20 Things You Didn't Know About A Clockwork Orange

12. The Name Was Just Something Overheard In A Pub

A Clockwork Orange Poster
Warner Bros. Pictures

There have, admittedly, been a few different explanations offered by writer Anthony Burgess as to where the inspiration for the book and movie's title came from, but the most frequently quoted also happens to be the best.

Sitting in a London pub in 1945, he overheard someone talking and use the phrase "as queer as a clockwork orange". He liked it, and just assumed it must be some sort of rhyming slang he was unfamiliar with.

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Managing Editor

WhatCulture's Managing Editor and Chief Reporter | Previously seen in Vice, Esquire, FourFourTwo, Sabotage Times, Loaded, The Set Pieces, and Mundial Magazine