Return to the Centre of the Earth Leskanich. The story is narrated by Patrick Stewart. Recording was delayed after Wakeman was hospitalised with a life threatening case of double pneumonia and pleurisy, and needed time to recover. Upon release, the album reached number 34 on the UK Albums Chart. In 1974, Wakeman released his second solo album "Journey to the Centre of the Earth", a concept album based on the same-titled science fiction novel by Jules Verne. It tells the story of Professor Lidenbrook, his nephew Axel, and their guide Hans who follow a passage to the Earth's centre originally discovered by Arne Saknussemm, an Icelandic alchemist.
Cultural influence of Jules Verne Cultural influence of Jules Verne Jules Verne (1828–1905), the French writer best known for his "Voyages extraordinaires" series, has had a wide influence in both scientific and literary fields. The pioneering submarine designer Simon Lake credited his inspiration to "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea", and his autobiography begins "Jules Verne was in a sense the director-general of my life." William Beebe, Sir Ernest Shackleton, and Robert Ballard found similar early inspiration in the novel, and Jacques Cousteau called it his "shipboard bible". The aviation pioneer Alberto Santos-Dumont named Verne as his favorite author and the inspiration for his own