 I'm delighted to be here at the British Library to celebrate the publication of my latest book. I have illustrated one of my favourite ever children's books, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, by Lewis Carroll. The original Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland was illustrated by Sir John Tenniel, one of my favourite illustrators. He was born 200 years ago, so it's a very special year. And we're going to have some readings from Alice in Wonderland, and I'm going to be doing some drawing. Curiosa and Curiosa cried Alice. She was so much surprised that for the moment she quite forgot how to speak good English. Now I'm opening out like the largest telescope there ever was. Goodbye, feet. For when she looked down at her feet, they seemed to be almost out of sight. They were getting so far off. Oh, my poor little feet. I wonder who will put on your shoes and stockings for you nowadays. I'm sure I shall be able. I shall be a great deal too far off to trouble myself about you. You must manage the best way you can, but I must be kind to them, thought Alice. Or perhaps they won't walk the way I want to go. Let me see. I'll give them a new pair of boots every Christmas. And she went on planning to herself how she would manage it. They must go by the carrier, she thought. And how funny it would seem sending presents to one's own feet, and how odd the directions will look. Just at this moment, her head struck against the roof of the hall. In fact, she was now rather more than nine feet high, and she at once took up the little golden key and hurried off to the garden door. Poor Alice. It was as much as she could do, lying down on one side to look through in the garden with one eye. But to get through was more hopeless than ever. She sat down and began to cry again. You ought to be ashamed of yourself, said Alice. A great girl like you. She might as well say this, to go on crying in this way. Stop this moment, I tell you. But she went on all the same, shedding gallons of tears until there was a large pool around her, about four inches deep, and reaching halfway down the hall. After a time, she had a little pattering of feet in the distance, and she hastily dried her eyes to see what was coming. It was the white rabbit returning, speedily dressed with a pair of white kid gloves on one hand and a large fan in the other. He came trotting along in a great hurry, muttering to himself as he came. Oh, the Duchess. The Duchess. Oh, why didn't she be savage if I kept her waiting? Alice felt so desperate that she was ready to ask help of anyone. So when the rabbit came near her, she began in a low, timid voice. If you please, sir. The rabbit started violently, dropped the white kid gloves and the fan, and scurried away in the darkness as hard as he could go. Alice took up the fanning gloves, and as the hall was very hot, she kept fanning herself all the time, and she went on talking. Dear, dear, how queer. Everything is today, and yesterday things went on just as usual. I wonder if I've been changed in the night? Let me think. Was I the same when I got up this morning? I almost think I can remember feeling a little different. But if I'm not the same, the next question is, who in the world am I? Oh, that's the great puzzle. And she began thinking over all the children she knew that were of the same age as herself to see if she could have been changed for any of them. I'm sure I'm not Ada, she said. For her head goes in such long ringlets, a mind doesn't go in ringlets at all. And I'm sure I can't be Mabel, for I know all sorts of things, and she. Oh, she knows such a very little. Besides, she's she, and I'm I. And, oh dear, how puzzling it all is. I'll try if I know all the things I used to know. Let me see. 4 times 5 is 12, 4 times 6 is 13, and 4 times 7 is... Oh dear, I shall never get to 20 at that rate. However, the multiplication table doesn't signify. Let's try geography. London is the capital of Paris, and Paris is the capital of Rome, and Rome, no. That's all wrong. I'm certain. I must have changed for Mabel. I'll try and say, how doth the little? And she crossed her hands on her lap, as if she was saying lessons, and began to repeat it. But her voice sounded hoarse and strange, and the words did not come the same as they used to. How doth the little crocodile improve a shining tail, and pour the waters of the Nile on every golden scale? How cheerfully he seems to grin, how neatly he spreads his claws, and welcomes little fishes in, who've gently smiling jaws. Beautiful soup, so rich and green, waiting in a hot terrain, who for such dainties would not stoop? Soup of the evening, beautiful soup, soup of the evening, beautiful soup. Beautiful soup, beautiful soup, soup of the evening, beautiful, beautiful soup. Beautiful soup. Who cares for fish, game, or any other dish? Who would not give, or else, or to be, anywhere, only a beautiful soup? Anywhere, only a beautiful soup, beautiful soup, beautiful soup. Soup of the evening, beautiful, beautiful soup. There is the most fantastic tea party in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Alice takes directions from the Cheshire cat to the March Hare's house, and when she arrives she finds everyone sitting down to tea. There's their March Hare, the Hatter, and a very sleepy door mouse, all sitting down