Around the World in Eighty Days (French: Le tour du monde en quatre-vingts jours) is a classic adventure novel by the French writer Jules Verne, first published in 1873. In the story, Phileas Fogg of London & his newly-employed French valet Passepartout attempt to circumnavigate the world in 80 days on a £20,000 wager set by his friends at the Reform Club.

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Background & analysis
Around the World in Eighty Days was written during difficult times both for France & for Verne. It was during the Franco-Prussian War (1870-1871) in which Verne was conscripted as a coastguard, he was having money difficulties (his previous works were not paid royalties), recently his father had died, & he had witnessed a public execution which had disturbed him. However despite all this Verne was excited about his work on the new book, the idea of which came to him one afternoon in a Paris café while reading a newspaper (see "Origins" below).

The technological innovations of the 19th century had opened the possibility of rapid circumnavigation & the prospect fascinated Verne & his readership. In particular three technological breakthroughs occurred in 1869-70 that made a tourist-like around the world journey possible for the first time: the completion of the First Transcontinental Railroad in America (1869), the linking of the Indian railways across the sub-continent (1870), & the opening of the Suez Canal (1869). It was another notable mark in the end of an age of exploration & the start of an age of fully global tourism which could be enjoyed in relative comfort & safety. It sparked the imagination that anyone could sit down, draw up a schedule, buy tickets & travel around the world, a feat previously reserved for only the most heroic & hardy of adventurers. It is comparable in some respects today to civilian space tourism, a realm normally reserved for an elite professional few.

Verne is often characterized as a futurist or science fiction author, but there is not a glimmer of science-fiction in this, his most popular work (at least in English speaking countries.) Rather than any futurism, it remains a memorable portrait of the British Empire "on which the sun never sets" at its very peak, drawn by an outsider. It is also interesting to note that, as of 2006, there has never been a critical edition of Around the World in Eighty Days. This is in part due to the poor translations available of his works, the stereotype of "science fiction" or "boys' literature". However Verne's works were being looked at more seriously in the late 20th & early 21st centuries, with new translations & scholarship appearing.

The closing date of the novel, 22 December, 1872, was also the same date as the serial publication. As it was being published serially for the first time, some readers believed that the journey was actually taking place — bets were placed, & some railway companies & ship liner companies actually lobbied Verne to appear in the book! It is unknown if Verne actually submitted to their requests, but the descriptions of some rail & shipping lines leave some suspicion he was influenced.

Although a journey by hot air balloon has become one of the images most strongly associated with the story, this iconic symbol was never deployed in the book by Verne himself - the idea is briefly brought up in chapter 32, but dismissed, it "would have been highly risky & , in any case, impossible." However the popular 1956 movie adaptation Around the World in Eighty Days floated the balloon idea, & it has now become a part of the mythology of the story, even appearing on book covers. This plot element is reminiscent of Verne's earlier Five Weeks in a Balloon which first made him a well-known author.

Following Towle & d'Anver's 1873 English translation, there have been hundreds of publicity-seekers who have emulated Fogg's fictional circumnavigation, often within self-imposed constraints:

1889 - Nellie Bly undertook to travel around the world in 80 days for her newspaper, the New York World. She managed to do the journey within 72 days.
1903 – James Willis Sayre, a Seattle theatre critic & arts promoter, set the world record for circling the earth using public transportation exclusively, completing his trip in 54 days, 9 hours, & 42 minutes.
1908 - Harry Bensley, on a wager, set out to circumnavigate the world on foot wearing an iron mask.
1988 - Monty Python alumnus Michael Palin took a similar challenge without using aircraft as a part of a television travelogue, called Michael Palin: Around the World in 80 Days.
1993 - Present - The Jules Verne Trophy is held by the boat that sails around the world without stopping, & with no outside assistance in the shortest time.

