Adventure Manufactory

You find him!

It doesn’t matter how we travel, adventurers, like any other traveller, stick out like a sore thumb. But not Wally. Despite his bright dress, he always manages to blend into the local landscape, seemingly accepted as a local and difficult to spot even for those searching for him. And not even the most famous modern adventurer, with their blogs, live streaming and magazine features manage to garner such a large number of people following his every step around the globe. Achieving this level of integration and fame without even bothering to remove his beanie is amazing. And we suspect he walks to every destination he visits.

Prefers smoking pipes over dragons

There is no way we could leave this chap out. Sure, he went on a big adventure, helped slay a ferocious, fire breathing dragon and hauled a good portion of it’s treasure back to his den in the Shire. But he makes it on to this list for overcoming his species’ natural inclination to avoid any such activities. Everyone would enjoy endless bliss of sitting in the sunshine with a pipe, but as Helen Keller said, “life is adventure, or nothing”. Like all of us, Bilbo heard the call of adventure, but unlike most, decided to follow  his heart and journey into the unknown.

Paddington packed only necessities

From Deepest Darkest Peru, Paddington stowed away on a boat to England where he was adopted by the Brown family and is living out his life as a middle class suburbanite. Yes, he does get into all sorts of mischief, but always accidentally. And he always tries to put things right while being ever so polite and downing copious amounts of marmalade. So why is he on this list? Stowing away is a form of travel not even the most adventurous bother with these days, but the real reason is he is an anti-adventurer. Where we leave our lives of marmalade and toast to seek adventure in the darkest corners of the planet, Paddington was born into a life of adventure and did what every true adventurer loves most at the bottom of their heart – sat nice and snug at home!

Tintin finds trouble everywhere

Tintin is the classic explorer. Ever curious, he is always investigating everything around him. And probably because of this, adventure presents itself to Tintin everywhere he looks, leading him in to exciting and daring stories. Boyed by his ability to make friends easily, enemies almost as easily, a curiosity to drive him ever on and a bounty of good luck, he shows all the characteristics needed to succeed in the adventuring business. 

And all this was inspired by Palle Huld, a Belgian who, at the age of fifteen, won a competition in honour of Jules Verne to circumnavigate the world, which he did in forty four days way back in 1928. What an adventurous young fellow!

One must maintain an air of class

Jules Verne was responsible for a great deal of fictional adventure. Even today, with a rabble of adventurers both real and fictional one still stands out over one hundred years after his dashing deed: Phileas Fogg, who circumnavigated the world in eighty days. Characterised as “repose in action”, this unlikely hero was spurred into action by the waging of a bet. Why we love him so is for the dignity he lent to his actions, always the gentleman, reminding us that where ever why are, we have an obligation to go with style and honour. With an air of retro Victorian-punk cool knowing we have a legacy of men such as Mr Fogg behind us.

Inside Alice's mind

Another who showed that dignity gets you a long way in any situation. Alice was a little girl who managed to face down an array of characters often out to cause her mischief. But best of all, she never went anywhere, proving that adventure is a state of mind and that just being in an exotic locale doesn’t mean you are having an adventure. If you have an imagination anywhere close to Alice’s, you are going to have a great time!

'Gnome down

A whole tribe of adventurers that even have their own organisation, the militant Garden Gnome Liberation Front. Born into a world of slavery for the entertainment of the most unadventurous in our society, garden gnomes occasionally manage to break free from this life of oppression and travel the world visiting the best and most famous sites. But are they fictional? Of course they are. Gnomes can’t buy plane tickets. Their wide open eyes can’t even see the sights they travel to. It’s all just a myth.