Around the World in 80 Days - Fogg Unwittingly Aids a Criminal
Scientist #1: [walks into the room with a piece of paper]
Sir, I've received a telegram from Inspector Fix.
Lord Kelvin:
Aha!
Scientist #1:
According to him, the bank thief and Fogg's valet are the same man.
Lord Kelvin:
That numbskull Fogg doesn't even realize he's transporting the bank thief!
Lord Salisbury:
Or does he? He did leave town in quite a hurry, wouldn't you say, Lord Rhodes?
Lord Rhodes:
Indeed, Lord Salisbury. Evading arrest, stealing a police vehicle...sounds rather incriminating to me.
Lord Salisbury:
One can almost deduce that this entire bet was just a ruse to facilitate his escape. Don't you agree, Lord Kelvin?
Lord Kelvin:
Yes. Brilliant, Lord Salisbury! I shall name a beef-related entree after you in your honour! Kitchener?
Colonel Kitchener:
Sire?
Lord Kelvin:
Inform your men at Scotland Yard that Phileas Fogg is WITHOUT A DOUBT THE MAN WHO ROBBED THE BANK OF ENGLAND!
Colonel Kitchener:
Yes, sir.
Lord Kelvin:
Where are they now?
Scientist #1:
They're taking a train across India from Bombay to Calcutta.
Lord Rhodes:
Thank goodness we own India.
Lord Kelvin:
I want their faces posted in every police station, army barracks, post office, railway station and outhouse in India! WE'RE GOING TO STOP FOGG AND GET MY JADE BUDDHA BACK BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY!
Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.
Around the World in 80 Days - Debate on Progress and Scientific Discovery
Phileas Fogg:
Gentlemen, today I have proven that man can break the 50 mph speed barrier without disrupting his internal organs.
Lord Kelvin:
Where is your Royal Academy of Science authorization?! Oh, what am I thinking? What a fool. That would mean that you are a real scientist!
Phileas Fogg:
By your definition, Kelvin, a real scientist's objective would be to prevent man from progress.
Lord Kelvin:
We live in a golden age, Fogg. Everything worth discovering has been discovered. Yet ridiculous dreamers like you insist on a past filled with "dinosaurs" and "evolution" and on a future filled with "motorized vehicles", "radio waves" and "flying machines".
Colonel Kitchener: [marches into the room]
Confound it! The bloody Bank of England is a madhouse!
Scientist #1: [whispers in Passepartout's ear]
Rumour has it that it was a foreigner, an Asian chap.
Scientist #2:
Yes, I heard it was a Chinese fellow and he acted alone.
Lord Rhodes:
Uh, no, actually, they say he was Norwegian.
Scientist #3:
In fact, it was a gang of elderly Norwegians.
Scientist #4:
Yes, I heard from a very reliable source that it was a gang of red-headed elderly Norwegians with very tiny feet.
Phileas Fogg: [everyone gasps in anger]
Well, if you ask me, it's about time someone robbed that bank. Like this very institution, the Bank of England is outdated!
Lord Kelvin:
As usual, Fogg, your contempt for tradition is appalling.
Phileas Fogg:
You rest on your "traditions" if you prefer, but as with this bank robber, progress waits for no-one.
Lord Kelvin:
Oh. So now you're an expert on the bank thief as well? Give us the benefit of your "ineffable wisdom", Fogg.
Phileas Fogg: [gets out his pocket watch]
Twenty-six minutes ago, a ship left Dover for Paris. From there, the thief takes the Orient Express, where he transfers to a steamer from Istanbul to India. In little over a month, that man could be in China.
Lord Salisbury:
If we're to believe Fogg's "calculations", he will have circled the globe and returned to England in a fortnight!
Phileas Fogg:
Actually, by my calculations, it would be closer to...exactly 80 days.
Lord Kelvin: [Passepartout smiles]
Outstanding idea. Well then, Fogg. Let's see you circumnavigate the world in 80 days.
Phileas Fogg: [turns to go]
I...That would be a fruitless use of my time. I'm on the verge of...numerous, countless...scientific breakthroughs.
Lord Kelvin:
You coward! Admit it, it cannot be done.
Phileas Fogg: [stops and wheels round]
It CAN! I can do it.
Lord Kelvin:
A wager. £10,000!
Phileas Fogg:
Unlike you and your colleagues, money does not inspire me.
Lord Kelvin:
I believe every man has his price. Even you, oh noble Phileas Fogg. There must be something I could offer that would be worthy of your time.
Phileas Fogg: [chattering begins]
There is. Your position as head of the Royal Academy. With the Queen's ear, I could lead Britain and the rest of the world into a new age of progress and discovery.
Lord Kelvin:
Fair enough.
Lord Salisbury:
What?
Lord Kelvin: [Phileas is taken aback by this vow, not knowing what to say]
I, Lord Kelvin, hereby vow to surrender my position as Minister of Science, to Phileas Fogg...if he can circumnavigate the globe... in no more than 80 days. But if he cannot, he must never set foot in the academy again, he must tear down that abhorrent eyesore he calls a laboratory, and he must swear... never to invent again. Just as I always suspected, Fogg. You promise so much, yet you deliver...oh, nothing!
Phileas Fogg: [quietly]
I'll take your wager.
Lord Kelvin:
What did you say?
Phileas Fogg:
I'LL TAKE YOUR WAGER!
Lord Kelvin:
Then it's done. A man who has never set foot out of England, circling the globe. This is going to be rather amusing!
Phileas Fogg: [roller-skates up to Kelvin; Big Ben strikes noon; Passepartout smiles]
History won't remember your amusements, Lord Kelvin. But it'll be hard-pressed to forget the moment I'm standing on the very top step of the Royal Academy of Science... ...by the strike of noon... ...after I, Phileas Fogg, have traveled around the world in 80 days!
Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.