Origins
The idea of a trip around the world within a set time frame had clear external origins & was popular before Verne published his book in 1872. Even the title Around the World in Eighty Days is not original to Verne. About six sources have been suggested as the origins of the story:

Greek traveler Pausanias (c. 100 AD) wrote a work that was translated into French in 1797 as Voyage autour du monde ("Around the World"). Verne's friend, Jacques Arago, had written a very popular Voyage autour du monde in 1853. However in 1869-70 the idea of traveling around the world reached critical popular attention when three technological breakthroughs occurred: the completion of the First Transcontinental Railroad in America (1869), the linking of the Indian railways across the sub-continent (1870), & the opening of the Suez Canal (1869). In 1871 appeared Around the World by Steam, via Pacific Railway, published by the Union Pacific Railroad Company, & an Around the World in A Hundred & Twenty Days by Edmond Planchut. Between 1869 & 1871, an American William Perry Fogg went around the world describing his tour in a series of letters to the Cleveland Leader, titled Round the World: Letters from Japan, China, India, & Egypt (1872). Additionally, in early 1870, the Erie Railway Company published a statement of routes, times, & distances detailing a trip around the globe of 23,739 miles in seventy-seven days & twenty-one hours.

In 1872 Thomas Cook organized the first around the world tourist trip, leaving on 20 September, 1872 & returning seven months later. The journey was described in a series of letters that were later published in 1873 as Letter from the Sea & from Foreign Lands, Descriptive of a tour Round the World. Scholars have pointed out similarities between Verne's account & Cook's letters, although some argue that Cook's trip happened too late to influence Verne. Verne, according to a second-hand 1898 account, refers to a Thomas Cook advertisement as a source for the idea of his book. In interviews in 1894 & 1904 Verne himself says the source was "through reading one day in a Paris cafe" & "due merely to a tourist advertisement seen by chance in the columns of a newspaper." Around the World itself says the origins was a newspaper article. All of these point to Cook's advert as being a probable spark for the idea of the book.

Further, the periodical Le Tour du monde (3 October, 1869) contained a short piece entitled "Around the World in Eighty Days", which refers to "140 miles" of railway not yet completed between Alahabad & Bombay, a central point in Verne's work. But even the Le Tour de monde article was not entirely original, it cites in its bibliography the Nouvelles Annales des Voyages, de la Géographie, de l'Histoire et de l'Archéologie (August, 1869), which also contains the title Around the World in Eighty Days in its contents page. The Nouvelles Annales were written by Conrad Malte-Brun (1775-1826) & his son Victor Adolphe Malte-Brun (1816-1889). Scholars believe Verne was aware of either the Le Tour de monde article, or the Nouvelles Annales (or both), & consulted it - the 'Le Tour du monde even included a trip schedule very similar to Verne's final version.

Another possible source is the traveler George Francis Train who made four trips around the world, including one in 80-days in 1870. Similarities include the hiring of a private train & his being imprisoned. Train later claimed "Verne stole my thunder. I'm Phileas Fogg."

Regarding the idea of gaining a day, Verne said of its origin: "I have a great number of scientific odds & ends in my head. It was thus that, when, one day in a Paris café, I read in the Siècle that a man could travel around the world in eighty days, it immediately struck me that I could profit by a difference of meridian & make my traveller gain or lose a day in his journey. There was a dènouement [sic] ready found. The story was not written until long after. I carry ideas about in my head for years - ten, or fifteen years, sometimes - before giving them form." In his lecture of April 1873 "The Meridians & the Calendar", Verne responded to a question about where the change of day actually occurred, since the international date line had only become current in 1880 & the Greenwich prime meridian was not adopted internationally until 1884. Verne cited an 1872 article in Nature, & Edgar Allan Poe's short story "Three Sundays in a Week" (1841), which was also based on going around the world & the difference in a day linked to a marriage at the end. Verne even analyzed Poe's story in his Edgar Poe & His Works (1864).

