Phileas Fogg was a rich Englishman who lived in London and spoke very little. Nobody knew where his money came from. He did everything at exactly the same time each day, and he spent his afternoons at the Reform Club, reading the papers and playing cards. One evening the talk turned to a bank robbery. Fifty-five thousand pounds had been taken from the Bank of England, and the thief had escaped. "The world is big enough to hide in," said one of the players. "It was big enough once," said Fogg. "Now a man can go round it in eighty days." The others laughed. "On paper, perhaps," they said. "I will bet twenty thousand pounds that I can do it," said Fogg quietly. "I leave tonight." His friends stared at him. Twenty thousand pounds was half of everything he had. But the bet was written down, and at a quarter to nine Phileas Fogg went home and told his servant to pack a bag.