Magic of Roald Dahl lives on

New Delhi: Willy Wonka, Matilda, the Gremilns, all frolicking in the Neverland of his mind.

Roald Dahl died in 1990 but his imagination lives on. It’s his 90th birthday on Wednesday and this time round its special because it marks the first Roald Dahl day in the UK.

Once upon a time, on September 13, 1916, Roald Dahl was born.

Growing up in Wales, Dahl showed no signs of being a writer as he excelled only in sports.

But thankfully, his school was close to the greatest chocolate factory of England — The Cadbury Chocolate factory!

And that’s exactly what happens in Charlie and the Chocolate factory, one of the most endearing Dahl tales.

It’s everybody's non-pollutionary, anti-institutionary, and pro-confectionary factory of fun.

So it's no wonder they adapted it as a film twice — In 1971, with Gene Wilder as Willy Wonka and in 2005, with Johnny Depp.

And if P G Wodehouse gave us Jeeves, Dickens gave us Oliver Twist, then Dahl gave us Oompa Loompa!

And even though more than 1 million copies of his books are sold within UK every year, it’s still not the only place they love him.

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