In summary either the periodical 'Le Tour du monde or the Nouvelles Annales, W. P. Fogg, probably Thomas Cook's advert (and maybe his letters) would be the main likely source for the book. In addition Poe's short story "Three Sundays in a Week" was clearly the inspiration for the lost day plot device.

Plot summary
The story starts in London on October 2, 1872. Phileas Fogg is a wealthy, solitary, unmarried gentleman with regular habits. The source of his wealth is not known & he lives modestly. He fires his former valet, James Forster, for bringing him shaving water two degrees too cold. He hires as a replacement Passepartout, a Frenchman of around 30 years of age.

Later that day in the Reform Club, he 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.

The proposed schedule

London to Suez rail & steamer 7 days
Suez to Bombay steamer 13 days
Bombay to Calcutta rail 3 days
Calcutta to Hong Kong steamer 13 days
Hong Kong to Yokohama steamer 6 days
Yokohama to San Francisco steamer 22 days
San Francisco to New York rail 7 days
New York to London steamer 9 days
total 80 days

This calculation does not take into account practical matters like trouble finding transportation, but Fogg is sure that with his superbly calculative mind he can actually do it. He accepts a wager for £20,000 from his fellow club members, which he will receive if he makes it around the world in 80 days. Accompanied by his manservant Passepartout, he leaves London by train at 8.45 p.m. on October 2, 1872, & thus is due back at the Reform Club at the same time 80 days later, on December 21.

Fogg & Passepartout reach Suez in time. While disembarking in Egypt, he is watched by a Scotland Yard detective named Fix, who has been dispatched from London in search of a bank robber. Because Fogg matches the description of the bank robber, Fix mistakes Fogg to be the criminal. Since he cannot secure a warrant in time, Fix goes on board of the steamer conveying the travelers to Bombay. During the voyage, Fix gets acquainted with Passepartout, without revealing his purpose.

Still on time, Fogg & Passepartout switch to the railway in Bombay, setting off for Calcutta, Fix now following them undercover. As it turns out, the construction of the railway is not totally finished, so they are forced to get over the remaining gap between two stations by riding an elephant, which Phileas Fogg purchases at the prodigious price of 2,000 pounds.

During the ride, they come across a suttee procession, in which a young Parsi woman, Aouda, is led to a sanctuary to be sacrificed the next day by Thuggee worshippers. Since the young woman is drugged with the smoke of opium & hemp & obviously not going voluntarily, the travelers decide to rescue her. They follow the procession to the site, where Passepartout secretly takes the place of Aouda's deceased husband on the funeral pyre, on which she is to be burned the next morning. During the ceremony, he then rises from the pyre, scaring off the priests, & carries the young woman away.

The travelers then hasten on to catch the train at the next railway station, taking Aouda with them. At Calcutta, they finally board a steamer going to Hong Kong. Fix, who had secretly been following them, has Fogg & Passepartout arrested in Calcutta. But they jump bail & Fix is forced to follow them to Hong Kong. On board, he shows himself to Passepartout, who is delighted to meet again his traveling companion from the earlier voyage.

In Hong Kong, it turns out that Aouda's distant relative in whose care they had been planning to leave her there, has moved, likely to Holland, so they decide to take her with them to Europe. Meanwhile, still without a warrant, Fix sees Hong Kong as his last chance to arrest Fogg on British soil. He therefore confides in Passepartout, who does not believe a word & remains convinced that his master is not a bank robber. To prevent Passepartout from informing his master about the premature departure of their next vessel, Fix gets Passepartout drunk & drugs him in an opium den. In his dizziness, Passepartout yet manages to catch the steamer to Yokohama, but neglects to inform Fogg.

Fogg, on the next day, discovers that he has missed his connection. He goes in search of a vessel which will take him to Yokohama. He finds a pilot boat which takes him & his companions (Aouda & Fix) to Shanghai, where they catch a steamer to Yokohama. In Yokohama, they go on a search for Passepartout, believing that he may have arrived there with the original connection. They find him in a circus, trying to earn his homeward journey.

