Working with Roald Dahl helped me find Harry Potter

The publisher who discovered Harry Potter has said working with Cardiff-born children's author Roald Dahl helped him see the potential in JK Rowling's novel.

Barry Cunningham has worked with some of the most well-known children's authors in the world.

He said Roald Dahl was "a tall, quite grumpy, rather heroic, very frank author" who was adored by children.

"He was occasionally extremely grumpy and short tempered with adults, but never with children," he told the Books That Made Me programme on BBC Radio Wales.

Roald Dahl was born on 13 September 1916 in the Llandaff area of the Welsh capital, and died on 23 November 1990, aged 74.

As marketing director for Puffin, Mr Cunningham travelled around the country with him.

It was during one of those marketing trips that Dahl revealed what he believed was the secret to the success of his books.

Mr Cunningham said: "I a long drive, which was very difficult because he had hurt his back in the war.

"I said to him, as you do when you're very young, 'Mr Dahl, what is the secret of your popularity with children":[]}