Custom House, Liverpool
Liverpool’s former Custom House on Canning Place, demolished after the Second World War. In Around the World in Eighty Days Fix locks Fogg up in it, hours from the deadline.
At a glance
| Source | Author | Role | In one line |
|---|---|---|---|
| Around the World in Eighty Days | Jules Verne | turning point | Fix locks Fogg up here, hours from the deadline. |
Around the World in Eighty Days — Jules Verne (1872)
Source: Original · Readwise highlight
Phileas Fogg was in prison. He had been shut up in the Custom House, and he was to be transferred to London the next day.
- Role: turning point
- In the book: Fix arrests Fogg on the Liverpool quay on 21 December and Fogg waits in a locked room of the Custom House, watching his watch, while Passepartout and Aouda wait under the portico. At 2:33 Fix bursts in to say the real thief is caught; Fogg knocks him down. The delay causes the missed express and a special train to London.
- Why it matters: The arrest ends the chase and, with the lost hours, sets up the apparent five-minute failure.