Roald Dahl with Wartime Aircraft – Original ITV/Rex Press Photograph – Going Solo – 1986

Description

A superb original black-and-white press photograph of Roald Dahl, dating from 1986 and showing the celebrated author posed beside the remains of a wartime aircraft at precisely the period in which his autobiographical book Going Solo was published.

Measuring 20.3 × 25.4 cm, approximately the classic 10 × 8-inch press format, this is an exceptionally strong and evocative portrait. Dahl occupies the foreground at the right of the composition, looking directly towards the camera, while the substantial fuselage and propeller assembly of a wartime aircraft dominate the background.

The relationship between author and aircraft is particularly resonant. Before becoming internationally famous for his children’s books, Dahl had served as an RAF fighter pilot during the Second World War, experiences that formed a central part of Going Solo. The Roald Dahl Museum records that the book follows Dahl from his employment with Shell in Africa through his wartime service, while contemporary descriptions emphasise his flying training, combat experiences and near-fatal aircraft crash.

The reverse carries an archive date of:

9 OCT 1986

together with manuscript newsroom measurements and traces of former caption or mounting material.

This date is especially significant. Going Solo was published by Jonathan Cape in 1986, with an uncorrected proof carrying a provisional publication date of 11 September 1986. The photograph therefore entered the Shields Gazette archive within weeks of the book’s appearance.

The publicity context becomes considerably stronger because this exact image is independently identifiable. The Guardian later reproduced the same photograph, captioning it “Roald Dahl in 1986” and crediting it to ITV/Rex.

Going Solo and the Timing of the Photograph

The October 1986 date places this photograph squarely within the contemporary reception of Going Solo.

The book continued the autobiographical narrative begun in Boy: Tales of Childhood and recounts Dahl’s departure for Africa, his employment with Shell and his subsequent RAF service during the Second World War. The Roald Dahl Museum describes it as covering three years of his early adulthood, from Africa through his wartime flying career.

The timing is remarkably precise. The Washington Post reviewed Going Solo on 8 October 1986 — one day before the archive date on this photograph — describing it as Dahl’s account of his Second World War experiences. A major New York Times review followed on 12 October 1986, three days afterwards.

Taken together — the 1986 ITV/Rex attribution, the 9 October newspaper date, the aircraft setting and the contemporary publication of Going Solo — the evidence strongly suggests that this image formed part of the publicity surrounding Dahl’s renewed public discussion of his wartime flying career.

Because the surviving print no longer retains its original caption, however, Hornseys has deliberately described the Going Solo connection as contemporary context rather than claiming a specific commissioned purpose that cannot be proved from the object itself.

Roald Dahl as Children’s Author

Although Going Solo is autobiographical rather than one of Dahl’s fictional children’s stories, the photograph belongs to the mature period of the career that produced some of the most enduring books in modern children’s literature.

By 1986 Dahl had already published Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, James and the Giant Peach, Fantastic Mr Fox, Danny, the Champion of the World, The Twits, George’s Marvellous Medicine, The BFG, The Witches and The Giraffe and the Pelly and Me. The Roald Dahl Museum’s publication chronology records Going Solo in 1986, followed two years later by Matilda in 1988.

The photograph consequently has crossover interest for collectors of Roald Dahl first editions, children’s literature, author photography, Second World War aviation and literary autobiography.

Independent Image Identification

A particularly important feature is that the image itself is independently documented.

The Guardian used this exact portrait in 2018 in an article concerning the belated presentation of Dahl’s wartime medals to his family. Its caption identifies the photograph simply as:

“Roald Dahl in 1986”

and credits:

ITV/Rex.

That independent match materially strengthens the attribution and dating of the present vintage print.

Condition

Very good condition overall for an original working press photograph dating from 1986.

The image remains sharp, strongly contrasted and highly effective, with excellent facial detail and a particularly atmospheric aircraft background.

There is general age-related toning, light surface and handling wear, occasional minor marks and modest edge and corner wear.

The reverse shows genuine newspaper-library use, including manuscript sizing and editorial notation, remnants of former caption or mounting material and the clearly struck 9 October 1986 archive date.

The original caption is no longer present.

Please study both photographs carefully as they form an integral part of the description.

Subject: Roald Dahl
Date: 1986
Archive date: 9 October 1986
Image credit: ITV/Rex, independently recorded for this exact image
Literary association: Going Solo
Publisher of Going Solo: Jonathan Cape
Subject context: Dahl’s Second World War RAF service
Provenance: Shields Gazette photographic archive
Size: 20.3 × 25.4 cm
Format: Original black-and-white press photograph
Verso: Archive date, manuscript newsroom notation and former mounting/caption remnants
Modern reproduction: No

Authenticity and Research

This photograph has been handled, inspected and catalogued in-house at Hornseys.

Its 1986 dating is supported by the contemporary Shields Gazette archive stamp, while the image itself can be independently matched to an ITV/Rex photograph of Roald Dahl in 1986 reproduced by The Guardian.

The extraordinarily close relationship between the archive date, aircraft imagery and publication of Going Solo has been recorded, while avoiding an unsupported claim that the photograph was specifically commissioned to promote the book.

Why Buy From Us?

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