a Greek peasant sitting on top of every mountain for miles around and when he spots a bunch of German planes he calls up the OP through here on the field telephone that's our radar the day after his arrival a Toulouse's April the 15th rolled sauce serious action chasing six younger eighty-eights the six bombers were forced to fly single-file by the mountainous terrain this made the last plane in the formation very vulnerable and dull did not waste the opportunity he fired his machine guns on the Yonker taking it out he was relieved to see the German Airmen parachute to safety this was Rawls first victory and more would follow from the 16th to the 19th each shot down three more yonkers over the ports of calacas and Piraeus but an Allied defeat in Greece was not a situation of if rather than how soon on April the 20th 1941 allied command decided to evacuate Greece as the situation was untenable the RAF had only 12 fighter planes left operational and they were gathered for a last offensive action harassing a formation of yonkers and dawnia bombers heading towards prayers escorted by at least 200 Luftwaffe fighters the action is remembered as the Battle of Athens Roald Dahl's autobiographical work going solo described the battle as the most terrifying and exhilarating experience of his life the formation of hurricanes was being led by ace of aces Pat pattle in one hell of a dance around the skies above the city suddenly the morning light was dimmed by swarms upon swarms of incoming German aircraft heavily outnumbered Pat's boys did what they could doll shot at any enemy plane in his sight but he would never know how many planes he shot down the enemy was so numerous that he was too busy avoiding a collision never mind keeping count of aerial victories at the end of the battle five hurricanes had been shot down and three more were heavily damaged Pat Pat all had in exhausted his nine lives and was killed about Athens the battle for Greece was lost and dull squadron was evacuated and reconstituted in Haifa Palestine from there rolled resumed his old sport of stinging 88's in the tale claiming another victory on the 15th of June if you've been keeping accounts this was Roald Dahl's fifth verified kill as a fighter pilot making him a certified ace would he have scored as high as Pat pattle unfortunately Dahl had been suffering for a while from crippling headaches and blackouts almost certainly a consequence of his accident in Libya after a blast flight on June the 23rd he was deemed unfit to fly and was taken back to England the war was not over for old though a former RAF commander met with him in London and offered him a diplomatic position Assistant air attache at the British Embassy in Washington a nice cushy prestigious job which Dahl hated from the very start of his mission in April 1942 it became very clear from the start both to him and his superiors that Dahl was not suited to diplomacy simply put he was completely tactless however he was still in a position to help the British government in another unique way serving his country in a more secretive capacity author Jeanette Conant reports sow in 1943 Dahl was recruited by Canadian spy master William Stephenson into the British security coordination a spy network whose original mandate had been to help push the u.s. into the war even after Pearl Harbor there were still some influential Americans who remained Pro isolation resisting the idea of intervention in the European Mediterranean war theatres Rao's mission was important but by no means unpleasant the aunt who exploiters handsome looks natural charisma and war hero reputations who infiltrate wealthy Plex who may have been conspiring against Roosevelt or opposing Washington's commitment to helping London in lay terms Rawls had to attend dinner parties balls and dollars and report back any gossip of interest along the way if he wooed the affections of a wealthy socialite even better among his conquests were the beautiful congresswoman Clare Boothe Luce as well as the standard all heiress Millicent Rogers while spying on the Americans role took his first steps into the realm literature his first work was a piece of cake this was a fictionalized account of his crash landing in the desert risen at the insistence of popular author CS Forester of Captain Honda Fame for us to thought that his heroic tale may inspire American readers to support even more the Allied war effort the short story was published on August the 1st 1942 by The Saturday Evening Post accompanied by the sensationalist title shot down over Libya the success of the story and the one-thousand dollar paycheck gave him the motivation to continue writing in 1943 Dahl published his first novel the gremlins he was the first to introduce the name and concept of these mischievous creatures who caused mechanical malfunctions to RAF fighter planes the novel attracted attention from the right people Eleanor Roosevelt for example used to read to her grandchildren and uncle Walt Disney invited Dahl to Los Angeles to discuss an animated movie adaptation the film was never made but Disney Studios did publish the illustrated version of the gremlins by 1944 roles work was in such demand that he hired a literary agents in New York and Watkins Dahl had taken the final step towards becoming a pro writer [Music] so I thought I'd take this cue to analyze role dolls literary themes despite the early success of the gremlins role dolls career took off as a writer of short stories for adults and pretty dark ones too three main themes that recur time and time again are vengeance a grotesque view of sex and punishment the most famous example of the first theme is a lamb to the slaughter the protagonist is a woman Gordon mary moloney she is told by her husband a senior policeman that he intends to leave her presumably for another woman he slighted Mary instantly exact revenge she kills him with a single bash on the head from an unlikely weapon a frozen leg of lamb when her husband's colleagues come to investigate Mary roasts the murder weapon and serves it to the clueless policeman who while eating speculates on where the murder weapon might be and then there's another story and it's got a description of sexuality that couldn't get more weird and grotesque the story is Georgie Porgie here the main character is a sexually repressed minister who finds himself attracted miss Roche voracious but repulsive parishioner George finds himself sucked into the woman's mouth where after a futile struggle the Virginia clergyman is swallowed inside roads George can feel the peristalsis dragging at his ankles as for the theme of punishment this is often inflicted by the author upon characters you don't really deserve their final gruesome fate pig is about a wealthy New York orphan Lexington who is raised by his aunt gloss pan in isolation the auntie teaches Lexington do despise meat and to toss em into becoming a vegetarian chef when gloss pan dies Lexington ventures into New York ray discovers that he loves pork he loves it so much in fact that he goes on a guided tour of a meatpacking plant without warning Lexington is strung up by his ankles by one of the butchers the slaughterer raised his right hands and deftly slit open the boy's jugular vein with a knife a young character meeting a violent fate inside a factory that's a plot elements that can be found also in what is today probably dolls most famous work for children Charlie in the Chocolate Factory this highlights how Dahl explored the same topics of punishments and revenge in his fiction for children as well Charlie was based on Roald's own memories of testing candy bars upon which the author grafted his own take on the theme of retribution the bulk of the novel deals with a group of children who are punished one by one because of their deep-rooted character flaws which mirror deadly sins like gluttony greed sloth and envy speaking of sin some interpretations have even pointed out how the structure of Charlie seems to be based on Dante's Inferno the children in Wonka's factory like the sinners in Dante's hell are subjected to punishments which reflect their transgressions punishments and revenge can sometimes blur and a great example of this is in Matilda or another one of dolls most beloved works the villain of the piece is the terrifying headmaster Miss Trunchbull the real monster who relishes in smashing cake dishes on her pupils heads or embezzling her niece Miss Honey out of her inheritance it will be up to six-year-old Matilda and her telekinetic powers to avenge her friends and castigate the Trunchbull ending her reign of terror Matilda's rebellion is also the most satisfying example of another pervasive theme in dolls fiction a deep distrust of established Authority authority figures are not always portrayed in a negative light in doll stories parents teachers grandparents and captains of industry can be a source of wisdom warmth and protection but the same categories are more likely to abuse their power and perceived respectability to the expense of the downtrodden especially children it's often up to those children whose intelligence and willpower is regularly underestimated to ridicule humiliate or otherwise defeat the powers that be [Music] so now it's time to look at the second part of Roald's life in 1945 Dahle left New York to be closer to his mother who was living in AMISOM Buckinghamshire in southern England in 1946 his collection of war stories over to you was published mixed reviews but it eventually sold enough copies to grant Dahl deal with him to write another book this would be a novel about the possibilities of nuclear war called some time never published first in the u.s. in 1948 the novel was a total flop but worth remembering as the first fiction book about nuclear war to be published in the United States after Hiroshima Dahl wasn't gonna go broke any time soon anyway in 1950 royalty started pouring in from the short stories he had sold to the New York currents other American publications at the same time he was starting to grow weary of life in rural Buckinghamshire the sirens of dolls glamorous American life were too loud to resist and the author applied for a US visa and in 1951 he moved to New York in the Big Apple he lived as a guest of Charles Marsh a newspaper magnate whom he had befriended in the 1940s Marsh introduced him to a scene of parties and galas frequented by celebrities it was at one of these functions that he met his future wife 25-year old actress Patricia Neal the young and promising actress had made it to the cover of Life magazine when she was just 21 but by 1951 her