Seven

What now?

I’ve done the Magnificent Seven, the Secret Seven, the seven Von Trapp chidren, the Seven Wonders of the World and seven notes in a scale. I know what I’m doing tomorrow. So just today then. One more seven. What can it be.

I’ve got it, how about…. just Seven.

I mean, think about it. It’s a pretty impressive number. It pops up all the time, all over the place.

Take a dice for instance. Any two opposing sides of a dice will always add up to seven. Look up in the night sky at the most instantly recognisable constellation, the plough (or great bear), how many stars do you see? That’s right, seven. You’ve got the Seven Sisters of Greek mythology, seven days in a week, the Seven Deadly Sins, sailing the Seven Seas.

Rome was built on seven hills. Actually so was Edinburgh. And Sheffield. But Sheffield never ruled an empire which stretched across the known world.

The world is made up of seven continents. The whole world. You can’t get a much bigger seven than the whole world, can you? And when you come to the end of the world, the Book of Revelations is full of sevens. The seven seals. “And when He opened the seventh seal there was silence in heaven… and I saw seven angels who stand before God and to them were given seven trumpets.” Sevens. Everywhere!

Frank Black recognised the religious significance of seven. “If man is five,” he sang, “and the Devil is six, then God is seven. This monkey’s gone to heaven.” Okay, that’s just complete and utter wibble, but it’s wibble with the number seven in it!

And what about James Bond. Double Oh Seven! If you were writing a book about the world’s greatest super-spy, you’d want him to be number double oh one, wouldn’t you. But not Ian Fleming. Oh no. Seven was the only number good enough for his guy. Although, that said, James Bond would be a pretty crap secret agent in real life. I mean, being able to go into any bar in the world and have the barman say “ah, Mr Bond, vodka martini, shaken not stirred,” is hardly a quality desirable in the world of covert espionage.

Blake’s Seven, Seven of Nine, the Seven Little Foys, the Seven Samurai, Seven-Up, Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, the list is endless.

So I think we can all agree that seven is a really terrific number. It only remains for me to say, Three Cheers for Seven!!!