The Real People Who Inspired Timeless Fictional Characters

The Girl That Fell Down The Rabbit Hole

Photo Credits: Lewis Carroll/Hulton Archive/Getty Images

In 1862, Charles Dodgson, also known by his pen name Lewis Carroll, was on a boat to Oxford with his good friend Henry Liddell and his three young daughters including a ten-year-old Alice Liddell. He entertained the girls by telling them stories of a fantasy world and even named the main character Alice.

Alice particularly liked the stories and asked Carroll to write them down for her. He eventually wrote the manuscript for “Alice’s Adventures Underground” and sent it to her. The manuscript found its way to author George McDonald who revised it for publication and changed the title to Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.