A date with destiny

Sir, – I remember as a child the delight of being informed, at the start of the year 1961, that this was a special date, for…

Sir, – I remember as a child the delight of being informed, at the start of the year 1961, that this was a special date, for it would look the same when read upside-down, and that such a date would not occur again for a very long time.

Allowing for the fact that our system of calendars and dating is a human construct, and that Jesus Christ may not have been born in the year “0”, one interesting date occurred on Tuesday, February 21st. This date would read “21/02/2012” which gives a symmetrical reading. Is there any significance in this for mathematicians or numerologists, and will such a date occur again, at least for a millennium? – Yours, etc,

JS CAMPELL,

St Luke’s, Cork.