Roald Dahl, the best-loved of children's writers, was born in Wales of Norwegian parents. After school in England he went to work for Shell in Africa. He began to write after "a monumental bash on the head" sustained as an RAF pilot in World War II. Roald Dahl died in 1990.

In 1999 Quentin Blake became the first ever Children's Laureate. Six years later he received a CBE for services to children's literature, and in 2013 he was knighted in the New Year's Honours.