Phileas Fogg in 1872.
Phileas Fogg (1836-1898) was a British aristocrat and adventurer.
Biography[]
Fogg was born in London in 1836, son of a wealthy family. In 1872 Fogg made a wager of £20,000 with members of London's Reform Club that he can circumnavigate the world in 80 days or less. He sets out with his French servant Jean Passepartout to win the wager.
During his journey, Fogg was followed by a detective named Fix, who suspects Fogg of having robbed the Bank of England. While in India, Fogg saved a widowed princess, Aouda, from sati during her husband's funeral and she accompanies Fogg for the rest of his journey after initial plans to take her to an uncle failed as the uncle had moved. Together, the trio have numerous exciting adventures.
However, after Fogg reached America, Fix helped Fogg complete his bet in order to get him back to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, where he would be under British jurisdiction and Fix could have arrest him. Fogg was arrested in Liverpool. Although Fogg was quickly exonerated of the crime, the delay caused by his false arrest appeared to have cost him the wager.
Believing himself ruined, Fogg returned home to ponder his options. Seeing his despair, Aouda, who has grown to love him and who feels guilty that he might have won the wager if he had not delayed to rescue her, proposes to marry him to help him cope with a difficult future. At this selfless offer, Fogg's reserve finally broke and he joyously accepted Aouda's proposal. As it turned out, Aouda's gesture actually did save the day because as a result, Passepartout discovered that Fogg had miscalculated their travel time: he had not taken into account the fact that because they had travelled from west to east, they had gained one day compared to Fogg's fellow club members who had stayed in London. Fogg had not missed the deadline after all. The three hurry off to the Reform Club and arrived just in time for Fogg to win the wager. Fogg splited his profits with Passepartout and Fix, and married Aouda.
Fogg died in 1898 in Mayfair, London.