Well kiddles, did you know that an incredibly special person was born 100 years ago today? On this day in 1916, Roald Dahl was born in Llandaff near Cardiff to Norwegian parents who had recently emigrated to Wales.

Today is a celebration of the famous author’s life and works – he has sold over 200 million copies of books and they’ve been printed in 58 different languages. And not only that, but he was responsible for some of the best made-up words. He almost invented his own language! Words like kiddles (children), bootbogglers (military men), jiggered (no hope), whoopsy-splunkers (fantastic), phizz-whizzing (brilliant) and jumbly (mixed up) are just some of the hundreds of words that appeared in his books. In celebration of Roald Dahl’s 100th birthday, some of the words have even made it into the Oxford English Dictionary!

Roald Dahl certainly inspired a generation of children to fall in love with his quirky characters, twisting plots and surprise endings, and teamed with the brilliant illustrations of Quentin Blake, his books were, and still are, favourites with kids and adults across the world.

By Eirian Evans on Wikimedia Commons

Dahl didn’t really start his writing career until after World War II, in which he served as a fighter pilot and an intelligence officer. His first published book for children was called The Gremlins, in 1943, although it isn’t now one of his most well-known books. Roald Dahl went on to become one of the most well-loved, and prolific, children’s writers of the 20th century.

Here are just some of this wonderful books. How many have you read, and which are your favourites? We think they’re all just whoopsy-wiffling! 

• James and the Giant Peach (1961)
• Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (1964)
• The Magic Finger (1966)
• Fantastic Mr Fox (1970)
• Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator (1972)
• Danny, Champion of the World (1975)
• The Enormous Crocodile (1978)
• The Twits (1980)
• George’s Marvellous Medicine (1981)
• The BFG (1982)
• The Witches (1983)
• The Giraffe, the Pelly and Me (1985)
• Matilda (1988)
• Esio Trot (1989)

Happy Roald Dahl Day!