42
Harry Pye writes... 5 years ago I celebrated my 42nd birthday by curating an exhibition of 42 artworks. Each work in the show was made in collaboration with a different artist. I also asked 42 people to write 42 words about the number 42. This is what I got back...
Can you write 42 words about your thoughts about the number 42?
David Quantick: “Nine Man’s Morris, Eight-Eyed Spider Smile. Seven Little Girls Sitting In The Back Seat Kissing And A Hugging With Fred. Six Degrees Of Separation. Five Go Down To The Sea. Four Lads Who Shook The World. Three Men On The Bummel. 42!”
Kevin Eldon: “The Japanese consider 42 unlucky because its pronunciation 'sho ni' sounds like the phrase 'unto death'. In England, rather less menacingly, it sounds like an awkwardly expressed order given to a waitress by a couple sitting in a cafe: 'for tea, two'.
John Lloyd: “Douglas Adams chose 42 because it was ‘the funniest of the two-figure numbers’. Shortly before his unexpected death, he told Richard Curtis he thought he had discovered what The Answer actually was. Richard let it pass, and has regretted it ever since.”
Trevor Lock: “You never knowingly see 42 things without having to stop and count. Counting beyond what the eye or brain can grasp in an instant is immoral and leads only to suffering. Somewhere there's a wise tribe that goes, one, two three, many.”
Peter Jones: “I'm trying to remember what my forty second birthday was like which was only four years ago. Must have been the year twenty ten so you'd think that would be memorable. I'm thinking about it. Can't seem to remember anything too exciting.”
John Hind: " It would be inappropriate to spend more than 42 minutes pondering that there are 42 eyes in a deck of cards, 42 episodes of the sitcom ‘Mother & Son’ and that Stanley Unwin, aged 42, made his first radio broadcast in Unwinese. "
Paul Hamilton: “Your first 41 years are like a brilliant movie with a cast of unforgettable characters but sadly after that we stumble and tumble, falling headlong into insignificance and self-parody, wasting our lives wasting everyone else's time. Turn in, tune out, drop off.”
Candy Guard: "Unlike Paul Hamilton my first 41 years were full of anxiety and panic about what I should have achieved by what age, but when I hit 42 and realised I'd fucked up anyway I could finally begin to relax and enjoy myself."
Becky Beasley: “My birthday is November 21st. I don’t know if this is why it was always my lucky number. Related numbers such as 2 and 42 are also considered lucky. I’m 39 now so I’ll be joining Harry at 42 in 3 years.”
Larry McGinty: “I’m sorry Harry, I’ve thought about this and there’s just no meaning for me in the number 42; neither as an age nor having ever lived at a No. 42. Nor have I been fortunate/unfortunate enough to have had 42 lovers.”
Peter Tatchell: "When I was 42, in 1994, I outed 10 Church of England bishops who were pillars of a homophobic church that victimized gay priests and opposed legal equality for LGBT people. What I did was queer self-defence against a prejudiced, discriminatory church."
John Aizlewood: “When I was a child I loved playing KerPlunk. When the wrong stick was randomly removed, the marbles would tumble. Similarly, if 42 was randomly removed, it would become the wrong stick. Believe me, there would be a different kind of tumbling.”
Jackie Clark: “A rainbow is formed by sunlight refracted and internally reflected by raindrops. The light in the bow corresponding to the minimum deviation of light. The radius is 42, being equal to 360 minus the angle of minimum deviation for a spherical drop.”
Margerite Horner: “Musicians Barbra Stresisand, Carole King, Paul McCartney of The Beatles, Andy Summers of The Police, Brian Wilson of The Beach Boys, Peter Tork of The Monkees, 60s Model Jean Shrimpton, Director Werner Herzog, Boxer Muhammad Ali, Actor Harrison Ford were all born in ‘42”
Liam Scully: “At age of 12, Mum and I moved into a two bedroom flat from a free bedroom house. My Dad said she was raving mad, although still a council estate, number 42 Mill Park Road was a nicer place to grow up.”
Johnny Ball: “I’m at sixes and sevens over forty two? Or is it forty-two. Or even fortytwo? Is it one word or two? Is a hyphenated word one word or two? Let’s say its two? Then just one more forty-two will do?”
Fintan Mallory: “The points of reference I have are old philosophy books. Numbers are notes or citations in margins. In B42 of the First Critique, Kant concludes that space is not a property of objects but the form of all external appearance. Pretty neat.”
Sinead Wheeler: “I did Fletcher Maths at school, which was based on Set Theory and logic, so we didn’t really do times tables and sums. But I read “The Seven Times Search” as well, which is a fantastic book. 42 is 7 times 6”.
Rob Whytehead: “42 does not seem a significant number, a whole number, it is divisible by 2 and 3, and double 21. Perhaps therefore it is significant as an age, twice that of coming of age, but half that, roughly, of adult life expectancy?”
