07 - Is this your lucky number?

Is this your lucky number? Seventy-seven things you need to know about 07.

2007 ends with a number seen as special around the world. To Christians it represents perfection, while Muslims speak of seven heavens. To others it is lucky, magical or powerful (as well as being the spot count on a ladybird). So will the coming year be special too?

1 Seven is the optimum number of hours of sleep for humans, according to a US scientific study. 2 Seven is seen as a lucky number in many cultures. Japanese mythology talks of Shichifukujin (The Seven Gods of Fortune). 3 The seven deadly sins, or cardinal sins, were refined by Pope Gregory I in the 6th century. They are pride, avarice, lust, envy, gluttony, wrath, and sloth. 4 The seven virtues are humility, liberality, chastity, kindness, abstinence, patience, and diligence. 5 At a ceremony in Lisbon on 07/07/07, presumably at 7:07, the results of a global vote for the New Seven Wonders of the World will be announced. The 21 finalists include Stonehenge, the Kremlin and Timbuktu. 6 The superstitious believe that to break a mirror brings seven years of bad luck. The cure: to bury the pieces, or run them in a stream. 7 The average person's digit span (the number of digits they can recall in sequence) is seven. 8 The common ladybird has seven spots.