Following on from Boy, Going Solo was another tremendously important book to me as a child. Where I could relate to his boyhood tales in some way, the next part of his life was a complete window to another world. Read then it was extraordinary and magical; read now I appreciate it on different levels entirely.

Dahl mentions how lucky he felt to have witnessed the later days of colonial Britain and the people that made the empire. All negative issues relating to Colonialism aside (I'm not going to go there and neither does Dahl) I completely understand what he means. The first half detailing his time in Africa working for the Shell Company is brilliant; a window to a life that no longer exists, with long boat journeys, quirky slightly mad Englishmen (and ladies) abroad, the culture and way of life. It's clearly romanticised; a big adventure, but then it's portrayed with such vigour and love that you can see the appeal to a fresh faced early-20 year old. I would have loved it (and probably still would). As a boy it made me dream of African countryside, baking suns, lions, deadly snakes and a different world.

The second part, detailing his experiences in the war as a pilot is equally enthralling though very different in tone. This was my first exposure to the second world war in any real way (back at primary school in the late-80s - we didn't cover the wars until secondary school and my subsequent interest developed a few years after that) and Dahl makes it all seem jolly exciting. Almost over before he began, his initial adoration of flying is powerfully detailed before his (more truthfully documented) account of the crash that put him in hospital for 6 months.

After, we have a series of raids and dogfights which become somewhat mechanical and repetitive in nature but still hold the interest. I wonder now though, whether his emphasis on a jolly adventure isn't quite as truthful as it could be; he states a few times that looking back he wonders why he wasn't more scared. I wonder the same. The horrors of war only really peak through at times and I suspect this was him writing for a younger audience.

Put together though, both Boy and Going Solo are wonderful books for children to open their eyes to different types of stories and worlds. Dahl's relaxed narrative envisages a cosy fire and glass of whiskey, reminiscent of an afternoon with your granddad. Equally of interest to the adults too.

His great story telling abilities are not lost in his own life story. Exciting WW2 skirmishes and detailed accounts of life in Kenya. Its more geared toward an adult audience but my kids were enthralled.

It's a more adult book than Boy, naturally, because it's largely about his time in the RAF during the war. It's an absolute action-packed, fascinating autobiography.

Well worth it.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07hwwjv

Description: To celebrate the centenary year of his birth, a full dramatization of Roald Dahl's gripping autobiographical overseas adventure.

Beginning aboard the SS Mantola, Dahl sets sail for Africa at the tender age of 22. He experiences the remnants of colonial British life, filled with eccentric characters, and is thrown into a world as bizarre and surprising as any you will find in his fiction.

"Life is made up of a great number of small incidents and a small number of great ones."

Stationed in Tanzania, Dahl is faced with the excitement of the wild; lions carrying off women in their mouths; fatal green mambas captured by snake men. But his savannah-sun-drenched life is interrupted when World War II erupts. Dahl is ordered to round up the German inhabitants of Dar es Salaam and experiences first-hand the horror of war.

Patrick Malahide provides the voice of Dahl in a colourful adaptation by Lucy Catherine.

Because Egypt was "too dusty"

Highly entertaining autobiography of Roald Dahl covering his early adulthood, first as an oil company rep. in Africa, where he has some incredible scrapes with wild animals, etc., and then later, with the outbreak of WW2 as a young pilot in the RAF, fighting the Nazis in Greece and elsewhere. A wonderful storyteller.

Re-read after many years. What I liked most this time were his recollections of his shipboard trip out from England to Africa, with eccentric "Empire Builder" Englishmen returning to their colonial jobs. Dahl had been hired by Shell Oil to be a company rep in Tanganyika, visiting clients and taking orders for fuel and lubricants. For me, the memorable stories were about wildlife: a huge lion snatched up a native cook's wife, carried her off in his mouth, then released her unharmed. A deadly green mamba went into an Englishman's house. He called the local snake-catcher, another eccentric Englishman, who caught the snake. Sadly, the family dog had already been killed. The sheer abundance of wildlife in those days (the late 1930s).

His flying lessons and time as a fighter pilot, in the doomed and ill-advised British effort to defend Greece. Dahl learned on the job and survived. Most of his comrades-in-arms didn't. The pitifully small British air detachment was largely destroyed.

His writing is wry, vivid and really good. I'm glad to have read the book again. I think he caught the flavor of those times and places really well. Recommended.

i don't know why, as a child, i was so obsessed with roald dahl's recollection of his time as a soldier flying airplanes over Africa during World War II?

but it is probably what got me in for a lifelong lukewarm interest in WWII that is responsible for 54% of what i have in common with my father, so. i should be grateful.

part of a project i'm doing where i review books i read a long time ago. in this case at the age of approximately 8.

Many years ago, I read this book, which thoroughly captivated me. Before earning a worldwide reputation as a writer of exciting and wildly imaginative children’s books, Dahl had served as a fighter pilot in the Royal Air Force during the Second World War. Here he relates his experiences of undergoing flight training in Southern Africa. He conveys with touching clarity the stresses, joys, and pain any pilot trainee experiences in coming to grips with flying. As someone who is fascinated with aviation, I almost felt as if I were in the cockpit with Dahl as he advanced through the various levels of training.

Dahl went on to serve with a fighter squadron in Libya, which, in the wake of the German blitzkrieg in the Balkans in April 1941, was later sent to Greece. It proved to be a fruitless undertaking as Dahl’s squadron sustained heavy losses and Dahl himself was greviously wounded. This book is a testament to one man’s love for flying and his efforts to pick up the pieces and resume a full life again.

This is a fun interesting autobiagraphy and had alot of adventures. This is also a very realistic book even if it is just for kids it has alot of humor. Roald writes about his recount of his experiences in Africa working for the ShellOil Company and as a pilot in WW2.
Dahl tells us about cool stories of himself meeting people. A person who puts salt on his shoulders to pretend he had dandruff just for a business meeting. Someone who runs around the boat naked in the morning. Someone who eats oranges without touching it with her fingers. These are just a few of all the people he meets.

Do you ever wonder how Dahl managed to create masterpieces like Matilda, James and the Giant Peach, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (to name only a few)?

Well, this book gives an insight into the life experiences young Dahl has when he leaves cosy England to join Africa. The good old days of the British Empire when young Brits could have the adventure of a life time in an exotic country. What makes Dahl an exceptional person - not just writer - is his abillity to soak in his surroundings and find curiosity, adventure and fun wherever he goes. It is this vivacity that I believe is what makes Dahl the writer he is. That coupled with the fact he had so many life changing experiences as a WWII pilot as well as serving for the British Empire - they must have surely fed his imagination for the books he would go on to write.

On to the book itself. Dahl's engaging story telling makes this autobiography feel like an adventure.
I read most of Dahll's books when I was a kid, but something about autobiographies put me off - in my mind I imagined this very one would be dull compared to Dahl's fictional stories. How wrong I was. Though if you ask me, fiction may have collided in this story; I reckon Dahl may have exaggerated some things to peak the author's interest. When Dahl discusses the time he was living in Africa and a snake catcher was called to capture a black mamba (apparently one of the most poisonous snakes), (UNFINISHED)

Bonus points for Dan Stevens reading the audiobook!