Phileas Fogg's Wager Day

Phileas Fogg's Wager Day celebrates Jules Verne's Around the World in Eighty Days and the wager that protagonist Phileas Fogg made, which sets the book in motion. Around the World in Eighty Days was serialized in French in 1872 (as Le Tour du Monde en Quatre-Vingts Jours) and published as a novel in English in 1873. The French series ran from October 2, 1872, the date on which the story starts, when Fogg makes his wager, and on which we observe Phileas Fogg's Wager Day, through December 21, 1872, the date on which the story ends, and Phileas Fogg Wins a Wager Day is observed. Having the series be released on these dates made people feel they were reading the story in real time and following along with Fogg's adventures.

When the book starts, Fogg makes a wager of 20,000 pounds with fellow members of the Reform Club in London, betting that he will be able to circumnavigate the world in eighty days. He travels the world by train, boat, and elephant in one of the most highly regarded adventure books of all time. Science and travel are at the forefront of the story, as are the themes of ingenuity and determination. The book covers significant changes in transportation and travel in the late nineteenth century, and features the Suez Canal, the transcontinental railroad in the United States, and the Indian Railways. Around the World in Eighty Days inspired real-life adventurers to travel around the world, such as Nellie Bly in 1890 and Wiley Post in 1933, and also inspired the creation of Phileas Fogg's Wager Day and Phileas Fogg Wins a Wager Day. It is not known how the holidays got their start, but they have been observed since at least 1978.

How to Observe Phileas Fogg's Wager Day

• Read Around the World in 80 Days. You could read it to yourself, to your children, or at the same time as a friend reads it.
• Watch one of the film adaptations of the book, such as Around the World in 80 Days (1956) or Around the World in 80 Days (2004).
• Watch the miniseries Around the World in 80 Days.
• Read one of Jules Verne's other books such as Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea or Journey to the Center of the Earth.
• Take a journey around the world, or maybe a shorter distance. If you can't take it today, plan it out for a future date!
• Learn more about the landmarks and countries that Phileas Fogg journeys through in the book.

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