to tea. There was a table set out under a tree in front of the house, and the March Hare and the Hatter were having tea at it. A door mouse was sitting between them, fast asleep, and the other two were using it as a cushion, resting their elbows on it and talking over its head. Very uncomfortable for the door mouse, thought Alice, only as it's asleep, I suppose it doesn't mind. The table was a large one, but the three were all crowded together at one corner of it. No room, no room! They cried out when they saw Alice coming. There's plenty of room, said Alice indignantly, and she sat down in a large armchair at one end of the table. Have some wine, the March Hare said in an encouraging tone. Alice looked all round the table, but there was nothing on it but tea. I don't see any wine, she remarked. There isn't any, said the March Hare. Then it wasn't very civil of you to offer it, said Alice angrily. It wasn't very civil of you to sit down without being invited, said the March Hare. I didn't know it was your table, said Alice. It's laid for a great many more than three. Your hair needs cutting, said the Hatter. He had been looking at Alice for some time with great curiosity, and this was his first speech. You should learn not to make personal remarks, Alice said with some severity. It's very rude. The Hatter opened his eyes what very wide on hearing this, but all he said was, Why is a raven like a lighting desk? Come, we shall have some fun now, thought Alice. I'm glad they've begun asking riddles. I believe I can guess that, she added aloud. Do you mean that you think you can find out the answer to it, said the March Hare? Exactly so, said Alice. Then you should say what you mean, the March Hare went on. I do, Alice hastily replied. At least I mean what I say. That's the same thing, you know. Not the same thing a bit, said the Hatter. Why, you might just as well say, I see what I eat is the same thing as I eat what I see. You might just as well say, added the March Hare, That I like what I get is the same thing as I get what I like. You might just as well say, added the Door Mouse, who seemed to be talking in his sleep, That I breathe when I sleep is the same thing as I sleep when I breathe. It is the same thing with you, said the Hatter. And here the conversation dropped and the party sat silent for a minute while Alice thought over all she could remember about ravens and writing desks, which wasn't much. The Hatter was the first to break the silence. What day of the month is it, he said, turned to Alice. He had taken his watch out of his pocket and was looking at it uneasily, shaking it every now and then and holding it to his ear. Alice considered a little and said, the fourth. Two days wrong, sighed the Hatter. I told you, Butter wouldn't suit the works, he added, looking angrily at the March Hare. It was the best butter, the March Hare meekly replied. Yes, but some crumbs must have got in as well, the Hatter grumbled. You shouldn't have put his in with the bread knife. The March Hare took the watch and looked at it gloomily. Then he dipped it into his cup of tea and looked at it again. But he could think of nothing better to say than his first remark. It was the best butter, you know. Alice had been looking over his shoulder with some curiosity. What a funny watch, she remarked. It tells the day of the month and doesn't tell what a clock it is. Why should it, muttered the Hatter? Does your watch tell you what year it is? Of course not, Alice replied very readily. But that's because it stays the same year for such a long time together. Which is just the case with mine, said the Hatter. Alice felt dreadfully puzzled. The Hatter's remark seemed to her to have no sort of meaning in it, and yet it was certainly English. I don't quite understand you, she said, as politely as she could. The door mouse is asleep again, said the Hatter, and he poured a little hot tea onto its nose. The door mouse shook its head impatiently and said, without opening its eyes, Of course, of course, just what I was going to remark myself. Have you guessed the riddle yet? The Hatter said, turning to Alice again. No, I give it up, Alice replied. What's the answer? I haven't the slightest idea, said the Hatter. Nor I, said the March Hare. Alice sighed wearily. I think you might do something better with the time, she said, than wasting it in asking riddles that have no answers. You knew time as well as I do, said the Hatter. You wouldn't talk about wasting it, it's him. I don't know what you mean, said Alice. Of course you don't, the Hatter said, tossing his head contemptuously. I dare say you never even spoke to time. Perhaps not, Alice cautiously replied, but I know I have to beat time when I learn music. Well, that accounts for it, said the Hatter. He won't stand beating. Now, if you only kept on good terms with him, he'd do almost anything you liked with the clock. For instance, suppose it were nine o'clock in the morning, just time to begin lessons. You'd only have to whisper a hint to time and round goes the clock in a twinkling. Half past one, time for dinner. I only wish it was, the March Hairst said to itself in a whisper. That would be grand, certainly, said Alice thoughtfully. But then I shouldn't be hungry for it, you know. Not at first, perhaps, said the Hatter. But you could keep it to half past