While you might assume that the term “Grinning like a Cheshire Cat” is a reference to the character in Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland, the expression actually predates the novel by over 100 years. It first appears in print in a 1788 book called A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue and refers to people who showed both teeth and gums when they smiled.

However, the plot thickens when you try to work out where the Cheshire Cat of the phrase actually comes from (you know, apart from coming from Cheshire). Some suggest that an incompetent sign painter attempted to paint a lion rampant and instead ended up with a mischievous moggy. Another suggestion is that a cheese seller in medieval Cheshire sold cheese in cat-shaped pieces (bring these back, please).

However, Lewis Carroll himself wrote that his inspiration came after he "saw a Cheshire cat with a gigantic smile at Brimstage carved into the wall", referring to a chapel in a small village near his hometown of Daresbury, Cheshire.

Wherever the phrase came from, the image of Carroll’s striped, cheeky cat is now engraved in popular culture. Even if it disappears for a while, its impact guarantees that it’ll always pop back up again with a wide grin and some impossible riddles.