Great classics on the 23rd April

This time they are my 1st and 2nd year ESO students the ones who write about those great English classics and stories everybody knows about: Romeo and Juliet, Oliver Twist, The Hobbit, Harry Potter, Sherlock Holmes, The Jungle Books...

Roald Dahl (1916 -1990)

This 13th of September marks the centenary of Roald Dahl's birth. Loved by millions of readers all over the world, not many people know that this Welsh children's author was also a Second World War Royal Air Force pilot and spy. He met and worked alongside Ian Fleming, who would later become James Bond's creator . As a screenwriter, Roald Dahl himself would write the script for You Only Live Twice.

His charming characters  are unforgettable. His skilful and magic stories keep the reader enthralled from start to finish. Although they are widely popular nowadays also thanks to their screen versions - like Spielberg's Gremlins,  Tim Burton's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Danny de Vito's Matilda or James and the Giant Peach - he firmly believed in the importance of reading, and he was not always pleased with these adaptations.  "I'm probably more pleased with my children's books than with my adult short stories. Children's books are harder to write. It's tougher to keep a child interested because a child does not have the concentration of an adult. A child knows the television is in the next room. It's tough to hold a child, but it's a lovely thing to try to do."