A new book has revealed that British author Roald Dahl slept with numerous women whilst working as a spy in America.
Dahl was a fighter pilot in the RAF during the War and narrowly avoided death after making an emergency landing in the Egyptian desert.
He was invalided back to Britain after which he began to work for a secret service network based in the US called British Security Coordination.
According to a new autobiography by Donald Sturrock, being serialised in The Telegraph, whilst in the US Dahl slept with many high society women including Congresswoman Clare Booth Luce and oil heiress Millicent Rogers.
Roald Dahl is probably the most famous children's author who ever lived. His books, still popular with kids today, include James and the Giant Peach, George's Marvellous Medicine, The BFG, The Twits, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Fantastic Mr Fox, Matilda and The Witches.
He also wrote two autobiographies for children: "Boy - Tales of Childhood" in which he recounts his life until the age of 20 and "Going Solo", in which he recounts his time working for British oil giant Shell, living and working in the British protectorate of Tanzania, and becoming one of the last Allied pilots to withdraw from Greece during the German invasion.
His 1943 book The Gremlins later inspired Hollywood to make the 1984 movie Gremlins.
Apart from children's books, he also wrote several adults' books. And he wrote a heartbreaking account of the death of his daughter from measles at the age of just 7 in 1962.
Roald Dahl died in 1990 at the age of 74.
How 'drop dead gorgeous' Roald Dahl slept with countless women while working as a spy
By Daily Mail Reporter
8th August 2010
Roald Dahl pictured when he was a dashing RAF fighter pilot
Roald Dahl slept with numerous high society women while working as a spy in America during the Second World War, a new book has revealed.
Described by a wealthy female friend as 'drop dead gorgeous', Dahl kept a 'whole stable' of women who tended to his every need.
'He was very arrogant with his women, but he got away with it. The uniform didn't hurt one bit - and he was an ace [pilot]', Dahl's friend Antoinette Haskell said.
The extent of Dahl's womanising is revealed in a new autobiography by Donald Sturrock being serialised in The Telegraph.
Haskell quips that the much-loved author 'slept with everybody on the East and West coasts that had more than $50,000 a year'.
Among his sexual conquests were exotic actress Annabella, Evalyn Walsh McLean, Congresswoman Clare Booth Luce and oil heiress Millicent Rogers.
Dahl had fought as a fighter pilot in the war until he had to make an emergency landing in the Egyptian desert, narrowly avoiding death.
He was invalided back to Britain in 1941, after which he began to work for a secret service network based in the States called British Security Coordination
But Sturrock's book reveals how Dahl's spy work was somewhat at odds with the author's tendency to spill the beans.
'Dad never could keep his mouth shut,' said daughter Lucy. 'He gossiped like a girl.'
Annabella, left, and Clare Booth Luce both fell under Roald Dahl's spell
Prominent Washington D.C. socialite Evalyn Walsh McLean, right, at an event with her daughter
Dahl also wrote a heartbreaking account of the death of his young daughter from measles, the autobiography revealed.
The much-loved children's author was left 'limp with despair' after Olivia succumbed to the disease in 1962, at the age of seven.
Written shortly after her death, the account was only found by Dahl's family after the novelist died some 28 years later.
Confined to a school exercise book, the document was shared with author Donald Sturrock.
Roald Dahl with his wife, the American actress Patricia Neal, with daughters Olivia and Tessa, left, and the couple's baby son Theo. Olivia died after contracting measles in 1962
The first instalment yesterday reveals Dahl's anguish at coming to terms with the death of his daughter.
The writer never spoke publicly about Olivia, but dedicated The BFG to her on the 20th anniversary of her death.
In an extract from his personal notebook, he charts the moment he found out about the seven-year-old's death two days after she became ill.
Roald Dahl created many of the most famous children's characters, including Charlie who ran an amazing chocolate factory. Hollywood later changed Charlie's name to Willy Wonka.
His account, as printed in the Daily Telegraph, recalls: 'Got to hospital. Walked in. Two doctors advanced on me from waiting room.
'How is she? I'm afraid it's too late. I went into her room. Sheet was over her. Doctor said to nurse go out. Leave him alone.
'I kissed her. She was warm. I went out.'
Quotes from "Boy" and "Going Solo", Roald Dahl's autobiographies aimed at children.
"Pear Drops were exciting because they had a dangerous taste. All of us were warned against eating them, and the result was that we ate them more than ever."
"A tuck-box is a small pinewood trunk which is very strongly made, and no boy has ever gone as a boarder to an English Prep School without one."
"Gobstoppers, costing a penny each, were enormous, hard, round balls the size of small tomatoes. One Gobstopper would provide about an hour's worth of nonstop sucking."
"I learned to speak Swahili and to shake the scorpions out of my mosquito boots in the mornings. I learned what it was like to get malaria and to run a temperature of 105 degrees for three days. "
"Newfoundland was not much of a country. For three weeks we trudged all over that desolate land with enormous loads on our backs. We carried tents and sleeping bags and saucepans and food and axes. "
"Egypt was desert country. It was bare and sandy and full of tombs and relics and Egyptians, and I didn't fancy it at all. "
"On the way to school and on the way back we always passed the sweet-shop. We always stopped. We lingered outside its small window gazing in at the big glass jars."
