60 Fun Facts About Alice in Wonderland

In what year was Alice's Adventures in Wonderland first published?

It has never been out of print since. The sequel followed six years later.

What was Lewis Carroll's real name?

He was an Oxford mathematics don, and the pen name came from Latinising and reversing his first two names.

On what date did the famous 'golden afternoon' boat trip take place, when the story was first told?

Carroll rowed the three Liddell sisters from Folly Bridge to Godstow for a picnic and improvised the tale on the way.

How old was Alice Liddell on the boat trip where she first heard the story?

Her sisters Edith and Lorina were 8 and 13. Alice asked Carroll to write the story down, which he did as a Christmas gift.

What was the title of the handwritten manuscript Carroll gave the Liddell girl in 1864?

He illustrated it himself and dedicated it 'A Christmas Gift to a Dear Child in Memory of a Summer's Day'.

Who drew the 42 illustrations in the original edition?

He was already famous as chief cartoonist for Punch, and his objection to the first print run's quality got 2,000 copies pulled.

Why were the first 2,000 copies withdrawn from sale in England?

Those copies were sold in the United States instead, and surviving 1865 first editions are now among the most valuable children's books.

What is the White Rabbit carrying when Alice first spots him?

He is muttering that he is late, and in the Disney film he gets a whole song about it.

What is written on the bottle Alice finds after falling down the rabbit hole?

A cake labelled 'Eat me' does the opposite, growing her to a tremendous size.

What is the Caterpillar doing when Alice meets him?

He tells her the mushroom can make her grow or shrink depending on which side she eats.

Whose baby turns into a piglet in Alice's arms?

Alice releases it into the woods, reasoning it would have made a dreadfully ugly child but a rather handsome pig.

What does the Cheshire Cat leave behind when it disappears?

The phrase 'grinning like a Cheshire cat' predates the book, and one theory ties it to Cheshire cheese moulded in the shape of a smiling cat.

Which three characters are at the tea party when Alice arrives?

It is always six o'clock at their table, so they simply move around it as the dishes get used up.

What is the Hatter's unanswerable riddle?

Carroll originally intended it to have no answer at all, though he later offered one in a preface.

What price tag does the Hatter wear in his hat in the Tenniel illustrations?

That is ten shillings and sixpence. Carroll never actually calls him the 'Mad' Hatter in the text.

What is the likely origin of the phrase 'mad as a hatter'?

Mercury was used to make felt hats, and hat making was the main trade in Stockport near where Carroll grew up.

What are the 'balls' in the Queen's croquet game?

Flamingos serve as mallets and soldiers bend over to be the hoops.

What crime is the Knave of Hearts accused of at the trial?

The trial follows the old nursery rhyme, and Alice's outburst that they are 'nothing but a pack of cards' ends the dream.

Why are the gardeners painting the roses red?

The Queen of Hearts hates white roses, so the cards are frantically fixing their error before she arrives.

What do the Gryphon and Mock Turtle dance for Alice?

Disney wrote a song for the scene that never made the film; its melody became 'Never Smile at a Crocodile' in Peter Pan.

What is the Mock Turtle's 'Turtle Soup' a parody of?

The original was 'Star of the Evening, Beautiful Star'; Carroll built the book from private jokes for the family.

Which character in the Caucus-Race is a caricature of Carroll himself?

He had a stammer and sometimes pronounced his own surname 'Dodo-Dodgson'. The Duck is his friend Robinson Duckworth.

What are the names of the three sisters in the Dormouse's story?

They are the three Liddell girls in disguise: Elsie for L.C. (Lorina Charlotte), Lacie is an anagram of Alice, and Tillie was Edith's family nickname.

Into how many languages has the novel been translated?

It has never gone out of print. German and French editions appeared as early as 1869.

Which British Prime Minister may be the inspiration for Bill the Lizard's name?

Tenniel drew several Looking-Glass characters to resemble Disraeli too, including the 'Man in White Paper' on the train.

How much did Carroll's own copy of the 1865 first edition sell for at auction in 1998?

It was one of only six surviving copies of the withdrawn first printing, and at the time the most expensive children's book ever sold.

In what year was the sequel, Through the Looking-Glass, published?

Its full title is Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There.

What game provides the structure of Through the Looking-Glass?

The Red Queen tells Alice she can become a queen herself if she reaches the eighth rank of the board.

How can Alice read the poem 'Jabberwocky' when she first finds it?

Everything on the other side of the glass is reversed, including the printing in the books.

Which character explains the nonsense words of 'Jabberwocky' to Alice?

He calls words like 'slithy' portmanteaus, with 'two meanings packed up into one word', a term that stuck.

What kind of sword slays the Jabberwock in the poem?

