Journalist Nellie Bly beat the fictional record set by Jules Verne’s Phileas Fogg in Around the World in 80 Days by winning the race on 25 January 1890, covering 21,740 miles by ocean liner and train in 72 days, and became a global celebrity. Adventurer, journalist and author, Rosemary J Brown, set off 125 years later to retrace Nellie Bly’s footsteps in an expedition registered with the Royal Geographical Society.