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RobbieM wrote:624 = Last three digits of the STD code for the Isle of Man. (MA = 62 again, 4 is its position of significance [in order 2345678901])

• Have I lost anyone on this?!

Not at all, although perhaps it should be said that the letter-digit correspondence comes from the old rotary telephone dials. The pattern on modern mobile phone keypads is similar but not identical - O and Q used to be on digit 0, and Z wasn't included at all. So the old code for Bournemouth was 0202 (now 01202).

I never quite understood 0865 for Oxford though...

Yes, I recognise that there's a couple of slight differences, but it was easier to make the point by using letters that worked!

I always thought Oxford was the 'UNiversity' town...

Another interesting one - Milton Keynes - 01908. When STD codes were invented, Milton Keynes hadn't been! But Wolverton had.

There's a list of the original alphanumeric codes here:

http://www.rhaworth.myby.co.uk/phreak/std_geog.htm

It seems that 0865 for Oxford was originally OTMoor - apparently if the exchange name began with an O then the STD prefix "0" was included as part of the mnemonic. I never knew that!

Also interesting to note that the pattern follows for many London suburbs e.g. Wimbledon = 94 (WI), Mitcham = 66 (MM), Fulham = 38 (FU)

It was better than that - they used all three letters. Here's a list:

http://www.rhaworth.myby.co.uk/phreak/tenp_01.htm

Some of them were really strange though. Why ADVance for Bow and Mile End?

Amazing, I never realised about three letters! But ADV, yes, sounds like they were running out of ideas here...

That's where the alphanumeric exchanges originally came from - the STD codes came much later.

I think 238 was originally BEThnal Green, but they changed it for some reason.

Here's the answer to my little puzzle about 629, 592 and 518: they're all multiples of 37. Write out all the multiples of 37 below 1000 in three rows of nine, like this (you need to put a 0 before the first two to make them up to three digits):

037 074 111 148 185 222 259 296 333
370 407 444 481 518 555 592 629 666
703 740 777 814 851 888 925 962 999

In three of the columns, all the numbers have three identical digits. In the remaining ones, the digits cycle round as you read down the column (leftwards in three cases and rightwards in three cases). The difference between any number and the one above it is always 9 x 37 = 333.

Neat, eh?

GuyBarry wrote:Neat, eh?

Neat indeed!

RobbieM wrote:648 are the last three digits of the STD code for ... nowhere any more!!

Originally Magherafelt in County Londonderry (MG8 was the alphanumeric). Of course all of Northern Ireland has 028 codes now.

tubeguru wrote:I do hope someone has something ORIGINAL for 666 ...

Actually there's all sorts of interesting stuff about 666 (and I didn't know about the Iron Maiden connection). It's the sum of the first 36 positive integers, and it uses six different Roman numerals in descending order (DCLXVI). It was also the winning number drawn in the rigged 1980 Pennsylvania Lottery draw. There are Biblical connections apart from the obvious one: in 1 Kings 10:14, "the weight of gold that came to Solomon in one year was six hundred threescore and six talents of gold".

The fear of the number 666 is called hexakosioihexekontahexaphobia. When Nancy and Ronald Reagan moved to their home in Los Angeles in 1989, they had the address 666 St. Cloud Road changed to 668 St. Cloud Road because of this superstition.

GuyBarry wrote:... 666 [is] the sum of the first 36 positive integers

Or, put another way, the numbers on a roulette wheel add up to 666.

Sam wrote:670 what of it?

Adjudication please? I don't think this contains a "non-trivial, verifiable piece of information" about 670 (or indeed any information at all).

Since I've gone for 672, I'd be inclined to let it go. But the guru needs to have the last laugh say...

And I've added 673 now. Let's see what happens...