{"id":63850,"date":"2016-09-13T17:28:16","date_gmt":"2016-09-13T06:28:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.booktopia.com.au\/?p=63850"},"modified":"2016-09-15T18:16:01","modified_gmt":"2016-09-15T07:16:01","slug":"celebrating-100-years-roald-dahl","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/2016\/09\/13\/celebrating-100-years-roald-dahl\/","title":{"rendered":"Celebrating 100 years of Roald Dahl."},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/roald-dahl\/author7.html\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-63841\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.booktopia.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/Blog-image-Exclusive_1-2.jpg\" alt=\"blog-image-exclusive_1-2\" width=\"618\" height=\"238\" \/><\/a>Today we are celebrating the 100th birthday of Roald Dahl, whose scrumdiddlyumptious stories have converted so many young\u00a0readers\u00a0into life-long book lovers.<\/p>\n<p>Roald Dahl&#8217;s life is almost stranger than his fiction.\u00a0Interestingly, he\u00a0fell into writing totally by accident. He spent his early years at boarding school, and immediately afterwards began working for Shell Oil, which gave him the opportunity\u00a0to travel the world. When war broke out, Dahl signed up to the Royal Air Force; in this time he was involved in a bad plane crash. Bored during his recovery, he turned to story-writing. If you haven\u2019t read\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/boy-roald-dahl\/prod9780141365534.html\"><em>Boy\u00a0<\/em><\/a>or\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/going-solo-roald-dahl\/prod9780141365558.html\"><em>Going Solo<\/em><\/a>, Dahl\u2019s autobiographies, give them a go &#8211; they&#8217;re so engaging!<\/p>\n<p>Roald Dahl has been one of my favourite authors since I was very small, starting with the easy-to-read\u00a0<em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/esio-trot-roald-dahl\/prod9780141365480.html\">Esio Trot<\/a>\u00a0<\/em>and<em>\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/fantastic-mr-fox-roald-dahl\/prod9780141365442.html\">Fantastic Mr Fox<\/a><\/em>, and moving onto\u00a0<em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/the-bfg-roald-dahl\/prod9780141365428.html\">The BFG<\/a>\u00a0<\/em>and\u00a0<em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/matilda-roald-dahl\/prod9780141365466.html\">Matilda<\/a>.\u00a0<\/em>In fact, I thought I was Matilda! I still haven&#8217;t found another character who loves books quite as much as she does!\u00a0Roald Dahl&#8217;s\u00a0books are a necessity in every bookcase. His heroes are intelligent and resourceful, though not always very nice!<\/p>\n\n\t\t<style type=\"text\/css\">\n\t\t\t#gallery-1 {\n\t\t\t\tmargin: auto;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t#gallery-1 .gallery-item {\n\t\t\t\tfloat: left;\n\t\t\t\tmargin-top: 10px;\n\t\t\t\ttext-align: center;\n\t\t\t\twidth: 33%;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t#gallery-1 img {\n\t\t\t\tborder: 2px solid #cfcfcf;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t#gallery-1 .gallery-caption {\n\t\t\t\tmargin-left: 0;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t\/* see gallery_shortcode() in wp-includes\/media.php *\/\n\t\t<\/style>\n\t\t<div id='gallery-1' class='gallery galleryid-63850 gallery-columns-3 gallery-size-medium'><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon portrait'>\n\t\t\t\t<img width=\"196\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/EsioTrot.jpg\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" \/>\n\t\t\t<\/dt><\/dl><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon portrait'>\n\t\t\t\t<img width=\"196\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/Matilda.jpg\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" \/>\n\t\t\t<\/dt><\/dl><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon portrait'>\n\t\t\t\t<img width=\"195\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/BFG.jpg\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" \/>\n\t\t\t<\/dt><\/dl><br style=\"clear: both\" \/>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n<p>Because of Dahl&#8217;s centenary, there have been many new additions to his works. There&#8217;s the absolutely whoopsy-flunkers (fantastic)\u00a0<em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/oxford-roald-dahl-dictionary-oxford-dictionaries\/prod9780192736451.html\">Oxford Roald Dahl Dictionary<\/a><\/em>, with definitions for all of the weird and wonderful Gobblefunk language Dahl uses in his books!\u00a0<em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/the-gloriumptious-worlds-of-roald-dahl-roald-dahl\/prod9781783122158.html\">The Gloriumptious Worlds of Roald Dahl<\/a>\u00a0<\/em>combines previously unpublished letters, artefacts, and editing notes from Dahl himself. It&#8217;s a fantastic companion to Roald Dahl&#8217;s stories, adding a whole new layer to his enjoyable worlds.<\/p>\n<p>Do you\u00a0think you&#8217;ve outgrown Roald Dahl? You couldn&#8217;t be more mistaken!<\/p>\n<p>Adults will relish Dahl&#8217;s <a href=\"http:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/roald-dahl-s-complete-short-stories\/series5442.html\">short story collections<\/a>. They&#8217;re a bit naughty, definitely NOT appropriate for children. Dahl&#8217;s witty banter and his incredible imagination extends far beyond the realm of children&#8217;s fiction. The best (in my opinion) is\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/the-complete-short-stories-volume-one-roald-dahl\/prod9781405910101.html\"><em>Lamb to the Slaughter<\/em><\/a>, a wonderful piece of dark humour involving a murder, and the policeman eating the evidence! If you prefer non-fiction, read\u00a0<em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/love-from-boy-donald-sturrock\/prod9781473636026.html\">Love from Boy<\/a><\/em>: it is an impeccably curated collection of Roald Dahl&#8217;s letters to his mother.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Celebrate with us, and let us know what your favourite Roald Dahl book is in the comments below!<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/roald-dahl\/author7.html\">Learn more about Roald Dahl and browse his wide range of books.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Today we are celebrating the 100th birthday of Roald Dahl, whose scrumdiddlyumptious stories have converted so many young\u00a0readers\u00a0into life-long book lovers. Roald Dahl&#8217;s life is almost stranger than his fiction.\u00a0Interestingly, he\u00a0fell into writing totally by accident. He spent his early years at boarding school, and immediately afterwards began working for Shell Oil, which gave him the opportunity\u00a0to travel the world. When war broke out, Dahl signed up to the Royal Air Force; in this time he was involved in a bad plane crash. Bored during his recovery, he turned to story-writing. If you haven\u2019t read\u00a0Boy\u00a0or\u00a0Going Solo, Dahl\u2019s autobiographies, give them a go &#8211; they&#8217;re so engaging! Roald Dahl has been one of my favourite authors since I was very small, starting with the easy-to-read\u00a0Esio Trot\u00a0and\u00a0Fantastic Mr Fox, and moving onto\u00a0The BFG\u00a0and\u00a0Matilda.\u00a0In fact, I thought I was Matilda! I still haven&#8217;t found another character who loves books quite as much as she does!\u00a0Roald Dahl&#8217;s\u00a0books are a necessity in every bookcase. His heroes are intelligent and resourceful, though not always very nice! Because of Dahl&#8217;s centenary, there have been many new additions to his works. There&#8217;s the absolutely whoopsy-flunkers (fantastic)\u00a0Oxford Roald Dahl Dictionary, with definitions for all of the weird and wonderful&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":63845,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[4521],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/SocialMediaImage_1-2.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63850"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/21"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=63850"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63850\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":63962,"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63850\/revisions\/63962"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/63845"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63850"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63850"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63850"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}