Roald Dahl truly had an overflowing imagination. When he was at school Roald Dahl received terrible reports for his writing - with one teacher actually writing in his report, “I have never met a boy who so persistently writes the exact opposite of what he means. He seems incapable of marshalling his thoughts on paper!”

After finishing school Roald Dahl, in search of adventure, traveled to East Africa. In Africa he learnt to speak Swahili, drove from diamond mines to gold mines, and survived a bout of malaria where his temperature reached 105.5 degrees.

With the outbreak of the World War II Roald Dahl joined the RAF. But being over six feet tall he found himself squashed into his fighter plane, knees around his ears and head jutting forward. Tragically of the 20 men in his squadron, Roald Dahl was one of only three to survive. Roald wrote about these experiences in his books Boy and Going Solo. 

Later in the war Roald Dahl was sent to America. It was there that he met famous author C.S. Forester who asked the young pilot to write down his war experiences for a story he was writing. Forester was amazed by the result. He sent Roald Dahl's work straight to the Saturday Evening Post. Roald was now a published writer and set on the path that would lead him to great success. 

Roald Dahl's growing success as an author led him to meet many famous people including Walt Disney, Franklin Roosevelt, and the movie star Patricia Neal. Patricia and Roald were married only one year after they met! 

The couple bought a house in Great Missenden called Gipsy House. It was here that Roald Dahl began to tell his five children made-up bedtime stories and from those that he began to consider writing stories for children. 

An old wooden shed in the back garden, with a wing backed armchair, a sleeping bag to keep out the cold, an old suitcase to prop his feet on and always, always six yellow pencils at his hand, was where Roald created the worlds of The BFG, The Witches, The Gremlins, James and the Giant Peach, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl's Book of Ghost Stories, Matilda, and many more. 

Roald Dahl would write all of these ideas in his beloved red exercise book. But if his exercise book wasn't handy he would scribble a note on anything to remind himself - even if he had to write in crayon or lipstick!

These are just some of the hints Roald Dahl wrote down for anyone who would like to become a successful author. 

1. You should have a lively imagination.
2. You should be able to write well. By this I mean you should be able to make a scene come alive in the reader's mind. Not everybody has this ability. 
3. You must have stamina. In other words, you must be able to stick to what you are doing and never give up, for hour after hour, day after day, week after week, and month after month.