Ben Franklin: The US Founding Father who travelled the globe

Ben Franklin: The US Founding Father who travelled the globe Alamy Benjamin Franklin spent a third of his life outside the US Thanks to a new series starring Michael Douglas, Franklin is enjoying a renaissance. Getty Images Franklin lived at 36 Craven Street near London's Trafalgar Square for 16 years from 1757-75 Soon, he no longer needed his father's permission to travel – so he did, logging 42,000 miles over the course of his long life. Getty Images Franklin believed travel was a way to lengthen life Travel also enabled Ben to pause and think. It was on an Atlantic crossing to London in 1757 when he wrote his famous "Father Abraham's Speech", a collection of aphorisms that cemented Franklin's reputation as the personification of raw capitalism.