Alice?Alice? Who the….. yes, there have been many interesting takes on the name in music and literature, but none as famous as Oxford’s favourite story Alice In Wonderland. So proud are we in fact, that, film aside (see our cinema pages), Oxford has its very own annual Alice Day, this year on July 10. But for those of you still in the dark, it’s never too late to get in the know. Katherine MacAlister has compiled an idiot proof guide to Alice, and where to find her in Oxford.

* CREATE your own ‘golden afternoon’ with Oxford River Cruises and travel the Thames towards Binsey and back in an Edwardian river launch for up to 12 people.

Regular trips take place throughout the day or take a day charter taking in important locations on the nine or so miles between Godstow and Nuneham. See oxfordrivercruises.com or call 08452 269396 * The Alice’s Shop in St Aldate’s, Oxford, is the original Alice in Wonderland Shop. This was where Alice Liddell used to buy her barley sugar sweets 140 years ago. Lewis Carroll wrote the shop into the Alice adventures in Through the Looking-Glass and illustrator Tenniel sketched two illustrations of the shop for the book. Call 01865 723793.

* Alice in Waterland Walks and Cruises take place from Folly Bridge – where all Alice’s boat trips began. See oxfordwater walks.co.uk l Lewis Carroll was a friend of Thomas Combe, the director of Oxford University Press. On display in the OUP Archive is the account ledger for Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, showing that in July 1865 Carroll paid the Press almost £150 to print 2,000 copies of his new book. About 50 copies were bound up for Carroll to give to his friends, and 23 of these copies have survived, and they are among the rarest “first editions” in the world.

* Copies of the first three editions of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland are on display in the Bodleian Library, including one of the very rare “first editions” of the 1865 Alice. Call 01865 277224.

* Carroll almost certainly took the Liddell sisters to see the remains of the extinct dodo in Oxford’s Museum of Natural History. Call 01865 272950 l Dodgson (Carroll) was an excellent photographer when few people had cameras. His photographic chemical box, with his initials “C. L. D.” on the lid, is displayed in the History of Science Museum. Call 01865 277280.

* A new permanent display entitled The A-Z of Literary Oxford at the Museum of Oxford features an exploration of the lives of Lewis Carroll and Alice Liddell. The displays include many of their personal effects, such as pocket watches, calling card cases and silver scissors. See museum ofoxford.org.uk or call 01865 252761.

* Visit Christ Church Library, where in February 1855, Dodgson was made Sub-Librarian. From his office window he could see the Deanery Garden and it is from here that he probably first glimpsed the Liddell sisters playing in the garden below. Call 01865 276169.

THE REAL CARROLL: CHARLES Lutwidge Dodgson (1832-1898) was born in Daresbury, Cheshire in 1832.

The third of 11 children, he entertained his brothers and sisters with stories, puzzles and puppet shows.

In 1851 he came to Christ Church, Oxford, as an undergraduate and remained there for the rest of his life. A poet, ordained deacon, mathematician, philosopher, photographer, inventor of games, gadgets and puzzles, Dodgson is best known as the author of the Alice books, under the pen name Lewis Carroll.

THE REAL ALICE: ALICE Pleasance Liddell (1852-1934) was born at Westminster School where her father, the Reverend Henry George Liddell, was headmaster.

In 1855 he was appointed Dean of Christ Church and the family moved to Oxford where Alice, her brother and sisters, made friends with a young don, Charles Dodgson.

A beautiful child and young woman, Alice had many suitors including Queen Victoria’s youngest son, Leopold.

In 1880 she married Reginald Hargreaves and moved to Lyndhurst. Reginald died in 1926 and two years later Alice sold the manuscript of Alice’s Adventures, and other items Dodgson had given her as a child. In 1932 she confessed that she was “tired of being Alice in Wonderland”.

THE REAL STORY: ONE golden afternoon on July 4, 1862, Charles Dodgson took Alice Liddell and her sisters on a boating picnic up the River Thames from Folly Bridge to Godstow.

To amuse the children he told them a story about a little girl, sitting bored by a riverbank, who finds herself tumbling down a rabbit hole into a topsy-turvy world called Wonderland.

The story so delighted the 10-year old Alice that she begged him to write it down.

The result was Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland which was published in 1865.

Alice’s Day – Oxford Saturday, July 10 The Story Museum coordinates Alice’s Day, a day of family fun based in many of the city’s venues. Oxford turns into Wonderland to celebrate the first telling of Alice's adventures, an important story for children and children’s literature.