Roald Dahl

Dahl was born in Wales in 1916 to Norwegian immigrant parents and spent most of his life in England. He flew fighter missions for the RAF in the Second World War, rising to acting wing commander and later working as an intelligence officer. He began writing in the 1940s, publishing both for children and adults, and rose to become one of the world's best-selling authors with a signature style: short stories known for unexpected endings, children's books that refused sentiment in favor of dark comedy and genuine warmth beneath the surface. Works like James and the Giant Peach, The Witches, Fantastic Mr Fox, and Tales of the Unexpected earned him the 1983 World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement and the British Book Awards' Children's Author of the Year in 1990. He died in November 1990; by 2021, Forbes ranked him the top-earning dead celebrity.