born Sept. 13, 1916, Llandaff, Wales
died Nov. 23, 1990, Oxford, Eng.
British writer.
A fighter pilot during World War II, he began his writing career when C.S. Forester encouraged him to write about his combat adventures; they were published by The Saturday Evening Post . The short-story collection Someone Like You (1953) was a best-seller; his later stories, many published in The New Yorker , often include bizarre or supernatural elements. His popular children's books James and the Giant Peach (1961) and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (1964) were made into films.