- [Narrator] Annie Londonderry is famous for being
the first woman to bicycle around the world.
But, there's more to the story.
And, the story starts, as most things do—in a dark bar.
- There is no possible way a woman could ride
a bicycle around the world.
- Can you imagine a woman trying to do it in a skirt?
- If a woman could do that, I'd pay $10,000.
- I, Annie Londonderry, will take that wager.
(playful music)
- [Narrator] When Annie took that wager,
she was oozing with confidence and charisma.
But, here's the thing, she had never even touched a bicycle.
In the late 1800’s, bicycles were seen
as dangerous for women and very unfeminine.
Riding a bicycle was a revolutionary act.
Legend has it, she cycled from Boston to New York City
to Paris riding her bike one-footed after an injury.
To India, hunting tigers with royalty.
Singapore, Hong Kong, getting caught up in a war
and sustaining a gunshot wound to her shoulder.
Nagasaki, being interned in a Japanese prison.
How did she get over oceans?
Don't worry about it.
(ding)
San Francisco, Los Angeles, Phoenix
and all the way back to Boston in exactly 15 months.
She did it.
The End.
- Well, not all of that was exactly true.
- [Narrator] And, you are?
- I'm Peter Zheutlin, and Annie was a my great-grandaunt.
- [Narrator] OK, so then what actually happened?
- [Peter] She was full of tall tales.
Even her name, Annie Londonderry, wasn't real.
Her real name was Annie Cohen Kopchovsky.
She even concocted the story of the wager.
And she definitely was not shot
or thrown into a prison during the Chinese-Japanese War.
- [Narrator] Well, what about all that other stuff
like the leg injury?
- [Peter] She did injure her leg.
- [Narrator] How about hunting for tigers with royalty?
- [Peter} That's false.
- [Narrator] So, with some true stuff
and some not so true stuff, how do you view her journey?
- Although hers was a remarkable physical achievement,
her real achievement was becoming world-famous as a symbol
of the women's liberation movement in the 1890s.
- [Narrator] Annie's sheer audacity and the way she fought
for herself, for her own adventures, on her own terms,
was remarkable for her time.
Even if her story was kinda, sorta,
(ding) not totally accurate.