Quick fact: Around the World in 80 Days

With the pending release of Around the World in 80 Days (the 15th movie based on this classic Jules Verne novel), I thought I would do a little research on the book itself and ran across the following facts:

1. The original book was actually to be called Around the World in 20 Days, but at the time the publisher believed it was just too unbelievable of a feat. He suggested Around the World in 120 Days. They eventually negotiated to Around the World in 80 Days. I'm sure that negotiation was a very comical scene. Verne actually discusses it briefly in his autobiography, which was written 2 years after his death.

2. The opening line of the novel is

"Mr Phileas Fogg lived, in 1872, at No. 7, Saville Row, Burlington Gardens, the house in which Sheridan died in 1814."

Number 7 Saville Row was actually the address of the summer home of Verne's rival, Victor Hugo. It is said that so many fans made the pilgrimage to this spot that Hugo attempted to sell the property, but when it wouldn't sell he donated the property to the British government, who immediately turned it into a historic landmark.

3. Phileas Fogg was the name of Verne's English teacher, who once told Jules he had no future as a writer.