one as long as you liked. Is that the way you manage, Alice asked. The Hatter shook his head mournfully. Not I, he replied, re-quirrelled last March. Just before he went mad, you know. Pointing with his teaspoon at the March Hair. It was at the great concert given by the Queen of Hearts. And I had to sing, twinkle, twinkle, little badge. Oh, I wonder what you're writing. You know the song perhaps? I've heard something like it, said Alice. Well, it goes on, you know. The Hatter continued in this way. Up above the world you fly, like a tea tree in the square. Twinkle, twinkle. Here the door mouse shook itself and began singing in its sleep. Twinkled. And went on so long that they had to pinch it to make it stop. Well, I'd hardly finished the first verse, said the Hatter, when the Queen fall downed. He's murdering the time, off with his head. How dreadfully savage, exclaimed Alice. And ever since that, the Hatter went on in a mournful tone. Who won't do a thing I ask? It's always six o'clock now. A bright idea came into Alice's head. Is that the reason so many tea things are put out here? She asked. Yes, that's it, said the Hatter with a sigh. It's always tea time and we have no time to wash the things between wiles. Then you keep moving round, I suppose, said Alice. Exactly so, said the Hatter. As the things get used up. But what happens when you come to the beginning again, Alice ventured to ask? Suppose we change the subject, the March Hatter interrupts yawning. I'm getting tired of this. I thought the young leader tells us a story. I'm afraid I don't have one. I'm afraid I don't know one, said Alice, rather alarmed at the proposal. Then the door mouse shout, they both cried. Wake up, door mouse! And they pinched it on both sides at once. Now we're going to meet one of my favourite characters in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, and that is the Queen of Hearts. And the Queen of Hearts is very, very good at two things. Playing a very unusual sport involving flamingos and hedgehogs. It's called croquet. And ordering people's heads to be chopped off. When the procession came opposite to Alice, they all stopped and looked at her. And the Queen said severely, who is this? She said it to the neighbour of Hearts, who only bowed and smiled in reply. Idiot! said the Queen, tossing her head impatiently. And turning to Alice, she went on, What's your name, child? My name is Alice, so please, Your Majesty. Said Alice very politely, about she added to herself, Why, there are only a pack of cards after all. I needn't be afraid of them. And who are these? said the Queen, pointing to the three gardeners who were lying round the rose tree. For you see, as they were lying on their faces and the pattern on their backs was the same as the rest of the pack, she could not tell whether they were gardeners or soldiers or courtiers or three of her own children. How should I know? said Alice, surprised at her own courage. It's no business of mine. The Queen turned crimson with fury and, after glaring at her for a moment like a wild beast, began screaming, Off with her nonsense, said Alice, very loudly and decidedly, and the Queen was silent. The King laid his hand upon her arm and timidly said, Consider, my dear, she is only a child. The Queen turned angrily away from him and said to the Nave, Turn them over! The Nave did so very carefully with one foot. Get up! said the Queen in a shrill, loud voice and the three gardeners instantly jumped up and began bowing to the King, the Queen, the Royal Children and everybody else. Leave off that, screamed the Queen. You make me giddy. And then, turning to the rose tree, she went on, What have you been doing here? May it please Your Majesty, said too, in a very humble tone, going down on one knee as he spoke. We were trying. I see, said the Queen, who had meanwhile been examining the roses. Off with their heads! And the procession moved on, three of the soldiers remaining behind to execute the unfortunate gardeners who ran to Alice for protection. You shan't be beheaded, said Alice, and she put them into a large flower pod that stood near. The three soldiers wandered about for a minute or two looking for them and then quietly marched off after the others. Are their heads off? shouted the Queen. Their heads are gone, if it please Your Majesty. The soldiers shouted in reply. That's right! shouted the Queen. Can you play croquet? The soldiers were silent and looked at Alice as the question was evidently meant for her. Yes, shouted Alice. Come on then, roared the Queen, and Alice joined the procession, wondering very much what would happen next. It's a very fine day, said a timid voice at her side. She was walking by the white rabbit who was peeping anxiously into her face. Very, said Alice. Where's the Duchess? Hush, hush, said the rabbit in a low, hurried tone. He looked anxiously over his shoulders, he spoke, and then raised himself up on tiptoe, put his mouth close to her ear, and whispered, She's under sentence of execution. What for? said Alice. Say, what a pity! The rabbit asked. No, I didn't, said Alice. I don't think it's at all a pity. I said, what for? She boxed the Queen's ears. The rabbit began. Alice gave a little scream of laughter. Oh, hush! The rabbit whispered in a frightened tone. The Queen will hear you. You see, she came rather