THE WIDOW of Great Missenden author Roald Dahl, Dame Felicity, has been named dame commander at a ceremony at Windsor Castle today.

Felicity Dahl, the wife of the author and producer of films based on two of his books – 1996’s Matilda and 2005’s Charlie And The Chocolate factory – has been made a dame commander for services to philanthropy, literature and young people.

She founded Roald Dahl’s Marvellous Children’s Charity, which provides specialist nurses for seriously ill children, and the Roald Dahl Museum and Story Centre in Buckinghamshire.

Great Missenden was chosen as the site for the new museum as Roald Dahl lived there from 1916 to 1990. He wrote all of his books for both children and adults there too.

Visitors can also expect to be dazzled by a spectacular array of displays and shows highlighting the life and work of one of Britain's favourite authors.

Many of his most treasured possessions will be on display, and large video screens are being installed to provide original footage of the author at work.

The museum, on the site of an old coaching inn in High Street, Great Missenden, forms one of the largest literary archives in the world.

It also contains drafts of every major work, proof and correspondence with agents and editors that Roald Dahl ever recorded. The archive is even be home to the idea books where so many of his stories began.