Happy Birthday, Jules Verne (and other tidbits)!

Today is the anniversary of Jules Verne's birthday. He was born on February 8, 1828. Reading up on the author of this month's book selection, Journey to the Centre of the Earth, I found a few other interesting tidbits I thought I'd share.

• Twenty years before his death, Verne's nephew went mad and shot him in the leg! The story goes that the nephew asked for travelling money and when Verne refused him, he fired two shots, laming Verne for life. The wound pained him for the remainder of his life. (He eventually died of "old age" or complications due to diabetes.)

• When he was eleven years old, he tried to run away to sea. Upon his return, he vowed to his mother that from then on he would only travel in his imagination. And that he did, writing many adventurous novels.

• He married a widow (with two children of her own) and later had a child with her.

• He is said to be the originator of "science fiction".

• There is a restaurant named for him. Jules Verne Restaurant, located in the Eiffel Towel in Paris, France! It is a popular tourist spot and used for many movie settings.

Jules Verne also did quite a bit of travelling in his lifetime, and seems to have had an extremely intellectual and adventurous imagination.