late, and the Queen said, Get to your places! shouted the Queen in a voice of thunder, and people began running about in all directions, tumbling up against each other. However, they got settled down in a minute or two, and the game began. Alice thought she had never seen such a curious croquet ground in her life. All ridges and furrows. The croquet balls were live hedgehogs, and the mallets live flamingos, and the soldiers had to double themselves up and stand on their hands and feet to make the arches. The chief difficulty Alice found at first was in managing her flamingo. She succeeded in getting its body tucked away comfortably enough under her arm, hanging down. But generally, just as she had got its neck nicely straightened out and was going to give the hedgehog a blow with its head, it would twist itself round and look up into her face with such a puzzled expression that she could not help bursting out laughing. And when she had got its head down and was going to begin again, it was very provoking to find that the hedgehog had unrolled itself and was in the act of crawling away. Besides all this, there was generally a ridge or a furrow in the way wherever she wanted to send the hedgehog to. And as the doubled-up soldiers were always getting up and walking off to other parts of the ground, Alice soon came to the conclusion that it was a very difficult game indeed. The players all played at once, without waiting for turns, quarreling all the while and fighting for the hedgehogs. And in a very short time, the queen was in a furious passion and went stamping about and shouting, off with his head, or off with her head, about once in a minute. Alice began to feel very uneasy. To be sure, she had not as yet had any dispute with the queen, but she knew that it might happen any minute. And then, thought she, what would become of me? They're dreadfully fond of beheading people here. The great wonder is that there's anyone left alive. She was looking about for some way of escape and wondering whether she could get away without being seen when she noticed a curious appearance in the air. It puzzled her very much at first, but after watching it a minute or two, she made it out to be a grin and said to herself, it's the Cheshire Cat. Now, I shall have somebody to talk to. How are you, Gadnan? Said the cat, as soon as there was mouth enough for it to speak with. Alice waited till the eyes appeared and then nodded. It's no use speaking to it, she thought, till its ears have come or at least one of them. In another minute, the whole head appeared and then Alice put down her flamingo and began an account of the game, feeling very glad she had someone to listen to her. The cat seemed to think that there was enough of it now in sight and no more of it appeared. I don't think they play at all fairly, Alice began, in rather a complaining tone and they all quarrelled so dreadfully one can't hear oneself speak and they don't seem to have any rules in particular, at least if there are, nobody attends to them and you've no idea how confusing it is, all the things being alive. For instance, there's the arch I've got to go through next, walking about at the other end of the ground and I should have croaked the queen's hedgehog just now, only it ran away when it saw mine coming. How do you like the queen? Said the cat in a low voice. Not at all, said Alice. She's so extremely just then she noticed the queen was close behind her, listening. Though she went on, likely to win that it's hardly worthwhile finishing the game. The queen smiled and passed on. Who are you talking to? Said the king, coming up to Alice and looking at the cat's head with great curiosity. It's a friend of mine, a Cheshire cat, said Alice. Allow me to introduce it. I don't like the look of it at all. Said the king. However, it may kiss my hand if it likes. I'd rather not, the cat remarked. Don't be impertinent, said the king, and don't look at me like that. He got behind Alice as he spoke. A cat may look at a king, said Alice. I've read that in some book, but I don't remember where. Well, it must be removed, said the king very decidedly and he called to the queen who was passing at the moment. My dear, you would have this cut removed. The queen had only one way of settling all difficulties, grade or small. Off with his head, she said, without even looking round. A little bastard, said a whiting to a snail. There's a porpoise close behind us and he's treading on my tail. See how eagerly the lobsters and the turtles will advance. They are waiting for the shingle. Will you join the dance? Will you, won't you? Will you, won't you? Won't you join the dance? Will you, won't you? Won't you, won't you? Won't you join the dance? You can really have no notion how delightful it will be when they take us up and throw us with the lobsters out to sea. But the snail applied too far, too far and gave a look at the scars. So he thanked the whiting kindly who would not join the dance. Would not, could not, would not, could not, would not join the dance. Would not, could not, would not, could not, could not join the dance. What matters it how far we go, his scaly friend replied. There's another shore, you know, upon the other side. The further off from England, the nearest is to France. Then turn our tail, the lost snail, come and join the dance. Will