'And through and through the vorpal blade went snicker-snack!' The Bandersnatch is the frumious one.

Which pair of characters recite 'The Walrus and the Carpenter' to Alice?

In Disney's version one actor, J. Pat O'Malley, voiced both twins as well as the Walrus and the Carpenter.

What is unusual about the White Queen's memory in Through the Looking-Glass?

'That's the effect of living backwards,' she explains, and screams before she pricks her finger.

What was 'The Wasp in a Wig'?

Tenniel told Carroll a wasp in a wig was 'altogether beyond the appliances of art', and the roughly 1,400 words were dropped.

How old does Alice say she is in Through the Looking-Glass?

That matched Alice Liddell's age on 4 November, her 'half-birthday', when the story is set.

What was Carroll's day job at Christ Church, Oxford?

One scholar argues Wonderland is partly a satire on the abstract new mathematics of the mid-1800s.

Alice Liddell's father Henry held what position at Oxford?

He was also co-editor of the standard Greek-English Lexicon; Carroll's office as sub-librarian was close to the deanery.

Where was Charles Dodgson born in 1832?

His hometown church now has stained-glass windows of the Wonderland characters, installed for the centenary of his birth.

Whom did Alice Liddell marry in 1880?

The wedding was at Westminster Abbey. Two of their three sons were killed in the First World War.

Who voiced Alice in Disney's 1951 animated film?

She also voiced Wendy in Peter Pan two years later.

Which comedian voiced the Mad Hatter in Disney's 1951 film?

Jerry Colonna was the March Hare and Sterling Holloway the Cheshire Cat.

What celebration is under way at the tea party in the Disney film?

Everyone has 364 of them a year, which is the whole point of the song.

How did Disney's 1951 Alice in Wonderland do at the box office on first release?

It took $2.4 million domestically and got mixed reviews; its reputation was rebuilt through later re-releases.

Which silent-film star pitched Walt Disney a live-action-plus-animation Alice in 1933?

She would have played Alice in an animated Wonderland; the idea was abandoned and Disney's version took another 18 years.

Who directed the 2010 live-action Alice in Wonderland?

It became the highest-grossing film of his career, passing a billion dollars worldwide.

Who played Alice in the 2010 film?

Her Alice Kingsleigh is 19 and returning to a place she called Wonderland as a child; the locals call it Underland.

Which actress played the Red Queen in the 2010 film, with her head digitally enlarged?

Her head was tripled in size on screen; the character merges Carroll's Red Queen with the Queen of Hearts.

Which veteran horror actor voiced the Jabberwocky in the 2010 film?

He had only two lines. Alan Rickman voiced the Caterpillar, Absolem.

How much did the 2010 film gross worldwide?

It was only the sixth film ever to pass a billion dollars, and it did so on its 85th day of release.

Which two Academy Awards did the 2010 film win?

It was also nominated for Visual Effects but lost.

Which band recorded the 1967 hit 'White Rabbit', inspired by the Alice books?

Grace Slick wrote it in her previous band, the Great Society, and brought it to the album Surrealistic Pillow.

Where in New York is the 1959 bronze Alice sculpture patterned on Tenniel's drawings?

A line from 'Jabberwocky' is inscribed around its base.

Which 2010 film character is an amalgam of Carroll's Red Queen and Queen of Hearts?

Anne Hathaway's White Queen is her sister Mirana, one of the few characters needing no digital alteration.

Who directed the 2016 sequel, Alice Through the Looking Glass?

James Bobin directed it, with Wasikowska, Depp and Bonham Carter back and Sacha Baron Cohen added as Time.

Which clergyman rowed with Carroll and the Liddell sisters on the 1862 trip, and is caricatured as the Duck?

The Lory and Eaglet stand for Alice's sisters Lorina and Edith, who appear as 'Prima' and 'Tertia' in the prefatory verse.

What was the title of the shortened version Carroll published for young children in 1890?

Macmillan, the original publisher, had also issued a facsimile of the manuscript in 1886.

Alice's dress became fixed as blue in the popular mind after Harry Theaker coloured Tenniel's plates in which year?

Theaker coloured sixteen plates for a Macmillan edition with Tenniel's approval.

The perception disorder named after Alice, distorting apparent size and distance, is also called what?

Symptoms such as micropsia and macropsia are often linked to migraines, head trauma or Epstein–Barr virus.

Which actor voiced the pink-and-purple-striped Cheshire Cat in Disney's 1951 film?

Colonna voiced the March Hare and Haydn the Caterpillar alongside Ed Wynn's Mad Hatter.

How much did Alice Liddell's original manuscript fetch when she sold it at Sotheby's in 1928?

That was nearly four times the reserve; she sold it after her husband's death made their home Cuffnells too costly to keep.