Surprising facts about ‘The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
If you’ve ever read ‘The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe’ by C.S Lewis, you’ll no doubt be familiar with the wonderful adventures of Narnia. There are some facts about this book that might surprise you and here they are:
- Inspired by evacuees
Part of the inspiration for the story came from 3 girls who lived with Lewis during the Second World War. The girls came from London and were evacuated to the countryside to escape the persistent bombing. The story of the four children being sent to live with the professor seems to echo this real-life event.
- A decade
The book took a whopping ten years to pen! Lewis started writing it in 1939, finished it in 1949 and it was published a year later. If all this makes you wish you could escape through a magical wardrobe then consider Bespoke Fitted Wardrobes from https://lamco-design.co.uk/bespoke-fitted-wardrobes/
- Dreams of lions
Lewis had reached an impasse with the story until he began having dreams about lions. He created the character of Aslan and after that, the story pieces fell into place. In Turkish, Aslan means Lion.
- Writing Group
Both Lewis and J.R.R Tolkien spent time together in a writing group when they were writing Narnia and The Lord of Rings. The group soon grew in numbers until there were 19 members who met on a Thursday evening.
- Second Draft
The first version of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe was destroyed by Lewis in 1947 after his friends didn’t like it! The literary world can be thankful that he didn’t give up on the project entirely.
