Photo credit: Jan Baldwin

Roald Dahl was a children’s author, poet, screenwriter and short story writer. He was famous for writing the popular children’s books; Matilda, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, The Twits and The BFG – to name just a few! He was also famous for his inspirational and humorous quotes which helped people lead their day to day lives.

Roald Dahl Day – what is it?
Roald Dahl Day takes place on 13th September to celebrate his birth and this year marks 100 years! You can join in the conversation on Twitter using #RoaldDahl100. We hope our blog inspires you to get involved and help celebrate Roald Dahl Day. If you have any Roald Dahl books you loved to read, please do share with us by email.

To celebrate Roald Dahl Day, NEC staff share their favourite books and quotes. Here’s what some of them said:

Kirsty: “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Matilda were my favourite books to read and I loved the film adaptations too. They were really engaging, funny and emotional and the characters were portrayed well in the books and films. Matilda and Miss Honey were my favourite in the books and films. Matilda had great courage and strength dealing with her bullying parents but the fact that her determination to learn was incredibly eye opening. I also liked Miss Honey, she was caring and patient and went the extra mile to help Matilda learn.

“My favourite character from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory would have to be Willy Wonka. His fantastic acting and inspirational quotes; “Time is a precious thing, never waste it!” “Come with me and you’ll be in a world of pure imagination” as well as his funny sense of humour made the book and film come to life.  Unfortunately, Gene Wilder, famous for playing Willy Wonka in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, recently passed away.”

Joanne: “Two of my favourite Roald Dahl books are; Fantastic Mr Fox – I just remember loving this so much when I was a child and George’s Marvellous Medicine – I read it with my daughter who loved it. It’s funny, wicked, but nice”.

Louise: “My favourite books are The Twits and The Witches. Here are some quotes taken from the books that I love:”

“Mr. Twit was a twit. He was born a twit. And, now at the age of sixty, he was a bigger twit than ever.”

“It doesn’t matter who you are or what you look like, so long as somebody loves you.”

Carly: “My favourite was always Matilda, I must have read it 20 times as a child! I felt like I could identify with her being a bit of a bookworm myself and to be honest, who wouldn’t want a teacher like Miss Honey?! I remember the first time I read the words ‘somewhere inside all of us is the power to change the world’ and just thinking ‘wow’! The BFG was a firm favourite too.”

Helen: “My favourite Roald Dahl book is The Twits. I love how devilishly clever the Twits are when they play tricks on each other. To this day I always check for worms in my spaghetti!”

If you would like to be a creative writer like Roald Dahl and learn about the techniques professional writers use, then why not try out the creative writing courses that NEC offers.