In honor of the 100th anniversary of Roald Dahl‘s birth, here are 10 facts about everyone’s favorite children’s author:
1. James and the Giant Peach was originally going to be called James and the Giant Cherry.
2. Dahl’s nose was cut off in an accident when he was a young boy – it was successfully sewn back on.
3. Roald Dahl has a flower names after him, the “Roald Dahl Rose” – it’s peach in color.
4. Dahl wrote all his books with a pencil on paper – he never learned to type. He was also buried with some HB pencils.
5. Rumors say that Dahl has a strong dislike of facial hair, prompting his book The Twits. The opening line of the book says, “What a lot of hairy-faced men there are around nowadays!”.
6. When Dahl passed away in 1990, his family placed a notice in The Times (of London) describing him as a “scrumiddly-umptious husband and a wondercrump father”.
7. Dahl wrote two slightly pornographic fairy-tales: “Princess Mammalia” and “The Princess and the Poacher”. These can be found in the limited run publication Two Fables.
8. Roald Dahl hosted a British TV show called Tales of the Unexpected.
9. Dahl had a strick work schedule. He would work from 10 until 12 every day and then again from 3 until 5 every day.
10. Dahl worked in a hut in his garden. He sat in a chair with a homemade desktop and wrapped himself in sleeping bag to keep warm.