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By: Andrew Chapman

Andrew Chapman — Sun, 17 Sep 2023 13:54:34 +0000

How to represent France in London? South Kensington is something of a French quarter now. There were the Huguenots of Spitalfields. Or there’s Paris Garden near Blackfriars (but south of the river so not allowed). But instead I have opted for a 0.9 mile dash to… #londonfogg

By: Andrew Chapman

Andrew Chapman — Sun, 17 Sep 2023 13:54:34 +0000

PS. If you'd like to read about one of the real-life adventurers who inspired Julles Verne, my weekly history-themed newsletter is about exactly that and goes out this evening. gethistories.com @gethistories). Thanks for following! #londonfogg

By: Andrew Chapman

Andrew Chapman — Sun, 17 Sep 2023 13:54:34 +0000

Oops: I’ve already dropped my scribbled itinerary somewhere! Let’s hope I can rely on the Baedeker of my mind. #londonfogg

By: Andrew Chapman

Andrew Chapman — Sun, 17 Sep 2023 13:54:34 +0000

The adventure begins at the Reform Club, where Phileas Fogg fictionally agreed to wager that he could circumnavigate the world – in the age of rail and steamers – within 80 days. (Trollope’s similarly named 1867 novel Phineas Finn also features the club. Phishy?) #londonfogg https://t.co/tRKXsVtJd1

By: Andrew Chapman

Andrew Chapman — Sun, 17 Sep 2023 13:54:34 +0000

The Reform Club (Verne: “a huge building in Pall Mall”) was founded by political progressives in 1836, supporters of the Reform Act 1832, which improved access to the vote (unless you were female or poor…). The premises still here was modelled on a palace in Rome. #londonfogg https://t.co/FJ1MkVNeMT

By: Andrew Chapman

Andrew Chapman — Sun, 17 Sep 2023 13:54:34 +0000

After Phileas made his £20,000 wager, he had to pack – well, his servant Passepartout did. “We’ll have no trunks; only a carpet-bag, with two shirts and three pairs of stockings for me, and the same for you…” – so first he went home to 7 Savile Row. #londonfogg https://t.co/ROQGCtcPlR

By: Andrew Chapman

Andrew Chapman — Sun, 17 Sep 2023 13:54:34 +0000

Verne wrongly said 7 Savile Row had been playwright Sheridan’s address (that was No. 14, later home to fashion designer Hardy Amies) but he was right that these 1730s houses formed “a fashionable address”. In Fogg’s era the Royal Geographical Society was at No. 1. #londonfogg https://t.co/3HyHCk8gQm

By: Andrew Chapman

Andrew Chapman — Sun, 17 Sep 2023 13:54:34 +0000

Kazakhstan already! Oops, wrong story. #londonfogg https://t.co/bI2cN4rBdu

By: Andrew Chapman

Andrew Chapman — Sun, 17 Sep 2023 13:54:34 +0000

Fogg and Passepartout only had 10 minutes to pack, before dashing (by cab) to nearby Charing Cross station. (Google says it will have taken me 29 minutes to get here from the Reform Club via Savile Row – I’ve done it in 26) #londonfogg https://t.co/WbkVlrhC6L

By: Andrew Chapman

Andrew Chapman — Sun, 17 Sep 2023 13:54:34 +0000

Distances from London are measured from the site of Charing Cross (see #bus24!), originally the last of the Eleanor crosses built by the mourning Edward I in 1294 and destroyed by Cromwell. The nearby cross here now is a Victorian fiction, like Phileas Fogg himself. #londonfogg https://t.co/m0gfgABuhZ