These strange and unusual stories were written by a man who is one of the most popular storytellers of our time. Roald Dahl was born in South Wales in 1916 to Norwegian parents, and his early life was overshadowed by sad events: his sister and his father died within a few weeks of each other when he was very young. He was educated at a boarding school for boys, but he did not fit in easily with the life of the school and had a very unhappy time. As a result of his experiences there, some of the stories he wrote later feature characters who are cruel to those who have been cruel to them.