HOW MYSTICAL 23 CHANGED COURSE OF HISTORY

By Ryan Parry And Rebecca Smith

IT might be just a squad number to David Beckham fans, but many believe 23 has mystical properties.

Pop stars and writers are among those fascinated by it.

Late author William Burroughs was so gripped by numeric coincidences surrounding 23, he kept a scrapbook of his findings. It is said he was alerted to the number's power when a Captain Clark told him he had run a ferry from Spain to Morocco with no problem for 23 years. Hours later it sank, killing the skipper.

Band Psychic TV were obsessed with 23. They released 23 live albums, each on the 23rd day of 23 months running.

Whether Becks is touched by the number's supposed magic at Real is yet to be seen.

But if he scores 23 goals to help Madrid win the league, no doubt he'll start believing there's something in it.

BASKETBALL legend Michael Jordan wore 23 for the Chicago Bulls. His dad was also murdered on July 23, 1993, during a botched robbery. Real's choice of number is a coup for agency SFX who handle both Jordan and Becks' affairs.

WILLIAM Shakespeare was born and died on April 23. His first folio of plays came in 1623. Wife Anne died in 1623.

US catchphrase "23, skidoo" is thought to have come from A Tale of Two Cities by Dickens. In it a woman counts guillotine victims.

As she says "23" the hero Sydney Carton is beheaded in the last act.

AUTHOR William Burroughs kept a scrapbook about 23 and its appearances in history.

He first spotted its power when a Captain Clark told him he had run a ferry without incident for 23 years. It sank and killed Clark hours later. That day Burroughs heard a radio report of a flight 23 which had crashed in the US - operated by a Captain Clark.

WORLD record-breaking basketball boy wonder LeBron James also wears the number 23 shirt.

The 18-year-old recently signed for Cleveland Cavaliers after agreeing a four-year, £12million contract. And the much-hyped star, dubbed the "Chosen One" signed a £60million endorsement deal with sportswear giants Nike.

CAR giant Nissan is touched by a numerical coincidence. In Japanese, "ni" is 2, and "san" is 3. So Nissan would be 23.

WRITER Burroughs inspired author Robert Anton Wilson. It was from one of his books that the 23-letter name, Justified Ancients Of Mu Mu, was taken for the band which later became KLF.

A US police car used in the video for the group's hit Doctorin' The Tardis had 23 painted on the roof, and their final performance lasted 23 minutes. They incinerated £1million on a Scottish island on August 23, 1994.

WILLIAM Burroughs' final TV appearance was in U2's Last Night on Earth video. The letter U is the 21st in the alphabet and adding the 2 gives 23.

Sesame Street's Bert is a member of the national association of W lovers, the 23rd letter of the alphabet.

WHEN 23 or more people are in the same room there is a better than evens chance that at least two share the same birthday. Class sizes in schools are larger than 23, so more than half in Britain have two pupils with the same birthdays.

THE Latin alphabet has 23 letters. The German movie 23 explored an obsession with the number, based on a real-life story.

On average, every 23rd wave crashing to shore is twice as large as normal.

In the disaster movie Airport, the bomber has seat 23.

It takes 23 seconds for blood to circulate through the body.

IN THE Beatles film Yellow Submarine, The Butterfly Stomper, who destroys all things of beauty, wears a shirt with the number 23.

WEIRD pop band Psychic TV are so obsessed with 23 that at one point they made the Guinness Book of World Records by releasing 23 albums on the 23rd day of 23 months in a row. They were influenced by the occultist Aleister Crowley who had been convinced of the power of 23.

PARENTS each contribute 23 chromosomes, pictured below, to start a new human life during reproduction.

ON July 23, 1996 the "Mysterious Eyes" of comet Hale-Bopp are first sighted.

THE earth rotates on an axis of 23 and a half degrees. Alright, that's not strictly 23, but it's near enough to be considered a numerical coincidence.

ROCK star Kurt Cobain was born in 1967 and died in 1994. Both years bizarrely add up to 23 if counted as individual digits: 1+9+6+7=23. 1+9+9+4=23.

ROMAN Emperor Julius Caesar was stabbed 23 times when he was assassinated.

THE average smoker gets through 23 cigarettes a day.

IN Oliver Stone's Nixon, Tricky Dickie's football shirt at Whittier is number 23.

TWENTY-THREE was the shirt number worn by tragic footballer Marc-Vivien Foe when he was at Manchester City. The Cameroon international died after collapsing on the pitch during a Confederations Cup semi-final last week.

IN Hollywood blockbuster Die Hard III the train derails in subway station 23.

The human biorhythm is generally 23 days.

The first song on Side A of the Beatles first album took 23 takes to record.

US Cavalry legend General Custer was promoted to the senior military rank at the age of 23. The soldier was the youngest general in the US army at the time.

IN the final assault on the Death Star in Star Wars, Luke Skywalker is in Red 5. Red 2 and Red 3 start bomb runs at 23 degrees. The cell block holding Princess Leia, right, was AA-23.

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