Lewis Carroll

1. Alice’s character was based on a real-life little girl named Alice Liddell. She was in fact not a blonde as illustrated in the book but a brunette. The real life Alice has been portrayed in fiction almost as many times than the fictional one! Recently in John Logan’s stage play Peter and Alice in which she was played by Dame Judi Dench. 2. The tree that is said to have inspired the Cheshire Cat’s tree stands in the garden behind Alice’s home at Christ Church College, Oxford. 3. Mock Turtle soup IS REAL! It was a popular dish in Victorian times, created as a cheaper version of green turtle soup.It was made from various odd parts of a calf, such as brains, head and hoof! 4. After reading Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Queen Victoria, having loved the book, suggested that Carroll dedicate his next book to her! And so, his next work, An Elementary Treatise on Determinants, With Their Application to Simultaneous Linear Equations and Algebraic Equations, was prese

Migraine and epilepsy In his diary for 1880, Dodgson recorded experiencing his first episode of migraine with aura, describing very accurately the process of "moving fortifications" that are a manifestation of the aura stage of the syndrome. Unfortunately, there is no clear evidence to show whether this was his first experience of migraine per se, or if he may have previously suffered the far more common form of migraine without aura, although the latter seems most likely, given the fact that migraine most commonly develops in the teens or early adulthood. Another form of migraine aura called Alice in Wonderland syndrome has been named after Dodgson's little heroine because its manifestation can resemble the sudden size-changes in the book. It is also known as macropsia and micropsia, a brain condition affecting the way that objects are perceived by the mind. For example, an afflicted person may look at a larger object such as a basketball and perceive it as if i

While the laughter of joy is in full harmony with our deeper life, the laughter of amusement should be kept apart from it. The danger is too great of thus learning to look at solemn things in a spirit of mockery, and to seek in them opportunities for exercising wit. Always speak the truth, think before you speak, and write it down afterwards. Which form of proverb do you prefer Better late than never, or Better never than late? Take care of the sense and the sounds will take care of themselves. But I was thinking of a way To multiply by ten, And always, in the answer, get The question back again. There comes a pause, for human strength will not endure to dance without cessation; and everyone must reach the point at length of absolute prostration.

Photography In 1856, Dodgson took up the new art form of photography under the influence first of his uncle Skeffington Lutwidge , and later of his Oxford friend Reginald Southey. He soon excelled at the art and became a well-known gentleman-photographer, and he seems even to have toyed with the idea of making a living out of it in his very early years. A study by Roger Taylor and Edward Wakeling exhaustively lists every surviving print, and Taylor calculates that just over half of his surviving work depicts young girls, though about 60% of his original photographic portfolio is now missing. Dodgson also made many studies of men, women, boys, and landscapes; his subjects also include skeletons, dolls, dogs, statues, paintings, and trees.His pictures of children were taken with a parent in attendance and many of the pictures were taken in the Liddell garden because natural sunlight was required for good exposures. He also found photography to be a useful entrée into higher social cir

Within the academic discipline of mathematics, Dodgson worked primarily in the fields of geometry, linear and matrix algebra,mathematical logic, and recreational mathematics, producing nearly a dozen books under his real name. Dodgson also developed new ideas in linear algebra (e.g., the first printed proof of the Kronecker - Capell theorem) ,probability, and the study of elections and committees; some of this work was not published until well after his death. His occupation as Mathematical Lecturer at Christ Church gave him some financial security. His mathematical work attracted renewed interest in the late 20th century. Martin Gardner's book on logic machines and diagrams and William Warren Bartley's posthumous publication of the second part of Carroll's symbolic logic book have sparked a reevaluation of Carroll's contributions to symbolic logic. Robbins' and Rumsey's investigation of Dodgson condensation, a method of evaluating determinations, led th

At least four complete volumes and around seven pages of text are missing from Dodgson's 13 diaries. The loss of the volumes remains unexplained; the pages have been removed by an unknown hand. Most scholars assume that the diary material was removed by family members in the interests of preserving the family name, but this has not been proven. Except for one page, material is missing from his diaries for the period between 1853 and 1863 (when Dodgson was 21–31 years old). This was a period when Dodgson began suffering great mental and spiritual anguish and confessing to an overwhelming sense of his own sin. This was also the period of time when he composed his extensive love poetry, leading to speculation that the poems may have been autobiographical. Many theories have been put forward to explain the missing material. A popular explanation for one missing page (27 June 1863) is that it might have been torn out to conceal a proposal of marriage on that day by Dodgson to the 11-ye