Roald Dahl children's novels in a survey published by "School Library Journal", a monthly with primarily US audience. The Top 100 included four books by Dahl, more than any other writer: "Matilda", "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory", "The Witches", and "The BFG". In 2012, Dahl was among the British cultural icons selected by artist Sir Peter Blake to appear in a new version of his most famous artwork – the Beatles' "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" album cover – to celebrate the British cultural figures of his life he most admires. In a 2017 UK poll of the greatest authors, songwriters,
Roald Dahl was to help neutralise the isolationist views still held by many Americans by giving pro-British speeches and discussing his war service; the United States had entered the war only the previous December, following the attack on Pearl Harbor. At this time Dahl met the noted British novelist C. S. Forester, who was also working to aid the British war effort. Forester worked for the British Ministry of Information and was writing propaganda for the Allied cause, mainly for American consumption. "The Saturday Evening Post" had asked Forester to write a story based on Dahl's flying experiences; Forester asked Dahl to