Editing Roald Dahl (section)

==Post-war life==
{{stack|[[File:Patricia Neal und Roald Dahl.jpg|thumb|200px|[[Patricia Neal]] and Roald Dahl in April 1954|alt=Patricia Neal and Roald Dahl]]}}
Dahl married American actress [[Patricia Neal]] on 2 July 1953 at [[Trinity Church, New York|Trinity Church]] in New York City. Their marriage lasted for 30 years and they had five children:
* [[Death of Olivia Dahl|Olivia Twenty]] (1955–1962);
* [[Tessa Dahl|Chantal Sophia "Tessa"]] (born 1957), who became an author, and mother of author, cookbook writer and former model [[Sophie Dahl]] (after whom Sophie in ''[[The BFG]]'' is named);<ref>{{cite news |first=Martin |last=Chilton |date=18 November 2010 |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/booknews/8143303/The-25-best-childrens-books.html |title=The 25 best children's books |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180215043536/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/booknews/8143303/The-25-best-childrens-books.html |archive-date=15 February 2018 |work=[[The Daily Telegraph]]}}</ref>
* Theo Matthew (born 1960);
* [[Ophelia Dahl|Ophelia Magdalena]] (born 1964);
* [[Lucy Dahl|Lucy Neal]] (born 1965).<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/biographyandmemoirreviews/7930232/Dad-also-needed-happy-dreams-Roald-Dahl-his-daughters-and-the-BFG.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220110/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/biographyandmemoirreviews/7930232/Dad-also-needed-happy-dreams-Roald-Dahl-his-daughters-and-the-BFG.html |archive-date=10 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|title='Dad also needed happy dreams': Roald Dahl, his daughters and the BFG|date=6 August 2010|work=The Daily Telegraph|access-date=16 September 2014}}{{cbignore}}</ref>
On 5 December 1960, four-month-old Theo was severely injured when his baby carriage was struck by a taxicab in New York City. For a time, he suffered from [[hydrocephalus]]. As a result, Dahl became involved in the development of what became known as the "[[Wade-Dahl-Till valve|Wade-Dahl-Till]]" (or WDT) valve, a device to improve the [[Cerebral shunt|shunt]] used to alleviate the condition.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.medgadget.com/archives/2005/07/water_on_the_br.html|title=Water on the Brain|date=15 July 2005|access-date=11 May 2006|work=MedGadget: Internet Journal of Emerging Medical Technologies|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060522112305/http://www.medgadget.com/archives/2005/07/water_on_the_br.html|archive-date=22 May 2006|url-status=dead}}</ref>{{sfn|Larner|2008|p=22}} The valve was a collaboration between Dahl, hydraulic engineer Stanley Wade, and London's [[Great Ormond Street Hospital]] neurosurgeon Kenneth Till, and was used successfully on almost 3,000 children around the world.<ref name="Olivia" />

In November 1962, Dahl's daughter [[Death of Olivia Dahl|Olivia]] died of [[Subacute sclerosing panencephalitis|measles encephalitis]], age seven. Her death left Dahl "limp with despair", and feeling guilty about not having been able to do anything for her.<ref name="Olivia"/> Dahl subsequently became a proponent of [[immunisation]]—writing "[[Measles: A Dangerous Illness]]" in 1988 in response to measles cases in the UK—and dedicated his 1982 book ''The BFG'' to his daughter.<ref>{{cite news |last=Singh |first=Anita |date=7 August 2010 |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/7930637/Roald-Dahls-secret-notebook-reveals-heartbreak-over-daughters-death.html |title=Roald Dahl's secret notebook reveals heartbreak over daughter's death |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191002043000/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/7930637/Roald-Dahls-secret-notebook-reveals-heartbreak-over-daughters-death.html |archive-date=2 October 2019 |work=[[The Daily Telegraph]] |access-date=4 January 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last1=Gonzalez|first1=Robbie|title=Read Roald Dahl's Powerful Pro-Vaccination Letter|date=31 January 2015|url=http://io9.com/read-roald-dahls-heart-rending-endorsement-of-measles-v-1682995322/+hudsonhongo|access-date=1 February 2015|archive-date=4 May 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150504023731/http://io9.com/read-roald-dahls-heart-rending-endorsement-of-measles-v-1682995322/+hudsonhongo|url-status=live}}</ref> After Olivia's death and a meeting with a Church official, Dahl came to view Christianity as a sham.<ref name="faith"/> In mourning he had sought spiritual guidance from [[Geoffrey Fisher]], the former Archbishop of Canterbury, and was dismayed being told that, although Olivia was in Paradise, her beloved dog Rowley would never join her there.<ref name="faith"/> Dahl recalled years later:

{{blockquote|I wanted to ask him how he could be so absolutely sure that other creatures did not get the same special treatment as us. I sat there wondering if this great and famous churchman really knew what he was talking about and whether he knew anything at all about God or heaven, and if he didn't, then who in the world did?<ref name="faith" />}}

