John Major and Roald Dahl

When Margaret Thatcher left Downing Street, the Conservative Party turned to John Major to succeed her. Major went on to make his own mark away from the economic battles that had defined the years before him: he helped establish the Northern Ireland peace process, which the governments after him built on.

British children's literature, meanwhile, had already found its own household name in Roald Dahl. He became known above all for his children's books, even though he wrote for adults too, and one of those children's books, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, remains one of the best-known of them. Born in Wales to Norwegian parents, Dahl served in the Royal Air Force in the Second World War and began publishing in the 1940s; several of his stories became films.