Roald Dahl

Today is the twenty-fifth anniversary of the passing of Roald Dahl.

I was brought up in the same city as Dahl. So, as you would expect, he was a huge part of my childhood.

The first time I came across his work was in the mid-1980s when we were read Charlie and the Chocolate Factory in infant school.

From there it was Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator, The BFG, The Twits, Boy (twice - once at junior school and the other at high school), Matilda and more.

I went beyond that, though. I read his work outside of the schoolroom.

Of all his books, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory remains my favourite.

One of the most cool things about my fascination with Roald Dahl's work came in 1986 or 87 when I wrote a letter to him telling him how much I enjoyed his stories. He wrote back thanking me and telling me about how he too was from Cardiff.

Unfortunately, it's one of the only letters or autographs from a famous person that is not in my collection. I don't have a clue where it has gone.

And that bugs me as I would have really enjoyed sharing it here today.