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I was born in Llandaff, Cardiff, Wales on 13th September 1916, to Norwegian parents. I was christened at the Norwegian sailors' church in Cardiff. My father and sister both died when I was four. I attended Llandaff Cathedral School, where I was caned by the headmaster after putting a dead mouse in a jar of sweets at the local shop. After that I moved to several other boarding schools but hated them all.
When I was at Repton School, Cadburys would send boxes of new chocolates to the school to be tested by the pupils. This is what inspired me to write Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
In 1934, I joined the Shell Petroleum Company. I lived in luxury in the Shell House outside Dar-es-Salaam, with my own cook and servants, and came across some very dangerous wildlife. When war broke out I was made an officer responsible for rounding up Germans. I then joined the Royal Air Force and was soon flying solo over Kenya and later Iraq and Egypt. On 19 September 1940, I crash landed in the desert, fracturing my skull and blinding me. I recovered and went on to fight in air battles over Greece and Palestine, shooting down many planes before getting blackouts and being invalided out.
I began writing in 1942, about my air adventures. I married actress Patricia Neal in 1953 and had five children with her before divorcing in 1983. I was subsequently married to Felicity ("Liccy") Crosland, until my death from a rare blood disease, on 23 November 1990, the day after the resignation of arch-reactionary Margaret Thatcher who I had supported so avidly.
I have left behind me a large body of written work, both for adults and children, which I famously composed in my garden hut. My best-known books, including Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Matilda, The Witches and the BFG, need no introduction.