Jules Verne

Around the World in Eighty Days Illustrated Jules Verne

The story starts in London on Wednesday, 2 October 1872. Phileas Fogg is a wealthy English gentleman living a solitary life. Despite his wealth, Fogg lives a modest life with habits carried out with mathematical precision. Very little can be said about his social life other than that he is a member of the Reform Club, where he spends the best part of his days. Having dismissed his former valet, James Forster, for bringing him shaving water two degrees too cold (at 29 °C (84 °F) instead of 30 °C (86 °F)), Fogg hires Frenchman Jean Passepartout as a replacement. At the Reform Club, Fogg gets involved in an argument over an article in The Daily Telegraph stating that with the opening of a new railway section in India, it is now possible to travel around the world in 80 days. He accepts a wager for £20,000 (approximately £2.3 million in 2020), [4][5] half of his total fortune, from his fellow club members to complete such a journey within this time period. With Passepartout accompanying him, Fogg departs from London by train at 8:45 p.m. on 2 October; in order to win the wager, he must return to the club by this same time on 21 December 80 days later. They take the remaining £20,000 of Fogg's fortune with them to cover expenses during the journey.