There actually was a real life Alice — last named Lidell — who inspired the Oxford mathematician Rev Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, nee Lewis Carroll, to write his great tale of fiction. Among Carroll’s friends was Henry Liddell, a former head of Westminster School, and Dean of Christ Church, Oxford, where Carroll taught. Carroll befriended Liddell’s daughter as well, and she would serve as the inspiration behind what would become his most famous story.

On this day, July 4, in 1862, on a boating trip with Alice and her sisters Carroll recited the whimsical story of a girl meeting a white rabbit, that would become Alice in Wonderland. In addition to elements fantastical sure to appeal to children, he weaved in personal references to Alice’s life.

As one example, Carroll mentioned the real-life Alice’s birthday twice in the story: once with the meeting of the Cheshire car, and the second time with the Mad Hatter: “The Hatter was the first to break the silence. ‘What day of the month is it?’ he said, turning to Alice: he had taken his watch out of his pocket, and was looking at it uneasily … Alice considered a little, and then said, ‘The fourth.’”