you, won't you? Will you, won't you? Will you join the dance? Will you, won't you? Won't you, won't you join the dance? Wake up, Alice dear, said her sister. Why, what a long sleep you've had. Oh, I've had such a curious dream, said Alice. And she told her sister, as well as she could remember them, all the strange adventures of hers she'd just been reading about. And when she had finished, her sister kissed her and said, it was a curious dream dear, certainly, but now run into your tea, it's getting late. So Alice got up and ran off, thinking while she ran as well she might, what a wonderful dream it had been. Welcome to this live section of the event. I really hope that you enjoyed about as much as I did. There were some wonderful readings from Chris. So we've got some questions, but we've always got time for a few more. So if anyone would like to send some in, please do. You can use the Q&A button on the bottom of the screen. So Chris, first question, and it must be a popular one. What is your favourite character from Alice in Wonderland? Who is your favourite character? Oh goodness Helen, good afternoon. I was loving the sound effects. At one point there was a thunderstorm that seemed to break, with a lovely rolling thunder. And that was during the reading about my favourite character. I think I might have said that. And that is the Queen of Hearts. A little bit terrifying. She's one of these sort of characters with sort of quite dark hair and usually anyone with sort of very dark hair can be a little bit intimidating, Helen. I don't know whether you've found this. I couldn't possibly say no. No, no, no, not myself. Though that might be a personal thing. I'm going to turn on my camera. And you can see here this is some of the drawings and they speeded up the drawings as I was going. And I've just done a few. And here we are. There is a Queen of Hearts or possibly Helen. And I loved your I think that was my son. My son just came along and just had a little look in the corner behind you. Just where your laundry is, Helen. Yes, that is true. Yeah. It's nice to be immortalised. He'll be very excited to know that he's been on the screen. And we have another question, actually, which is a really interesting one. And when I was thinking of when I was watching you, which is what advice would you give someone who wanted to start work as a book illustrator? That is an excellent question, Helen. And this is my advice. I actually have it right here. This is my advice. Get one of these. It's a notebook. I get mine. I don't want to recommend maybe other stations. But I always go to Paper Chase. That's one of my favourite places. And this is a Paper Chase one. It's got brown paper on the cover. And when I was at school, I used to get into terrible trouble drawing on my exercise books. And they used to say to me, Chris, you'll never get anywhere doing that sort of thing and how true they were. But I love notebooks. Particularly brown paper ones that I can draw on. And I say to anyone who wants to become an illustrator, get a notebook and draw on it every day. Just get into that habit. I always start my notebooks with a drawing of a mouse in a raincoat. Just something I do. When notebooks are so lovely, you don't want to spoil them. You've got to do your best drawings in them. Well, I pre-spoil all my notebooks just by drawing a mouse. And then I feel free just to draw anything that comes into my head. And I think that's one of the lovely things about sketchbooks is that they can be sort of personal spaces where you can just draw for the sheer fun of it. And ideas and stories can come into your mind as you draw. But just get into that habit. Be that really interesting person who's sitting somewhere on a park bench or in a coffee shop. Be that interesting person with a notebook and people can think, I wonder what that person is thinking. Don't they look interesting? So keep a notebook. Draw on it every day. Oh, very lovely. Thanks, Chris, for really, really lovely illustrations. Our next question is asking you how did you go about reimagining the iconic scenes from Alice in Wonderland? Was there anything in particular that inspired you? Did you? Well, here is the book that arrived actually this morning. Helen, isn't that fantastic? It arrived this morning. It is very heavy. And you know, it's very difficult because as a great fan of Alice in Wonderland I got to say I was a little bit nervous about attempting to illustrate a book that I had loved ever since I was very little. And so what I tried to do is not to think too much about the drawings I loved done by the great Sir John Tennille and try and just imagine what Alice might look like a book as if Lewis Carroll had just written this book and had sent it to me and said, Chris, would you mind illustrating this book? So I tried to imagine what a book like this might look like now. And so really my Alice is a great big picture book. And I just wanted to really fill it up with as many pictures as I could. So it begins, I love the way it begins with Lewis Carroll going on a picnic with the three little girls they're off to on one of those lovely Sunday picnics and he tells the story. And it all begins with the white rabbit and I wanted to fill it up with as many pictures as I could going all the way through. So just a very quick turning of