Almanac: Globetrotting journalist Nellie Bly
And now a page from our "Sunday Morning" Almanac: January 25th, 1890, 125 years ago today . . . a date to make anyone with wanderlust jealous.
For that was the day journalist Nellie Bly of the New York World completed her trip around the world.
The 25-year-old Bly had set out alone from New Jersey the previous November to try to better the record of Phileas Fogg, the fictional hero of Jules Verne's 1873 novel, "Around The World in 80 Days."
By steamship and train, Bly traveled eastward, sending back brief reports to her World readers when she could.
Despite occasional setbacks, Bly returned in triumph in 72 days, defeating Fogg's record by a full eight days.
The New York World was so thrilled that it even published a "Round the World With Nellie Bly" board game.
Nellie Bly died in 1922 at just 57 years of age, but popular fascination with circling the world continues.
That fascination took epic form in the 1956 film, "Around the World in 80 Days," starring David Niven as Phileas Fogg.
Produced by Elizabeth Taylor's third husband, Michael Todd, the Oscar-winning film combined race-against-time story with wide-screen travelogue.
Not that Nelly Bly's real-life accomplishment has been forgotten.
Among other things, she was honored by the U.S. Postal Service with a stamp in 2002.
By land and sea (she did not fly),
She circled the world, did Nelly Bly.
She more than outdid Phileas Fogg,
A feat that left the world agog!
For more info:
- Nellie Bly Online
- "Around the World in 72 Days" by Nellie Bly (1890) - University of Pennsylvania
- "Around the World in 80 Days" on DVD (Warner Brothers)