Roald Dahl in 1988
dailymail.co.uk
Dahl was a fighter pilot in the RAF during the War and narrowly avoided death after making an emergency landing in the Egyptian desert.
He was invalided back to Britain after which he began to work for a secret service network based in the US called British Security Coordination.
According to a new autobiography by Donald Sturrock, being serialised in The Telegraph, whilst in the US Dahl slept with many high society women including Congresswoman Clare Booth Luce and oil heiress Millicent Rogers.
Roald Dahl is probably the most famous children's author who ever lived. His books, still popular with kids today, include James and the Giant Peach, George's Marvellous Medicine, The BFG, The Twits, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Fantastic Mr Fox, Matilda and The Witches.
He also wrote two autobiographies for children: "Boy - Tales of Childhood" in which he recounts his life until the age of 20 and "Going Solo", in which he recounts his time working for British oil giant Shell, living and working in the British protectorate of Tanzania, and becoming one of the last Allied pilots to withdraw from Greece during the German invasion.
His 1943 book The Gremlins later inspired Hollywood to make the 1984 movie Gremlins.
Apart from children's books, he also wrote several adults' books. And he wrote a heartbreaking account of the death of his daughter from measles at the age of just 7 in 1962.
Roald Dahl died in 1990 at the age of 74.
How 'drop dead gorgeous' Roald Dahl slept with countless women while working as a spy
By Daily Mail Reporter
8th August 2010
Roald Dahl pictured when he was a dashing RAF fighter pilot
Roald Dahl slept with numerous high society women while working as a spy in America during the Second World War, a new book has revealed.
Described by a wealthy female friend as 'drop dead gorgeous', Dahl kept a 'whole stable' of women who tended to his every need.
'He was very arrogant with his women, but he got away with it. The uniform didn't hurt one bit - and he was an ace [pilot]', Dahl's friend Antoinette Haskell said.
The extent of Dahl's womanising is revealed in a new autobiography by Donald Sturrock being serialised in The Telegraph.
Haskell quips that the much-loved author 'slept with everybody on the East and West coasts that had more than $50,000 a year'.
Among his sexual conquests were exotic actress Annabella, Evalyn Walsh McLean, Congresswoman Clare Booth Luce and oil heiress Millicent Rogers.
Dahl had fought as a fighter pilot in the war until he had to make an emergency landing in the Egyptian desert, narrowly avoiding death.
He was invalided back to Britain in 1941, after which he began to work for a secret service network based in the States called British Security Coordination
But Sturrock's book reveals how Dahl's spy work was somewhat at odds with the author's tendency to spill the beans.
'Dad never could keep his mouth shut,' said daughter Lucy. 'He gossiped like a girl.'
Annabella, left, and Clare Booth Luce both fell under Roald Dahl's spell
Prominent Washington D.C. socialite Evalyn Walsh McLean, right, at an event with her daughter
Dahl also wrote a heartbreaking account of the death of his young daughter from measles, the autobiography revealed.
The much-loved children's author was left 'limp with despair' after Olivia succumbed to the disease in 1962, at the age of seven.
Written shortly after her death, the account was only found by Dahl's family after the novelist died some 28 years later.
Confined to a school exercise book, the document was shared with author Donald Sturrock.
Roald Dahl with his wife, the American actress Patricia Neal, with daughters Olivia and Tessa, left, and the couple's baby son Theo. Olivia died after contracting measles in 1962
The first instalment yesterday reveals Dahl's anguish at coming to terms with the death of his daughter.
The writer never spoke publicly about Olivia, but dedicated The BFG to her on the 20th anniversary of her death.
In an extract from his personal notebook, he charts the moment he found out about the seven-year-old's death two days after she became ill.
Roald Dahl created many of the most famous children's characters, including Charlie who ran an amazing chocolate factory. Hollywood later changed Charlie's name to Willy Wonka.
His account, as printed in the Daily Telegraph, recalls: 'Got to hospital. Walked in. Two doctors advanced on me from waiting room.
'How is she? I'm afraid it's too late. I went into her room. Sheet was over her. Doctor said to nurse go out. Leave him alone.
'I kissed her. She was warm. I went out.'
Quotes from "Boy" and "Going Solo", Roald Dahl's autobiographies aimed at children.
"Pear Drops were exciting because they had a dangerous taste. All of us were warned against eating them, and the result was that we ate them more than ever."
"A tuck-box is a small pinewood trunk which is very strongly made, and no boy has ever gone as a boarder to an English Prep School without one."
"Gobstoppers, costing a penny each, were enormous, hard, round balls the size of small tomatoes. One Gobstopper would provide about an hour's worth of nonstop sucking."
"I learned to speak Swahili and to shake the scorpions out of my mosquito boots in the mornings. I learned what it was like to get malaria and to run a temperature of 105 degrees for three days. "
"Newfoundland was not much of a country. For three weeks we trudged all over that desolate land with enormous loads on our backs. We carried tents and sleeping bags and saucepans and food and axes. "
"Egypt was desert country. It was bare and sandy and full of tombs and relics and Egyptians, and I didn't fancy it at all. "
"On the way to school and on the way back we always passed the sweet-shop. We always stopped. We lingered outside its small window gazing in at the big glass jars."
Roald Dahl in 1988
dailymail.co.uk
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