the pages. You'll see I've illustrated almost every single page of the story and there are some really iconic scenes. This is one of my favourites where Alice can't actually get into the garden through the hall she's looking through a tiny door and she feels a little bit sad which is why she does begin to cry and a pool of her own tears forms and that becomes the way that she actually gets into Wonderland and here you have that little address that Alice is imagining writing so that she can send parcels to herself because she's grown so big. And just going to I suppose one of the most iconic scenes in the book and one of my favourites is the mad tea party with the March Hare and the Hatter there and I couldn't draw the Hatter looking anything like John Tenniel's Hatter because I loved John Tenniel's drawing of the Hatter so much and I thought how can I do something completely different and so I decided that my Hatter would be a girl she's a bit of a mad Hatter so why not and the minute I did that that sort of freed me from worrying too much about past books and one of the wonderful things about Alice is that it is I suppose one of the first ever picture books of first ever children's books in a sense and so it's been given to all of us as illustrators and readers to reinterpret and it's still as fresh and as strange and wonderful today as it was all those years ago when it first came out. Yes it's wonderful I have to say I have a question for myself here so I've just asked myself this question but it fits quite well with what we've been looking at with your illustrations the question is asking what my favourite object was in the library's exhibition of Alice in Wonderland and I feel like I have to say or I do feel that the original manuscript the so Lewis Cowell's original manuscript and what was part of the reason I love it is because he obviously really struggled with the illustration he was determined to illustrate it himself in that first version that he gave to Alice Lydell but it was incredibly difficult and it took him an awfully long time to do it and I noticed I don't know if it's just a coincidence or but your Alice looks very much like Alice Lydell as she appears in the original manuscript in the manuscript she has quite a similar kind of bobbed hair and it reminded me a little bit of his Alice and I don't know if the viewers will have seen but the Alice in the original manuscript is a a photograph because Lewis Cowell was a very keen early photographer and he photographed her and he actually stuck the photograph on top of something and it was only about 30 years ago that we realised that actually underneath he'd also drawn an illustration of her so it's I love the manuscript because it's the original manuscript obviously but I also love it because it shows how hard it was for him to create that it was a I think telling the story he probably found quite easy but as a non and not very confident illustrator anyway I think you found it a particular challenge I found Helen the photographs that Lewis Cowell took of Alice and her sisters was a wonderful starting point for me to reimagine the story as if told to these three little girls and it made Alice seem like a real character for me because in my head and I'm sure for so many of us the Alice we all imagine is the fair-haired girl that John Tenniel drew and she's wonderful but what I loved about the actual Alice Little who listened to Charles Dodson, Lewis Cowell tell the original story is that she's got she looks rather contemporary and she does look like a little girl who in a sense doesn't have a sense of of her sisters but she has this rather singular hairstyle almost as if she's quite a character and isn't conforming to the stereotypes and I love that about her and I think some of that comes across in the way that Lewis Cowell sort of tells the story Yes, that's a very good point actually as you say you feel like the story was told for her so she must have been both an inspiration for it so this is another good follow-on question actually which is were the characters in the original story based on real people and did you base any of your illustrations on your friends and family? That is an excellent excellent thought I think that I obviously if you've ever sort of met my daughter sort of Katie in the mornings you can probably imagine there is more than the look of a door mouse I think thank goodness she's not actually listening to this otherwise I'd get into trouble rather than a tea party I think Katie probably needs a cup of coffee to wake up in the mornings I did love drawing the door mouse a lot I better hide that before I get into trouble but I suppose the other sort of characters that inhabit the book I rather loved drawing the difference of playing cards and they're each different but the gardeners who are rather love the fact that they are in fact spades because they're gardeners so they are sort of the suit that does those sort of work and of course the soldiers are in fact clubs because they carry clubs so there's a nice sort of order to the wonderland hierarchy in the playing cards and I think when I came to draw the card people possibly and this happens I think to a lot of illustrators I know as well that we slightly accidentally include people we might know so I think a few of those gardeners possibly might