Roald Dahl's works of fiction have been a source of childhood wonder and imagination for many, many years.

The Norwegian-Welsh author, who penned such children's books like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Fantastic Mr. Fox, The Magic Finger and countless others, was known for his unique writing style and linguistic flourishes in his work.

Most recently, Steven Spielberg's The BFG made use of it in dialogue. Even his name sounded like something plucked from the pages of one of his novels. However, a video from 1957's Way Out - which Dahl guested on - shows that we've all been pronouncing his name wrong for years.

Take a look.

Although many of us would pronounce his name phonetically, i.e. Row-ald, the correct pronunciation is Roo-all. Roald Dahl was named after Roald Amundsen, a Norwegian explorer who was a great hero of Dahl's father.

Realistically, of course, everyone will keep pronouncing it as Row-ald but if you're a pedant, you can now correct everyone with this little tidbit.

 

 

Via YouTube