37

"I am not a number. I am a human being."

But some numbers carry such emotional resonance that we wouldn't mind being associated with them. That, after all, is why so many people wear the shirts of famous footballers.

I have just watched Cool Hand Luke again - for perhaps the first time in a couple of decades. (Tulsa, noting my complaint that I had been unable to find it on DVD over here, very kindly brought a copy back for me from her recent trip home to the States. At first, I was in a panic that it wouldn't play. I don't think DVD players here are supposed to play US-coded DVDs, but...... this is China!)

I noticed - I think for the first time ever (it's not, after all, really a very important detail) - that '37' is the number daubed on the back of Luke's prison uniform.

I wonder if there is any particular significance in that, any numerological connotations, perhaps? Aha, a quick check on Wikipedia reveals that it is "the largest prime factor of the Number of the Beast, 666". Yes, I'm sure the writer, Donn Pearce, had that in mind! (More likely coincidence, don't you think? 37 is one third of 111, so it's a factor of all three-figure numbers with the same digit repeated.)

Well, it has a significance for me now. I love that film, that character - and now, that number.

Watch out for sly references to the number '37' in future posts.