Roald Dahl RAF pilots blamed the gremlins for all the problems with the aircraft. While at the British Embassy in Washington, Dahl sent a copy to the First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt who read it to her grandchildren, and the book was commissioned by Walt Disney for a film that was never made. Dahl went on to create some of the best-loved children's stories of the 20th century, such as "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory", "Matilda", "James and the Giant Peach", "The Witches", "Fantastic Mr Fox", "The BFG", "The Twits" and "George's Marvellous Medicine". Dahl also had a successful parallel career as the
Roald Dahl writer of macabre adult short stories, which often blended humour and innocence with surprising plot twists. The Mystery Writers of America presented Dahl with three Edgar Awards for his work, and many were originally written for American magazines such as "Collier's" ("The Collector's Item" was "Collier's" Star Story of the week for 4 September 1948), "Ladies Home Journal", "Harper's", "Playboy" and "The New Yorker". Works such as "Kiss Kiss" subsequently collected Dahl's stories into anthologies, and gained significant popularity. Dahl wrote more than 60 short stories; they have appeared in numerous collections, some only being published in book form after