Cathy Lomax: “Elvis died at 42. He was always fearful that he would die young. Elvis was greatly moved by a melodramatic story and he supposedly saw pictures in cumulus clouds that predicted his own death. This fatalistic drama would have appealed to him.”
Mark King: “Thanks for inviting me into your art. The number 42 means everything to me. I have worked for it for thirty five years now and it has given me everything. My family, my home, my job, and my pension. God bless 42.”
Andrew Collins: “I turned 42 in the year 2007, during which 12 massive concerts were staged in seven continents under the banner Live Earth and intended to raise awareness of climate change, which was nice. The Johannesburg concert was held at the Coca-Cola Dome.”
Arthur Mathews: “1942? War time - no ‘proper cup final’ that year. I’ll Google it…. Brentford v Portsmouth. Huge crowd, as big as peace time - a distraction from bombs and destruction and madness all around. How many in that crowd died? Gone before war’s end.”
Nathan Penlington: “To calculate the numerological significance of number 42, we first have to add the digits: 4+2=6.
As 6 is higher than the numerological threshold 5, it is halved = 3. And 3, as we all know, is the first digit of Pye.”
Gyles Brandreth: “To succeed in life what do you need? Clarity of ambition, physical courage, determination, energy, an eye for detail, a willingness to be hands on , focus ("Don't dabble, focus") and, finally, FORTITUDE – or should that be forty-two'd, dude? (Spelling's not that important.)”
Dan Connor: "A poem: 42 veneers of differing sheens / 42 bad boys on the scene / 42 exhibitions that didn't draw a crowd / 42 cartoons that are not allowed / 42 cack-handed attempts to crack it / 42 foundation students unable to hack it. The end".
Masa Kepic:
Forty-two orbits...
Celestial bodies spin
Through space. One is home.
Night. Inky blackness
Sprinkled with starlight above.
Exploration starts.
With torch I highlight,
Raw edges against dark sky,
Shoot a Polaroid....
Flash hits, makes monochrome glimpse.
Cover it, and wait.
Lightpainting develops...
Nick Revell: “My dentist calls his practice 42, because that’s the house number. He’s also an old friend. Does the teeth of all the comedians of my generation. Very gentle. I actively look forward to appointments. Maybe that’s the secret of life, the universe…”
Sarm Derbois: “Forty-two, a number with sharp edges, truth be told I am not much of a fan. However, if you add four plus two you get a curvy six which transforms into a nine when you turn it upside down, now that’s magic!”
Sukie Smith: “If you bore a straight hollow tube directly through the Earth, remove the air from the tube and fall through, the first half of the journey consists of free-fall acceleration, second half of an exactly equal deceleration. The journey takes 42 minutes.”
Dan Fox: “42 years ago, George Lucas released the movie American Graffiti. This 1973 film was nostalgic for the small town America of 1962. I first saw American Graffiti aged 16. Now I’m nearly 42; sentimental for ‘93’s surprise at ‘73’s adoration of ’62.”
Martin Sexton: “Pliny witnessed the eruption of Vesuvius yet also described a Unicorn with its single black horn and Douglas Adams that a garden was beautiful without having to believe that there are fairies at the bottom of it too, and you forty two?”
Alan Tuffs: ‘Arnie turns towards the wrecked corpse of his house. “Remember that place? Boy, oh boy.” Out of the ocean’s hiss, a foghorn moans. Surprising it would be working when nothing else is.’
Page 42, I’m here; LET ME BE FRANK WITH YOU.
Anna McNay: “Downwards: a goal – once reached, no longer sufficient; once passed, never again to be exceeded.
Upwards: a fear – an insurmountable peak, a barrier to the future, to life.
Now: a memory – sometimes recalled fondly, even yearned for; sometimes a nightmare gladly past.”
Gregory Williams: “He’d ask me to write on this or that thing. Their very arbitrariness meant I could take them up until they winked back at me, but 42 is too arbitrary to leave me anything but indifferent: the thing’s been caught winking again.”
Helen Lederer: “The age of forty two saw Cheri Blair become pregnant and me find a 2nd husband after a decade of looking for a boyfriend . These occasions are just two events that reflect the adage 'never say never' or 'you go girl' at 42”
Pete Sinclair: “42 is not the answer to anything. 42 is neither young nor old. Compare it to the number 24. Four and twenty blackbirds; four and twenty virgins. Who says two and forty? Actually, Shakespeare did. Once. But I had to Google that.”
Jack Dee: “Write 42 words? What about?” I asked, panicking. “About 42. That’s the subject”. “So, anything around the number 42. It could be a story or a poem or anything? Christ that’s impossible. When do you need it?” “You’re too late” he sighed.”
John O'Farrell: “Somewhere in outer space, aliens are decoding digital broadcasts of ‘A Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy’ eagerly racing to where they will discover the meaning of Life, the Universe and Everything. “101010?” Some jokes just don’t translate so well into binary.”
