The story starts in London on Tuesday, October 1, 1872. Fogg is a rich English gentleman living in solitude. 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. Having dismissed his former valet, James Foster, for bringing him shaving water at 84 °F (29 °C) instead of 86 °F (30 °C), Fogg hires a Frenchman by the name of 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 (equal to about £1.6 million today) from his fellow club members, which he will receive if he makes it around the world in 80 days. Accompanied by Passepartout, he leaves London by train at 8:45 P.M. on Wednesday, October 2, 1872, and is due back at the Reform Club at the same time 80 days later, Saturday, December 21, 1872. Le Tour du monde en quatre-vingts jours est un roman d'aventures de Jules Verne, publié en 1872. Le roman raconte la course autour du monde d'un gentleman anglais, Phileas Fogg, qui a fait le pari d'y parvenir en quatre-vingts jours. Il est accompagné par Jean Passepartout, son serviteur français. L'ensemble du roman mêle récit de voyage (traditionnel pour Jules Verne) et données scientifiques comme celle utilisée pour le rebondissement de la chute du roman. Ce voyage extraordinaire est rendu possible grâce à la révolution des transports qui marque le XIXe siècle dans le contexte de la Révolution industrielle. Le développement de nouveaux modes de transport (chemin de fer, machine à vapeur) et l'ouverture du canal de Suez en 1869 raccourcissent les distances, ou du moins le temps nécessaire pour les parcourir. Le premier tour du monde en quatre-vingts jours fut effectué par George Francis Train en 1870.