Multicultural London Project

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Whole world in one place

i love to travel...

Had Phileas Fogg (main character in Jules Verne’s novel ’Around the World in Eighty Days’) lived in our time, could he travel without even leaving the city?

Today’s London is one of the most ethnically diverse places on Earth – or so they say. So, can travelling between minorities make you feel as if you were circumnavigating the globe? I have decided to give it a go.

In the story, the English gentleman attempts to circle the world in 80 days on a £20,000 wager. He sets off on 2nd October 1872 travelling through France, Italy, Egypt, India, China, Japan, United States of America and Ireland, and comes back on 21st December, just in time to claim the money.

Exactly 136 years later, on 2nd October at 8.45pm it is me standing in the middle of Charing Cross station, ready to follow in his footsteps.

There are few differences, though.

I won’t be chasing trains, chartering boats or buying elephants. All I need in my eighty-day adventure is a map of London Underground and Oyster travel card, as oppose to £19,000 spent by Fogg.

The Wager

geographical magazine

The wager was taken by Geordie Torr, chief editor of ‘Geographical’, official magazine of Royal Geographical Society, the very same that doubted Fogg’s success.

My challenge was to prove London’s extraordinary multiculturalism by collecting voice samples of 80 different languages over the coming 80 days.

We have agreed that if I fail, I will admit it in ‘Cooltura’ magazine, where I was deputy editor. Should I succeed, though, ‘Geographical’ will write about my project in their newsletter.

When Jarek proposed a bet that he could collect samples of 80 different languages in 80 days from within London I was happy to take it on as I was pretty sure that he wouldn’t manage it. True, London’s a multicultural city, but tracking down so many of those cultures in what was a relatively short time seemed like an impossible task to me. So I was both surprised and, I must admit, delighted when he contacted me to let me know that I had lost the bet. This was a remarkable achievement and a fascinating illustration of just how multicultural the capital is.

Geordie Torr, editor of Geographical Magazine

The Book

I have gathered all of my London adventures in a book „In 80 days around the world (without leaving London)”, which was published in Poland.

It’s currently available only in Polish, but who knows…

The book is a mixture of interviews, anectodes, stories and documentry writing.

I’ve spoken to French jurnalists, Italian bloggers, Scotland Yard detectives, Bollywood actors, Indian politicians, Polish directors, African polyglots and hundreds of other people.

You can find them all in London.

Languages

Here are just a few of the 80 languages I managed to find:

The full list can be found here.