Dave Cohen: “It’s said by some blokes
There are seven jokes,
But they meant “it’s absurd,
“Seven’s a funny word.”
Seventeen came and went
Overused, all fun spent.
Soon we were blessed
With the funniest and best
Now we laugh at you
Number forty-two.”
Forty-Two by Sally O’Reilly:
‘Plees, lie back. So … you have sadness?’
‘I’m, I’m … a laughing stock.’
‘No, you have fame, is all.’
‘Well, it’s a curse. I’m pentadecagonal, pronic, sphenic – all specific qualities – but all they can see is…’
‘Everysing?’
‘Yes. It’s too much.’
Sandra Turnball: “42 = Harry Pye equals The Answer to Life the Universe and Everything, well he is to me anyway .The Puzzle, what Roman Numeral is spelled out by the yellow-tinted spheres overlapping , yellow, orange, green, black. Answer on a postcard XLII”
Suki Webster: “ Forty Two: Just old enough that the words perpendicular, fan assisted oven and interest rates no longer sound so silly on my lips. And young enough to still skip and whiney with joy when I see my first butterfly of the year.”
Karen Morden: “There are 42 spots on a pair of standard six-sided dice. Opposite sides usually add up to seven. A roll introduces randomicity, unless loaded by cheats. Play just for fun or gamble: Chicago, Pig or Craps. Dice developed from knucklebones for divination.”
Gabby Hutchinson Crouch: “The TV Show LOST included ‘42’ amongst its magical, possibly cursed, recurring Numbers. ‘Lostpedia’ explains 42 has no mythical properties, it was just an homage to Douglas Adams. Yes, there’s a LOST Wikipedia. It has more answers than the program ever did.”
Lloyd Cole: “1961 + 42 = 2003. OK, memory misleads - 42 wasn’t so bad. 40 was awful - bad knees, hernia, all that older dude stuff. But then I made a record I still really like. Lost 20lbs to promote it after I saw the photo shoot.”
Dominic Allan: “Number 42 is the number of points Luton Town accumulated in the 1991/92 season, in the old First Division. We were relegated. English football changed forever that Summer; the Football Association and First Division chairmen went into business with Rupert Murdoch.”
Uliana Apatina: “42 – they are a couple – either friends or lovers – multiplied reflection of each other – 2–2 – plus the other 2 – 2–2–2 – equation of opposing forces – driven to each other to arrange a perfectly imbalanced balance.”
Marie Smith: "Fortune favours those over forty, a fortuitous time of your life where mystery's are solved. I wish for that day when I will be able to glow with knowledge and my zest for life is mediated at a palatable pace for oneself."
Sarah Morgan: "Forty two’s a funny number because it isn’t funny. Unfunny towns are funny – Leeds, Bath. Funny towns – Cockermouth, Shitterton – aren’t. The least funny of all the numbers are fractions. Thirty-eight point seven percent… ungh. Needy. Fractions are the Scunthorpe of numbers."
Mark Lamarr: “There's a biblical story about bears killing 42 youths because they shouted at Elisha , “Go up, you baldhead !”. A baffling theological tale, but had the saying 'An eye for an eye, a savage disembowelling for an insult ' caught on, it wouldn't be.”
Jessica O'Reilly:“As a magician of words; a writer, a wordsmith if you will, I’m approaching the unusual challenge of crafting forty two words around the number forty two as I would any project - with competence. Okay, here I go. Forty too is… dammit.”
Fiona Russell Powell: “Biblically, 42 reigns as the number with the Fear Factor... "God sent bears to maul 42 teenage boys for mocking Elisha's baldness". Boybands smirk not at the Beast Cowell's unnaturally fulsome hairline or he'll release the bears. All 42 of 'em.”
Paul Carey-Kent:
You’ve come of age for starters. And once more for experience.
Primes lie either side: why can’t this be your super-prime?
You know how many minutes it takes
to
plunge
through
a
tunnel
bisecting
the
earth
but you’re too whole to jump.
Tine Frellesen:
“Happy Birthday, Harry
Now you know how 42
years feel.
So you know how far
and how close
84 years is.
And how long ago
or not long ago
1931 was.
The distant past
and far future
come closer as we live.”
Neal Brown:
“Oh Harry.
Oh Harry. A brave seeker
Of the 42 truths.
Might these 42 words
Form a 42nd part of
Your spiritual fortitude?
Do truths multiply
Through sharing
With 42 others?
Oh Harry.
Yea. Counteth ye already
Thine 43rd wisdom of love?
Catherine Ingram:
Forty Two
The sum of two
Assertive, Youthful
Twenty Ones
Married to four
two ages
Faces failure of multiplication
Otherwise correct on the page.
4 and 2 should be gold plated
Glitzy and bold
A last cry out
Before they're just old.
Calum F. Kerr:
“There once was a number
That tore this Universe asunder
It held the key
To all that we are
All that we will be
Released our base desires
Set our minds free
For it was more than Forty-One
But less than Forty-Three”