Reunited, the four board on a steamer taking them across the Pacific to San Francisco. Fix promises Passepartout that now, having left British soil, he will no longer try to delay Fogg's journey, but rather support him in getting back to Britain as fast as possible (to have him arrested there).

In San Francisco, they get on the train to New York. During that trip, the train is attacked by Native Americans, who take Passepartout & two other passengers hostage. Fogg is now faced with the dilemma of continuing his tour, or going to rescue Passepartout. He chooses the latter, starting on a rescue mission with some soldiers of a nearby fort, who succeed in freeing the hostages. To make up for the lost time, Fogg & his companions hire a sledge, which brings them to Omaha, Nebraska, where they arrive just in time to get on a train to Chicago, Illinois, & then another to New York. However, reaching New York, they learn that the steamer for Liverpool they had been trying to catch has left a short time before.

On the next day, Fogg starts looking for an alternative for the crossing of the Atlantic. He finds a small steam boat, destined for Bordeaux. However, the captain of the boat refuses to take the company to Liverpool, wherupon Fogg consents to be taken to Bordeaux. On the voyage, he bribes the crew to mutiny & take course for Liverpool. Going on full steam all the time, the boat runs out of fuel after a few days. Fogg buys the boat at a very high price from the captain, soothing him thereby, & has the crew burn all the wooden parts to keep up the steam.

The companions arrive at Queenstown, Ireland, in time to reach London via Dublin & Liverpool before the deadline. However, once on British soil again, Fix produces a warrant & arrests Fogg. A short time later, the misunderstanding is cleared up--the actual bank robber had been caught several days earlier in Liverpool. In response to this, Fogg, in a rare moment of impulse, punches Fix, who immediately falls to the ground. However, Fogg has missed the train & returns to London five minutes late, assured that he has lost the wager.

In his London house the next day, he apologizes to Aouda for bringing her with him, since he now has to live in poverty & cannot financially support her. Aouda suddenly confesses that she loves him & asks him to marry her, which he gladly accepts. He calls for Passepartout to notify the reverend. At the reverend's, Passepartout learns that he is mistaken in the date, which he takes to be Sunday but which actually is Saturday due to the fact that the party traveled east, thereby gaining a full day on their journey around the globe, by crossing the International Date Line.

Passepartout hurries back to Fogg, who immediately sets off for the Reform Club, where he arrives just in time to win the wager. Thus ends the journey around the world.

Literary significance & criticism
Select quotes:

"We will only remind readers en passant of Around the World in Eighty Days, that tour de force of Mr Verne's—and not the first he has produced. Here, however, he has summarized & concentrated himself, so to speak ... No praise of his collected works is strong enough .. they are truly useful, entertaining, poignant, & moral; & Europe & America have merely produced rivals that are remarkably similar to them, but in any case inferior." (Henry Trianon, Le Constitutionnel, December 20, 1873).
"His first books, the shortest, Around the World or From the Earth to the Moon, are still the best in my view. But the works should be judged as a whole rather than in detail, & on their results rather than their intrinsic quality. Over the last forty years they have had an influence unequalled by any other books on the children of this & every country in Europe. & the influence has been good, in so far as can be judged today." (Léon Blum, L'Humanité, April 3, 1905).
"Jules Verne's masterpiece .. stimulated out childhood & taught us more than all the atlases: the taste of adventure & the love of travel. 'Thirty thousand banknotes for you, Captain, if we reach Liverpool within the hour.' This cry of Phileas Fogg's remains for me the call of the sea." (Jean Cocteau, Mon premier voyage (Tour du monde en 80 jours), Gallimard, 1936).
"Leo Tolstoy loved his works. 'Jules Verne's novels are matchless', he would say. 'I read them as an adult, & yet I remember they excited me. Jules Verne is an astonishing past master at the art of constructing a story that fascinates & impassions the reader. (Cyril Andreyev, "Preface to the Complete Works", trans. François Hirsch, Europe, 33: 112-113, 22-48).
"Jules Verne's work is nothing but a long meditation, a reverie on the straight line—which represents the predication of nature on industry & industry on nature, & which is recounted as a tale of exploration. Title: the adventures of a straight line ... The train .. cleaves through nature, jumps obstacles .. & continues both the actual journey—whose form is a furrow—and the perfect embodiment of human industry. The machine has the additional advantage here of not being isolated in a purpose-built, artificial place, like the factory or all similar structures, but of remaining in permanent & direct contact with the variety of nature." Pierre Macherey (1966).

