Starting-point -- Papa and Mama -- Kindergarten, 1922-3 -- Llandaff Cathedral School, 1923-5 (age 7-9) -- The bicycle and the sweet-shop -- The Great Mouse Plot -- Mr Coombes -- Mrs Pratchett's revenge -- Going to Norway -- The magic island -- A visit to the doctor -- St Peter's, 1925-9 (age 9-13) -- First day -- Writing home -- The Matron -- Homesickness -- A drive in the motor-car -- Captain Hardcastle -- Little Ellis and the boil -- Goat's tobacco -- Repton and Shell, 1929-36 (age 13-20) -- Getting dressed for the big school -- Boazers -- The Headmaster -- Chocolates -- Corkers -- Fagging -- Games and photography -- Goodbye school.

Boy is a funny, insightful and at times macabre glimpse into the early life of Roald Dahl, one of the world's favourite authors. We discover his experiences of the English public school system, the idyllic paradise of summer holidays in Norway, the pleasures (and pains) of the sweetshop, and how it is that he avoided being a Boazer. This is the unadulterated childhood - sad and funny, sinister and delightful - that inspired the much-loved children's writer.