fame was mainly due to offstage drama Patricia had just ended a long extramarital affair with Gary Cooper which started in 1947 despite mrs. Cooper's threatening telegrams Neal did not call off the fling and Gary got her pregnant and subsequently persuaded her to have an abortion that was the final straw that convinced the young actress to call it quits so it was after this trying experience that rolled in Patricia met at a dinner party organized by playwrights Lillian Hellman those tests at them next to each other at dinner rolled a notorious ladies man and an entertaining and sarcastic conversationalist though he ignored her the whole evening it wasn't long though before the two of them were going out on a regular basis roles professional life was also on the rise as his second collection of short stories Someone Like You attracted good sales and equally good reviews Patricia enrolled were young successful and in love naturally they decided to marry the wedding took place on July the 2nd 1953 at the Church in New York the first few years of married life for the celebrity couple were almost a picture postcard of marital bliss well at least on the surface dolls life would never truly be free of tragedy the couple moves to little white fields farmhouse in great MS and and Buckinghamshire in England the dolls renamed it gypsy houses this became Roald's main headquarters for the next 36 years in the garden of gypsy house doll built his famous garden shed which he described as a nest and even a wound he would withdraw to this shed twice a day to work on his latest short story or novel doll was not a workaholic but he was a very disciplined writer he dedicated three to four hours a day to writing every day splitting his morning and afternoon sessions he never typed his tools of the trade were six freshly sharpened pencils and a portable writing desk resting at an angle on his lap more importantly his womb was completely cut off from distractions but it was full of aides to drive his inspiration for example mementos from his RAF service human skull even a piece of his own femur which was used as a paperweight there's also an alien looking sphere of unidentified metal which was in fact the wrappers for every chocolate bar hit ever eaten rolled into a solid ball on April the 20th 1955 the dolls welcomed their first child Olivia 21 tal Sofia better known as Tessa followed almost exactly two years later and then on the 30th of July 1960 a boy Theo joined their ranks for an early age the kids would pester all asking him to come up with new bedtime stories every night eventually Dahl decided to commit some of these tales to writing the first one was about a boy called James his horrible aunties and a giant cherry which eventually morphed into a giant peach of course talking about James and the Giant Peach the first of 21 books for children 18 novels and three collections of poetry Roald Dahl was no stranger to childhood illness and mortality we already mentioned his sister Astri who died of appendicitis unfortunately he had to relive similar tragedies with his own children on December 5th 1960 Co was struck by a cab in New York aged only four months he survived but with serious head injuries which left him permanently brain damaged more precisely Thea developed hydrocephalus or the build-up of fluid the brain the condition requires for the fluid to be drained regularly via a valve fitted in the patient's skull Theo's valve kept on blocking with potentially fatal consequences to all took matters into his own hands with the help of a neurosurgeon and his friend Stanley Wade toy maker and inventor the author developed a new much improved version of the valve the invention was peer reviewed in the medical journal The Lancet and was subsequently implanted in thousands of children around the world the doll family was not through with tragedy yet though in November 1962 the eldest daughter Olivia fell ill with the bad bout of measles which progressed into inkatha lightest on the 17th she felt floppy and drowsy eventually she lost consciousness and never woke up again even on this occasion doll felt compelled to contribute to medicine in this case by raising awareness about the importance of measles immunization his subsequent essay on Livia's illness and death is still quoted during Pro and anti vaccination debates two years later the doll family had a brief respite from grief when another daughter aphelion Magdalena was born on May the 12th 1964 but as I said it was a brief interlude nine months later Rahl's wife Patricia suffered three massive hemorrhagic strokes the right side of her body was paralyzed even more damaging for a successful actress the stroke left her virtually unable to speak Patricia was hospitalized a month later doll revealed to the press that she was five months pregnant and that the life of the unborn child hung in the balance Patricia luckily pulled through as did her baby Lucy was born on August the 4th 1965 [Music] patrícia slowly started to recover but still suffered from speech difficulties struggling with the names of objects and people when she couldn't find the words she invented new ones a drink was a soap driver a cigarette was an obligor she would complain to rolled that he made her Skitch that his cross or that he gave her the singers ie