Roald Dahl Day: Celebrating 100 years since his birth

Celebrated children's author Roald Dahl would have been 100 years old on September 13, making it his centenary.

Dahl is known for his hugely popular children's books, like "Matilda", "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory", "The BFG", and "James and the Giant Peach", in his writing career which spanned six decades.

It is estimated that around 200 million copies of his books have been sold globally, while his works are available in 58 languages.

Not only did he write, but Dahl himself was an inventor of sorts - he invented the Wade-Dahl-Till valve, a cerebral shunt he created with an engineer and a neurosurgeon for his son Theo who had hydrocephalus.

The three of them agreed that they would not make a profit from the product, and it benefited thousands of other children with the illness.

The author was born in Llandaff, Cardiff, where he spent his formative years, before being moved to England to go to boarding school.

The Welsh village celebrated his life this week by unveiling several blue plaques at places of historic significance and relation to Dahl - following the installation of a blue plaque at an old sweet shop in the area in 2007.

Over the next week, Cardiff will see what organisers hope will be the biggest arts event ever to happen on the streets, with 6,000 performers taking part in the celebrations.

Roald Dahl, with his wife Patricia Neal, and children Olivia, Tessa, and Theo. Credit: PA

In London, Roald Dahl's "The Twits", a tale of a cruel and disgusting married couple, is being brought to life in an immersive theatre show called "Dinner at the Twits" at The Vaults which runs until the end of October.

Elsewhere, in celebration of his birthday, the Oxford English Dictionary added some of the author's iconic words to the dictionary, including splendiferous, frightsome, Oompa Loompa, witching hour, and scrumdiddlyumptious.