look like friends of mine but Helen I'm not going to be more specific OK that's fine thank you we've had a question actually from Charlotte Harrison and Charlotte asks which piece of advice will be best suited to these very strange times in which we find ourselves hmm well possibly not following instructions like eat me and drink me because quite frankly that can just cause all sorts of problems particularly if there's a sort of cleaning product or something around you really don't want to put it into oh hang on a minute I've just flipped out there oh dear OK I better move on very quickly but that's actually I think that he might actually be a very good wonderland character I wonder if sort of Donald Trump could make a very good Queen of Hearts what a thought I'm going to put that away no I think I think that one quote from Alice that I absolutely love and she says what is the point of a book without good conversations and pictures and as an illustrator I can't think of a better motto so for me I love to put lots and lots of pictures into all the books that I do because I agree with Alice what is the point of a book without good conversations and pictures in them and Alice in Wonderland I think is a book of just great conversations and I think that came across from the readings that we were just listening to they are wonderful conversations being held by very very sort of colourful and eccentric characters who are just fantastic to draw so it's just one that I think is a real reason why I think this book is a great classic wonderful thank you now we've had a question here from Grace who's six thank you for your question Grace she says could you tell me more about the cow turtle right well the I think the mock turtle in the book is a rather wonderful creation because it's it's sort of drawn in a way to represent the original Victorian mock turtle soup which was actually I think had extraordinary ingredients in it I think it had sort of parts of a cow in it possibly calves foot jelly might have formed part of this mock turtle soup and so I think it's quite interesting that notion maybe Lewis Carroll was one of the first people to I'm sure he was the first person to do this to imagine what food might look like if it was a sort of character so the mock turtle is the ingredient to mock turtle soup and I just wonder what you know what other sort of characters might look like in this sort of world if they actually did come to life so this is possibly a hot noodle that's possibly I think that might be that and a possibly I don't know this is getting into another sort of area this could be a a big Mac no I'm going to stop wonderful thank you and Joshua asks what was your favourite part of the book to illustrate oh I'm sorry what was your yes sorry what was your favourite part to illustrate from the book well let me see I had a lot of fun with this episode in the book and I'm just going to turn to the page that has it and this is after Alice has swum through the lake of her own tears which must be an extraordinary thing to do here she is swimming through the lake of her own tears and she arrives on the shore of Wonderland and the mouse tells an extremely long dry story about Anglo-Saxon archbishop in order I think the mouse thinks of it tells a very dry story everyone will come dry listening to it which is an interesting concept I've been to those author events and my favourite I think was this which is the caucus race and here we have this lovely sort of it's a double page so it gave me lots and lots of room and I really enjoyed drawing the different animals there's a dodo running the wonderful dodo the duck there's a hedgehog but the other thing the other thing I really enjoyed doing is putting my own animals in because very conveniently Lewis Carroll mentions a number of the animals and then says there were other animals of all sorts so we've got a guinea pig but I enjoyed putting in a koala bear why not a koala bear and there's a ring-tailed lemur just because I thought that would be fun and there is an ibis who I first saw in Sydney as I was at the Sydney Writers Festival and everywhere in the parks there were ibis and they're like our London pigeons and they look so extraordinary and they go around with their great long beaks pecking in the undergrowth in the parks wandering around and they look so extraordinary and everyone in Sydney just walks past doesn't even notice them now so there's a toucan I enjoyed putting a toucan in as well and it was a lot of fun with this because I got to draw lots and lots of animals in a caucus race it looks like the American presidential election maybe that's just me Arthur's question is in a question and he asks which character did you find the most difficult to draw now in a way I think I've already just sub-mentioned this I think it was the Mad Hatter and I think the Mad Hatter for me is so iconic and that's a challenge for any illustrator to try and get away if you're going to do your version of such an iconic children's book as Alice in Wonderland I suppose the challenge is to try and do something just a little bit different and so yes I thought the Hatter was the most difficult to draw and then I started to think about the Hatter and I thought about the wonderful 10-year-old illustration where the Hatter has a top hat and it's a lovely top