One of the fascinating things about researching Jack the Ripper is the characters that are connected, however indirectly, to the case. In my latest Ripperologist article, I talk about Lizzie Halliday and her interview with Nellie Bly. At that time Bly was at the peak of her fame, after breaking the record for travelling around the world.

Inspired by Jules Verne’s 1872 novel Bly was at first unable to persuade her editor that a woman could undertake the feat. He eventually relented and, with two days’ notice, she set sail in 1889. Unbeknown to her another woman was hired by a different magazine to race against her. Bly’s account of the journey is an interesting read and comparable with Verne’s fiction. It is also a poignant record of a woman successfully challenging contemporary gender assumptions.

She took a detour to meet Verne in France, needing a translator as the famous author did not speak English. With Verne that day was Robert Sherard, biographer of Oscar Wilde, and alleged informant on Jack the Ripper suspect, John Barlas.

Whilst Bly won the race, her record was broken shortly afterwards by George France Train who believed that he was the inspiration for Verne’s fictional traveller, Phileas Fogg. Train took 67 days. In 1928 a 15-year-old boy scout celebrated Vernes’ 100^th birthday by competing the journey in just 44 days.