Alan Bennett Reads Childhood Classics
The Wind in the Willows; Alice in Wonderland; Through the Looking Glass; Winnie-the-Pooh; The House at Pooh Corner

About Lewis Carroll

English writer and mathematician Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, who wrote under the pseudonym Lewis Carroll, was especially known for his children's books Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass. Besides being classic children's entertainment, they are also distinguished for their satire and verbal wit.

The son of a vicar, Carroll was a precocious child who showed early interest in both writing and mathematics. He studied mathematics and was appointed to a lectureship at Christ Church, Oxford. Carroll continued studying and prepared for holy orders for almost thirty years. Although he took deacon's orders in 1861, Carroll was never ordained as a priest.

A shy retiring bachelor, Carroll was happiest in the company of children, and his favorite was Alice Liddell, daughter of the dean of Christ Church. On a boating trip up the river Isis, Carroll told Alice and her three older sisters a story of "Alice's Adventures Underground," weaving into it many of the places and things they'd seen on their outings together. Alice was enchanted by the story and begged him to write it down. By the following February, Carroll had written a first draft and decided to publish it as Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Although he wrote a wide range of other books, including many on the subject of advanced mathematics, he is best remembered for his children's classics.