The secret life of Lewis Carroll
5 surprising facts about the man behind Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
Lewis Carroll is well known for his fantastical children’s book Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. But his real life is just as surprising as the Wonderland Alice visits. Here are 5 weird and wonderful facts about Lewis Carroll.
1. ‘Lewis Carroll’ is not his real name
While we all know him as Lewis Carroll, this is just a pen name. His real name is Charles Lutwidge Dodgson.
Dodgson chose his pen name by first translating ‘Charles’ and ‘Lutwidge’ into Latin to get ‘Carolus’ and ‘Ludovicus.’ Next he switched them around to get ‘Ludovicus Carolus’ and then translated them back into English to arrive at ‘Lewis Carroll.’
2. He was a mathematician
Charles Dodgson was a mathematician. Yes, really! He studied mathematics at Christ Church College, Oxford University, scoring top marks in his exams. Then, after graduating, he was appointed a mathematics lecturer at Christ Church by the Dean, Henry Liddell.
Dean Liddell and his wife had four children, one of them a daughter named Alice. Dodgson made up stories for Alice and her sisters, which eventually became the ‘Alice’ books that made…
