Discover the Wit and Wisdom: Top 11 Fun Facts About Oscar Wilde You Never Knew Before!

1. Oscar Wilde: Interior Decorating Guru

Watch out, HGTV: Wilde was no stranger to lavish drapery and ornate wallpaper! Known for his wit and humor, it seems Oscar Wilde also had an infatuation with a lesser-known form of artistic expression: interior decorating. He believed the best way to resist the uncivilized influences of country life was to craft a beautiful urban sanctuary - and did he ever!: Oscar's London home was a plush haven of tasteful excess, adorned top to bottom with eye-catching prints, luxurious curtains, and an enviable collection of velvet furnishings.
Source => theguardian.com

2. The "Petal Prince of London" and Lover of Flowers

Crowned the "Petal Prince of London", Oscar Wilde's penchant for posies was nothing to be sniffed at: Often spotted with a green carnation pinned to his lapel, Wilde was an ardent admirer of flowers with a particular fondness for violets, a love so strong that he had a flowerbed on his balcony and even requested fresh violets sent to his prison cell.
Source => theartstory.org

Discover the whimsical world of the Bloomsbury Zoo, where Virginia Woolf and her literary friends roamed free with delightful nicknames like Mandrill, Mongoose, Dolphin, and even Old Toad! Uncover the secret stories behind these charming aliases. 🐒🐬🐸

=> Fun Facts about Virginia-Woolf

3. Most Debonair Prisoner and Treadmill Tales

If there's ever an award for "Most Debonair Prisoner," Oscar Wilde would be a clear winner, cast in perfectly refined indigo stripes: Little-known fact – during his incarceration in Reading Gaol, the renowned wit endured the grueling task of walking on a treadmill for up to six hours a day, which gravely deteriorated his health and ultimately contributed to his untimely demise after release.
Source => smithsonianmag.com

4. Kisses on Wilde's Tomb: A Sealed Destruction

Sealed with a (destructive) kiss: Oscar Wilde's tomb in Paris has had to be restored and protected with a glass barrier due to the damaging effects of lipstick-wearing admirers smooching the monument in gushing, yet erosive, affection.
Source => theguardian.com

5. Blue China: Wilde's Marie Kondo Moment

It seems Oscar Wilde truly believed that life imitated art, especially when it came to interior design – he may have been a budding Marie Kondo, if you will. His affinity for blue china almost blossomed into a career as a florist, or perhaps he could have given HGTV a run for their money: In reality, as a student at Oxford, Wilde famously purchased two large blue china vases for lilies, coining the phrase, "I find it harder and harder every day to live up to my blue china." This witty remark not only showcased his humorous perception of living with elegant possessions, but also made its way into Punch magazine, cementing his reputation as a connoisseur of both wit and décor.
Source => gretchenrubin.com

6. Courtroom Comedy with Oscar Wilde

In the courtroom of the late 1800s, Oscar Wilde made lawyer jokes seem as outdated as floppy disks: Wilde dazzled onlookers and bemused the gentry by turning his own scandalous trials into a veritable comedy circus. The serious reveal: Despite facing severe consequences and humiliation, the man maintained his legendary wit and humor, regaling the courtroom with puns, cheeky retorts, and even quipping about his own predicament, famously declaring, "I have nothing to declare except my genius."
Source => history.com

7. Oscar Wilde: Flamboyantly Fabulous Jailbird

Oscar Wilde, fashion-forward jailbird and hit inspiration for future reality TV stars: he was famously involved in same-sex relationships, landed himself in prison for "gross indecency" because of his sexual orientation, and rocked Victorian gender norms with his flamboyantly fabulous persona and wardrobe choices.
Source => scholar.umw.edu

8. Wilde's Lightning-Fast Wit at Customs

Rumor has it, Oscar Wilde was so quick-witted that he'd make lightning bolts look like sluggish snails: Upon his arrival in New York in 1882, he allegedly told a customs official that he had "nothing to declare but his genius" – a quip that rose to legendary status despite the first recorded mention only appearing in a 1910 publication called "The Oscar Wilde Calendar," comically forging his reputation as the kingpin of comebacks.
Source => quoteinvestigator.com

9. Deathbed Humor: Wilde's Final Quip

Modern day YOLO enthusiast and deathbed jester: Oscar Wilde, on his final rendezvous with the Grim Reaper, whimsically quipped, "I am dying as I have lived, beyond my means," showcasing both his penchant for extravagance, which ultimately led to his imprisonment, as well as his unyielding wit even when facing the final curtain call.
Source => theatlantic.com

10. Siri's Ancestor: Oscar Wilde's Masterful Conversations

Before Siri, there was Oscar Wilde – a conversationalist so skilled he could even entertain a dressmaker's dummy with tales of Renaissance metalworking and leave American silver miners thirsting for more: Wilde's 1882 American tour saw him wowing audiences from high-society elites to common laborers, charming the likes of Walt Whitman, and boldly introducing the British aesthetic movement to the New World in his own eccentric and inimitable style.
Source => nytimes.com

11. The Importance of Being Wilde and Fashionable

If ever there was a man who could put the "Wilde" in "wildly fashionable," it was Oscar Wilde himself, a man so swanky that he sashayed into scandal and shook hands with eccentricity: A dandy of Victorian England, Mr. Wilde was a zealous devotee of the Aesthetic Movement, delighting in beauty above all else, and penned the iconic play The Importance of Being Earnest, which originally waltzed with mixed opinions but eventually pirouetted its way into the hall of literary acclaim.
Source => history.com