Allusions/references from other works
In 1988 Michael Palin attempted to duplicate Fogg's journey in a BBC documentary miniseries called Michael Palin: Around the World in 80 Days, ultimately returning to London with mere hours to spare.

Film, TV or theatrical adaptations
The book has been adapted many times for feature films & television.

A 1919 silent black & white parody by director Richard Oswald didn't disguise its use of locations in Germany as placeholders for the international voyage; part of the movie's joke is that Fogg's trip is obviously going to places in & around Berlin. There are no remaining copies of the film available today.
The best known version was released in 1956, with David Niven & Cantinflas heading a huge cast. Many famous performers play bit parts, & part of the pleasure in this movie is playing "spot the star". The movie earned five Oscars, out of eight nominations. See Around the World in Eighty Days for details.
1963 saw the release of The Three Stooges Go Around the World in a Daze. In this parody, the Three Stooges (Moe Howard, Larry Fine, & Joe DeRita) are cast as the menservants of Phileas Fogg III (Jay Sheffield), great-grandson of the original around-the-world voyager. When Phileas Fogg III is tricked into replicating his ancestor's feat of circumnavigation, Larry, Moe, & Curly-Joe dutifully accompany their master. Along the way, the boys get into & out of trouble in typical Stooge fashion.
In 1983 the basic idea was expanded to a galatic scope in Japan's Ginga Shippu Sasuraiger, where a team of adventurers travel through the galaxy in a train-like ship that can transform into a giant robot. The characters are traveling to different planets in order to return within a certain time frame & win a bet.
A 1989 three-part TV mini-series starred Pierce Brosnan as Fogg, Eric Idle as Passepartout, Peter Ustinov as Fix & several TV stars in cameo roles, including Patrick Macnee & Christopher Lee as members of the Reform Club, Robert Morley & Roddy McDowall as officials of the Bank of England, John Hillerman, Jack Klugman, Darren McGavin, Henry Gibson & John Mills. The heroes travel a slightly different route than in the book & the script makes several contemporary celebrities part of the story who were not mentioned in the book, such as Sarah Bernhardt, Louis Pasteur, Jesse James, Cornelius Vanderbilt & Queen Victoria.
In 2001 the story was adapted for the stage by American playwright Mark Brown. In what has been described as "a wildly wacky, unbelievably creative, 90-miles-an-hour, hilarious journey" this award winning stage adaptation is written for five actors who portray thirty-nine characters.
The story was again adapted for the screen in 2004 starring Jackie Chan as Passepartout & Steve Coogan as Fogg. This version is a parody of the other Around the World in 80 Days films loosely based on Jules Verne's story. It makes Passepartout the hero & the thief of the Bank's treasure. Fogg's character is an absent-minded crackpot inventor who bets with a rival scientist that he can travel the world with (then) modern means of transportation. Like the 1919 version, This film was also filmed in Berlin, but tried to hide it this time: The Gendarmenmarkt's German Cathedral was redressed as the Bank of England & several other locations in & around the city were used as historic London.
Several animated films & cartoon series were made based on Verne's book.
An Indian Fantasy Story is an unfinished French/English co-production from 1938, featuring the wager at the Reform Club & the rescue of the Indian Princess. It was never completed as a full feature film.
Around the World in 79 Days, a serial segment on the Hanna-Barbera show The Cattanooga Cats from 1969 to 1971.
Around the World in 80 days from 1972 by Canadian studio Rankin-Bass with Japanese Mushi productions as part of the Festival of Family Classics series.
A one-season cartoon series Around the World in 80 days from 1972 by Australian Air Programs International.
Around the World with Willy Fog by Spanish studio BRB Internacional from 1981 with a second season produced in 1993. This series depicts the characters as talking animals & takes several liberties with the original story, but still remains faithful to the basic ideas. This show has gained a cult following in Britain, Germany & Spain. The first season is "Around the World in 80 Days", & the second season is "Journey to the Center of the Earth" & "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea"; all three books are by Jules Verne.