hat and so I thought my Hatter would also have when at the Tea Party would have a top hat as well but I thought it could also double up as a bit of a flower pot so we could have a few flowers at the top there and also I thought why not make it almost as if it's the beginnings of a top hat before the fabric is put on it so it's because the Hatter is a hat maker and then I thought well when we see the Hatter again there's no reason for her to have the same hat because she's got lots of hats because she makes them and she wears the things that she makes so the next time we see the Hatter in my version she's got a green hat on just because she's got many different hats that she can wear and it's got another price in it instead of 10 and 6 because lots of her hats have different prices and I think that maybe if I got to draw the Hatter many many times she can have lots and lots of different crazy hats that she could be modelling and in fact a little while ago I just did just for fun I did a little book that I published myself and it's called the hats of Norfolk because I have a cottage in Norfolk that I go to and in fact I worked on Alice in Wonderland last year in Norfolk so I was thinking about hats and I did a little book called the hats of Norfolk and they're just crazy hats named after Norfolk villages around me so that's one for the collectors and I like to think that the Hatter maybe originally came from a little village just outside Norwich that's my theory that's my contribution to Lewis Carroll Scholarship that's great thank you Claire has sent in a question and asked did you have to go to art school to become an illustrator I did go to art school I didn't have to go to it I love that it sounds like this is sort of an edict you have to go to art school in fact for me it was the exact opposite I sort of felt that I had to go to university I thought that was an important thing for me to do to do something academic and then my art teacher said to me he said Chris you like drawing don't you and I said yes I love it so why don't you go to art school and I said can I he said I don't see why not why not go to art school and so I did and it was the best thing I ever did because it just meant I could draw and draw and draw the whole time which I just absolutely loved so I went to art school I went to Brighton art school and my tutor was a wonderful man called Raymond Briggs and it's because of Raymond that I decided what I wanted to do was become an illustrator because Raymond just did these brilliant brilliant books that's not Raymond by the way that's the snowman which is one of Raymond's most famous books and Raymond was fantastic because he was just very very encouraging and he was the person who taught me to keep a sketch book and to draw on it every day so thanks to Raymond I became an illustrator and started to write my own books but it's been lovely actually to get the chance to illustrate a classic book like Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and what I'm going to do after we finish here is I'm going to go back to my studio at the bottom of my garden where I'm working at the moment and I'm going to carry on working on my next project which is through the looking glass and what Alice found there and I'm having a lot of fun this time instead of card people with chess pieces and imagining what the world of the looking glass world looks like so I'm drawing a great big patchwork landscape of all the places that Alice goes to when she steps through the looking glass Great, wow that sounds like a very exciting project and something good to get your teeth into as we go into autumn and dark and nice and cold weather so thank you so much Chris that's wonderful I particularly enjoyed a drawing of my clothes which are clean behind me on my bed but thank you so much thank you for your drawing and your answering questions but also for your involvement with the filming of the library it's wonderful thank you also to Elf and Vivi and Stephen and Helen, it's been great to have those readings today thank you to the director Kate Gollidge and just a little bit of a plug for me you can get some copies of Chris's lovely book he just showed us on the screen if you go via the British Library Shop and you can click a little button with this video we would also love your feedback online events are still a reasonably new thing for us and we'd love to find out what you think of them Helen, can I just say very quickly, a big big thank you to the British Library which is one of my absolute favourite places in London I always pop into people watch in the British Library I hope that we are going to be able to do that again very soon and the British Library is such a special place and I think now more than ever we need libraries we need these amazing places where we can go into the world of books and we can explore the fantastic world of literature so let's not forget libraries at this very difficult time and try and support them as much as we can absolutely I could not I could not agree more, thank you so much Chris for bringing it up and a very special thank you to all of you who tuned in today for your wonderful questions a special hello to those joining us via the Living Knowledge Network which is a network of libraries across the UK and we hope to see you again soon thank you thank you