the depression dr. Tom Solomon writing for The Guardian theorized that Pat's made-up vocabulary may have inspired Roald to create gobble funks language though can by the BFG the Big Friendly Giant but back in 1965 Dahl had other concerns medical protocols required Pat to undergo one hour a day of speech therapy which he believed simply wasn't enough instead he set up an intensive six hour a day regimen some professionals warns this was too much but he ignored them and Pat was coached back to normal this miraculous recovery attracted a lot of attention from other stroke patients and their families this prompted Dahl to write a guide on his methods later fully developed by neighbor and friend Valerie Eaton Griffith her book inspired a new approach to the treatment of strokes and led to the formation of the stroke association so doll must have been a fantastic husband and father right well not so fast while dolls insistent methods ultimately curta Patricia was miserable throughout the whole ordeal and felt in many ways that Roald was pushing her around the whole time he was particularly nagging for her to return to work in 1967 she later wrote I knew at that moment that rolled the slave driver rolled the bastard with his relentless scourge rolled the rotten as I called him more than once had thrown me back into the deep water where I belonged while the couple appeared very close and had a large family clearly there were some cracks in the relationship if one half refers to the other as a bastard who gives her the sinkers there are many accounts from family members and collaborators which confirmed that Dahl would have a cruel and controlling streak at times bordering on a pathological narcissism you could also be an avid attention seeker sometimes resorting to releasing outrageous statements just to elicit a reaction in an interview with the new States many famously claims that there is a trait the Jewish character that does provoke animosity maybe it's a kinds of lack of generosity towards non-jews 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 second-born Tessa later Ross who had published author Rhodes with candor about how rolled was a cold detached father who was impossible to please for sure in the late 1960s Dahl started to detach himself not only from tests sir but from the whole family shortly after Patricia's return to the stage he began an affair with the family friends Felicity Crossland 22 years as jr. the affair lasted 11 years 11 long years during which she contrived to keep it all a secret from his wife but apparently not from his daughters Tessa and Ophelia had found out about it and he asked them to keep their mouths shut lest they break up their family eventually all the DAR girls condones the affair after they realized that felicity was the true love of Roald's life Patricia was less forgiving eventually she found out too and in 1979 the couple formally separated the breakup of the marriage had a profound effect on all the children according to biographer Jeremy Troy Glaus youngest daughter Lucy had the most extreme reaction developing a cocaine habit at age 16 two rolls credits he immediately took action as soon as he found out taking the blame for Lucy's addiction and helping her through rehab and therapy two years later in 1983 Patten rolled finally divorced and the author went on to marry felicity on November the 17th of that year Patricia accepted the end of his relationship but did not miss the chance to quip about it Roald is growing old but at least I've had his best years now he's got a nurse for his old age [Applause] the last year's of dolls life were relatively happy and productive and some of his best-known books were written during this period these include The BFG The Witches and Matilda but these were also the years where I fell ill with my Leo dysplastic syndrome a rare cancer of the blood not even his enthusiastic approach to medicine could help him on November the 12th 1990 Roald Dahl was admitted to John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford in very poor condition this big perhaps not so friendly John's of literature died on November 23rd aged 74 Roald Dahl's legacy is unmissable and indelible as he has become the yardstick for all of children's literature roles the man was clearly a complicated and difficult person and may not have lived up to the moral standards set by Roald the author so to conclude we'll focus on the latter by misquoting from matilda with their message on resisting the cricket authority of rotten grown-ups dolls books have given young readers around the world a hopeful and comforting message you are not alone so I really hope you found that video interesting if you did please do hit that thumbs up button below and don't forget to subscribe brand new videos just like this a couple of times a week also please go check out another channel I do called business plays I'm going to link to that below thank you for watching [Music]

Channel: Biographics

Views: 279,209

Keywords: biographics, biography, biographies, people, famous people, simon whistler, Roald Dahl, Roald Dahl movies, Roald Dahl bio, Roald Dahl biography, roald dahl boy, roald dahl bedtime stories, Roald Dahl books, Roald Dahl death

Id: qaBn5QEPVC0

Length: 29min 36sec (1776 seconds)

Published: Fri Apr 03 2020