Around the World with Willy Fog (Original Spanish title La Vuelta al Mundo de Willy Fog) is a cartoon version of Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne in the same vein as Dogtanian & the Three Muskehounds, & like that series produced by BRB Internacional. The characters are anthropomorphisms of various animals, Willy Fog (Phileas Fogg in the original book by Jules Verne) himself being a lion & Romy (Aouda) & Rigadon (Passepartout) being cats.

The series was broadcast on TV Asahi in Japan in 1987, with episodes 14, 18, 21 & 22 deleted from the Japanese series run. The title of the series in Japanese is Doubutsu 80 Nichikan Sekai Isshuu ("Animals Around the World in 80 Days").

Willy Fog is a well mannered, well read, English gentlemen who is loyal to his friends & always a man, or lion, of his word. He resides in London & is described as a rich, eccentric bachelor. Willy Fog is a member of the Reform Club in London & is challenged to travel around the world in 80 days.
Rigadon is Willy Fog's loyal butler. Rigadon is a French cat & is mild mannered individual. Before his employment with Mr Fog Rigadon, & his friend Tico, were circus performers.
Tico is Rigadon's best friend & the show's 'mascot.' Tico is a Spanish mouse who lives on his stomach & is always full of life & energy. He is much more clumsy than his French associate & is nearly always getting into some kind of trouble.
Princess Romy (Aouda) is a panther or cat & the widow of an Indian Rajah who worshipped the goddess Kali & was destined to be a suttee but was rescued by Rigadon.
Mr. Sullivan is a wolf & rival of Willy Fogg in the Reform Club. He accepts Fogg's bet but, not entirely sure of Fogg's failure, he decides to sent a saboteur (Transfer, another wolf) after Fogg' steps.
Dix & Bully are two dogs & agents of Scotland Yard who must arrest Fogg because he is suspect of a bank robbery. They have many problems through the entire voyage but remain loyal to their mission, even after befriending Fogg himself & his partners. After revealing their identity & arresting Fogg in the last episode, the real robber is arrested as well & they must liberate him. Dix is a scent hound, the leader & smarter of the two, & Bully is a bulldog.

The original Spanish theme song, called like the series "La vuelta al mundo de Willy Fog", was sung by the group Mocedades, as if the song was sung by Willy Fog, Rigodon, Tico & Romy. They also sang the ending theme, "Sílbame" (Whistle to me) & several other songs featured in the series. All of them were released as cassette, LP & CD in 1984.
Tweety's High-Flying Adventure is a direct-to-video cartoon by Warner Brothers from 2000 starring the Looney Tunes characters. It takes a great many liberties with the original story, but the central idea is still there - indeed, one of the songs in this film is entitled Around the World in Eighty Days. This movie frequently appears on various US-based cable TV networks.
Around the World in 80 Narfs is a Pinky & the Brain episode where the Brain claims to be able to make the travel in less than 80 days & the Pompous Explorers club agrees to make him their new president. With this, the Brain expects to be UK's new Prime Minister, what he considers back at that time, the fastest way to take over the world.

Cultural references
There are at least four board games by this name.

My fave were the Palin travel programme, really top class, & the cartoon.

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The Lonympics World History Tour, a short tour round the world looking at some fascinating things