The Number of the Beast Devalued?

A lot of people say that television rots the brain. I say sometimes it can be an education. BBC2 showed a repeat of the cerebral spoof quiz QI last night. Interestingly it was the episode that spurred me on to this post about Thomas Midgely Junior , a great inventor who inadvertently became an environmentalist’s worst nightmare (he developed leaded petrol and determined that CFCs made excellent coolants).

In the same episode there was a question about the number of the beast. The obvious answer was six hundred, three score and six. This is an incorrect answer according to the show. The real answer may in fact be 616. Extensive research on the matter ( okay, I admit it - a quick Google) revealed that this may be the case

A few years ago advanced imaging techniques made it possible to decipher a hoard of previously illegible manuscripts discovered in an ancient dump outside the Egyptian city of Oxyrhynchus. The papyri were first excavated in 1895, but were badly discoloured and illegible using the technology of the time One of the papyri contained a a fragment from the oldest surviving copy of the New Testament and showed the number 616 as the mark of the Antichrist.

I have no opinion if this is the case or not but i t did strike me that some changes may be necessary:

618 becomes the neighbour of the Beast

Hexakosioihexekontahexaphobia will have to be replaced by something equally long and unpronounceable

24.8193473 replaces 25.8069758 as the root of all evil.

Bruce Dickinson will also have to change the lyrics to this song:



The A616 will officially be the road to hell, while children taking the shcoolday only route from Winchmore Hill to Edmonton Green will fear for their immortal souls (it being route 616 of course...)
Who says that all tv is simply chewing gum for the eyes?