In 1965, Dahl's wife Patricia Neal suffered three burst [[cerebral aneurysm]]s while pregnant with their fifth child, Lucy. Dahl took control of her rehabilitation over the next months; Neal had to re-learn to talk and walk, but she managed to return to her acting career.{{sfn|Farrell|1971|p=}} This period of their lives was dramatised in the film ''The Patricia Neal Story'' (1981), in which the couple were played by [[Glenda Jackson]] and [[Dirk Bogarde]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/filmblog/2010/aug/09/patricia-neal-beauty|title=Patricia Neal: a beauty that cut like a knife|author=David Thomson|newspaper=The Guardian|access-date=16 September 2014|date=9 August 2010|archive-date=7 December 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141207234527/http://www.theguardian.com/film/filmblog/2010/aug/09/patricia-neal-beauty|url-status=live}}</ref>

{{stack|[[File:Roald Dahl signeert boeken in de Kinderboekenwinkel in Amsterdam, Bestanddeelnr 934-3367.jpg|thumb|Dahl (age 72) signing books in Amsterdam, Netherlands in October 1988|alt=Dahl signing books]]}}

In 1972, Roald Dahl met [[Felicity Dahl|Felicity d'Abreu Crosland]], niece of Lt.-Col. Francis D'Abreu who was married to Margaret Bowes Lyon, the first cousin of the [[Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother|Queen Mother]], while Felicity was working as a set designer on an advert for Maxim coffee with the author's then wife, Patricia Neal.<ref name="secret">{{Cite web|url=https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/thought-could-keep-affair-secret-2139528|title=We thought we could keep our affair secret, says Roald Dahl's second wife|last=McCarthy|first=James|date=12 November 2008|website=walesonline|access-date=16 May 2019|archive-date=5 August 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200805054708/https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/thought-could-keep-affair-secret-2139528|url-status=live}}</ref> Soon after the pair were introduced, they began an 11-year affair.<ref name="secret" /> In 1983 Neal and Dahl divorced and Dahl married Felicity,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.roalddahl.com/roald-dahl/timeline/1980s|title=1980s – Roald Dahl|website=www.roalddahl.com|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190926031008/http://www.roalddahl.com/roald-dahl/timeline/1980s|archive-date=26 September 2019|access-date=23 April 2020}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2008/nov/09/felicity-dahl-roald|title=My years with Roald. Felicity Dahl talks to Elizabeth Day|last=Day|first=Elizabeth|date=9 November 2008|work=The Observer|access-date=16 May 2019|language=en-GB|issn=0029-7712|archive-date=31 October 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191031224802/https://www.theguardian.com/books/2008/nov/09/felicity-dahl-roald|url-status=live}}.</ref> at [[London Borough of Lambeth#Landmarks|Brixton Town Hall]], [[south London]]. Felicity (known as Liccy) gave up her job and moved into [[Gipsy House]], [[Great Missenden]] in Buckinghamshire, which had been Dahl's home since 1954.{{sfn|Pearson|2004|p=16}}

In August 1983, Dahl reviewed Australian author Tony Clifton's ''God Cried'', a picture book about the siege of West Beirut by the Israeli army during the [[1982 Lebanon War]].{{sfn|Clifton|Leroy|1983|p=}} The article, in which Dahl stated the Jews had never "switched so rapidly from much-pitied victims to barbarous murderers", appeared in the ''[[Literary Review]]'' and was the subject of media comment and criticism at the time.<ref name="Johnson1983">{{cite news|last=Johnson|first=Paul|author-link=Paul Johnson (writer)|date=3 September 1983|title=An affront to decency|page=15|work=The Spectator|url=http://archive.spectator.co.uk/article/3rd-september-1983/15/the-press|access-date=17 February 2020|archive-date=17 February 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200217113523/http://archive.spectator.co.uk/article/3rd-september-1983/15/the-press|url-status=live}}<!-- Subscription required, but could be accessed via the Google cache when this passage was added --></ref> Dahl wrote that Clifton's book would make readers "violently anti-Israeli", saying, "I am not anti-Semitic. I am anti-Israel."{{sfn|Treglown|2016|loc=Ch.14 note 39}} In 1990, Dahl spoke again on the Lebanon invasion, stating "they killed 22,000 civilians when they bombed Beirut. It was very much hushed up in the newspapers because they are primarily Jewish-owned. I'm certainly anti-Israeli and I've become antisemitic in as much as that you get a Jewish person in another country like England strongly supporting [[Zionism]]. I think they should see both sides. It's the same old thing: we all know about Jews and the rest of it. There aren't any non-Jewish publishers anywhere, they control the media—jolly clever thing to do".<ref>{{Cite news |title=Roald Dahl's family apologises for his antisemitism |last=Sherwood |first=Harriet |work=The Observer |date=6 December 2020 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/dec/06/roald-dahl-family-apologises-for-his-antisemitism |access-date=8 December 2020 |archive-date=7 December 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201207173040/https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/dec/06/roald-dahl-family-apologises-for-his-antisemitism |url-status=live}}</ref> His comments invoked responses from Jewish colleagues and friends, with the philosopher Sir [[Isaiah Berlin]], stating, "I thought he might say anything. Could have been pro-Arab or pro-Jew. There was no consistent line. He was a man who followed whims, which meant he would blow up in one direction, so to speak",{{sfn|Treglown|2016|loc=Ch.14 note 39}} while Amelia Foster, Jewish director of the [[Roald Dahl Museum and Story Centre|Roald Dahl Museum]] in Great Missenden, said, "He had a childish reaction to what was going on in Israel. Dahl wanted to provoke, as he always provoked at dinner."<ref>[http://www.dradio.de/dlf/sendungen/sonntagsspaziergang/875870/ "Das Roald-Dahl-Museum in Great Missenden"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100929225441/http://www.dradio.de/dlf/sendungen/sonntagsspaziergang/875870 |date=29 September 2010}}, dradio. {{in lang |de}}. 16 November 2008.</ref> As a consequence of his comments, in 2014, the [[Royal Mint]] decided not to produce a coin to commemorate the centenary of Dahl's birth.<ref>{{cite news|last=Murphy|first=Simon|date=6 November 2018|title=Royal Mint rejected Roald Dahl coin over antisemitic views|newspaper=The Guardian|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/nov/06/royal-mint-roald-dahl-coin-antisemitic-views|access-date=7 November 2018|archive-date=23 February 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230223185548/https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/nov/06/royal-mint-roald-dahl-coin-antisemitic-views|url-status=live}}</ref> In 2020, Dahl's family published a statement on the official Roald Dahl website apologising for his antisemitism.<ref name="npr-MS">{{cite news | author = Schwarts, Matthew S. | publisher = [[National Public Radio]] ("npr") | title = Roald Dahl Family Apologizes For Children's Author's Anti-Semitism | newspaper = NPR | date = 6 December 2020 | url = https://www.npr.org/2020/12/06/943698406/roald-dahl-family-apologizes-for-childrens-authors-anti-semitism | url-status  = live | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20201208024324/https://www.npr.org/2020/12/06/943698406/roald-dahl-family-apologizes-for-childrens-authors-anti-semitism | archive-date = 8 December 2020}}</ref>

