March 14, 2024

50 minutes

Available for over a year

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Lewis Carroll's book which first appeared in print in 1865 with illustrations by John Tenniel. It has since become one of the best known works in English, captivating readers who follow young Alice as she chases a white rabbit, pink eyed, in a waistcoat with pocket watch, down a rabbit hole that becomes a well and into wonderland. There she meets the Cheshire Cat, the Hatter, the March Hare, the Mock Turtle and more, all the while growing smaller and larger, finally outgrowing everyone at the trial of Who Stole the Tarts from the Queen of Hearts and exclaiming “Who cares for you? You’re nothing but a pack of cards!"

With

Franziska Kohlt

Leverhulme Research Fellow in the History of Science at the University of Leeds and the Inaugural Carrollian Fellow of the University of Southern California

Kiera Vaclavik

Professor of Children’s Literature and Childhood Culture at Queen Mary, University of London

And

Robert Douglas-Fairhurst

Professor of English Literature at Magdalen College, University of Oxford

Producer: Simon Tillotson