Lewis Carroll was born in 1832. He was an English academic who taught for years at Christ Church College, part of Oxford University. A shy man, he suffered from a stammer.

At 18, he wrote puppet plays for his brothers and sisters. In his early 20s, he wrote humorous articles and poems for local magazines. Today he is remembered for his children’s books Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, and its sequel, Through the Looking-Glass.

His first big success began as a story he told one afternoon while taking Alice Liddell, the young daughter of a University colleague, rowing on the river.