In the 1986 [[New Years Honours List]], Dahl was offered an appointment to [[Officer of the Order of the British Empire]] (OBE), but turned it down. He reportedly wanted a [[Orders, decorations, and medals of the United Kingdom|knighthood]] so that his wife would be Lady Dahl.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/gallery-e6frg6n6-1226255265938?page=2|title=Queen's honours refused|access-date=16 September 2014|archive-date=2 February 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120202073440/http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/gallery-e6frg6n6-1226255265938?page=2|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/need-to-read/2012/01/26/roald-dahl-among-hundreds-who-turned-down-queen-s-honours-91466-30203207/2/ |title=Roald Dahl among hundreds who turned down Queen's honours |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120329025651/http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/need-to-read/2012/01/26/roald-dahl-among-hundreds-who-turned-down-queen-s-honours-91466-30203207/2/ |archive-date=29 March 2012 |publisher=WalesOnline |date=26 January 2012 |access-date=27 January 2012}}</ref> Dahl's last significant involvement in medical charities during his lifetime was with [[dyslexia]]. In 1990, the year which saw the UN launch International Literacy Year, Dahl assisted with the British Dyslexia Association's Awareness Campaign.{{sfn|Solomon|2016|p=125}} That year saw Dahl write one of his last children's books, ''[[The Vicar of Nibbleswicke]]'', which features a vicar who has a fictitious form of dyslexia that causes him to pronounce words backwards. Called "a comic tale in the best Dahl tradition of craziness" by [[Waterstones]], Dahl donated the rights of the book to the [[Dyslexia Action|Dyslexia Institute]] in London.{{sfn|Solomon|2016|p=125}}<ref>{{cite news |title=The Vicar of Nibbleswicke (Paperback) |url=https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-vicarì-of-nibbleswicke/roald-dahl/quentin-blake/9780140348910 |access-date=11 October 2023 |publisher=Waterstones}}</ref>

In 2012, Dahl was featured in the list of ''[[The New Elizabethans]]'' to mark the [[diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II]]. A panel of seven academics, journalists and historians named Dahl among the group of people in Britain "whose actions during the reign of Elizabeth II have had a significant impact on lives in these islands and given the age its character".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01jxs2c/features/about|publisher=BBC|title=The New Elizabethans – Roald Dahl|access-date=8 August 2016|archive-date=25 November 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121125012450/http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01jxs2c/features/about|url-status=live}}</ref> In September 2016, Dahl's daughter Lucy received the BBC's ''[[Blue Peter]]'' [[Blue Peter badge#Gold Badge|Gold badge]] in his honour, the first time it had ever been awarded posthumously.<ref>{{cite press release |title=Roald Dahl to be posthumously honoured with a Gold Blue Peter badge |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/latestnews/2016/roald-dahl-posthumous-gold-blue-peter-badge |access-date=20 June 2024 |agency=BBC |archive-date=17 September 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190917211802/https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/latestnews/2016/roald-dahl-posthumous-gold-blue-peter-badge |url-status=dead}}</ref>