Roald Dahl was born in Wales in 1916. He was educated in England before going to work for the Shell Oil Company in Africa. With the outbreak of World War II, he became an RAF fighter pilot. He began writing for adults at the close of the war, with the encouragement of C. S. Forester. His first children's book, James and the Giant Peach, was published in 1961 and each of his subsequent books became bestsellers. He is still the best selling children's writer of all time.