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Tuesday 09 December 1997 00:02 GMT

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Today is 9 December.

The word "noon" originally meant the ninth hour of the day (which was roughly 3pm, nine hours after dawn).

Nine is also the number of:

gallons of saliva secreted daily by

an average horse;

hours it takes an army ant to walk

a mile;

milligrams of rat droppings

allowed in a kilo of wheat in the US.

"The Book of Numbers" by William Hartston is now in the shops at pounds 9.99, published by Richard Cohen Books.

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