Now a team of expert classicists using new photographic techniques are finally deciphering

Now a team of expert classicists, using new photographic techniques, are finally deciphering the original writing.Professor David Parker, Professor of New Testament Textual Criticism and Paleography at the University of Birmingham, thinks that 616, although less memorable than 666, is the original. A newly discovered fragment of the oldest surviving copy of the New Testament indicates that, as far as the Antichrist goes, theologians, scholars, heavy metal groups, and television evangelists have got the wrong number Instead of 666, it’s actually the far less ominous 616. Instead of 666, it’s actually the far less ominous 616.
The new fragment from the Book of Revelation, written in ancient Greek and dating from the late third century, is part of a hoard of previously unintelligible manuscripts discovered in historic dumps outside Oxyrhynchus in Egypt. I’d prefer to spend my money on other stuff, like gadgets and beer.”I just look for simple stuff, really – nothing special or designer, and nothing with big designer prints,” he says.”I’m not too fussed about labels.

A T-shirt with a massive ‘Moschino’ on it would not appeal to me.”Interviews by Jonathan Thompson and Karen Hall. It’s a force stronger than me, and when it comes down to it I can’t control it. Everybody has a vice – and mine is shopping.”The Reluctant Shopper’I prefer to spend my money on gadgets’Tom Wheeley, a 27-year-old software developer from Battersea, south London, dislikes shopping so much that his mother and girlfriend have to “press-gang” him into buying new clothes.Yesterday, under duress, he was taken to the shops in central London. The results included a brown short-sleeved shirt and two T-shirts.”One of them is orange,” Mr Wheeley says. Other details have been forgotten, along with the experience, but he is fairly sure that the shopping was confined to Burtons, Fat Face and, “that one in between I also bought two pairs of trousers, I think.

They were about £30 each.”Mr Wheeley just doesn’t enjoy the rigours of the high street. He wears trousers until they are “worn through and actually falling apart”, and owns only three pairs of shoes: everyday shoes, interview shoes and clubbing shoes.”Sometimes my girlfriend will grab me when I’m not looking and suddenly I’ll find myself in a clothes shop with a T-shirt in my hand,” he laughs.”I don’t mind it too much, but I really hate having to decide on something when I’m not sure if I like it or not. “I’ve just spent £45 on a summer wrap top from Miss Sixty, and a pair of shoes from Fornarina, I think they cost about £80. I’ve got a lot better; I used to be buying something nearly every day. It’s just this thing where I have to buy something.”Ms De Angelis, who owns more than 50 pairs of shoes, has amassed significant debts on store cards and credit cards, but “doesn’t know or want to know” how big they are. Her other purchases this week include three dresses and two pairs of shoes from eBay. She is still bidding for three pairs of shoes and a top.”My family are not happy with me at all,” she shrugs “When I go out and buy stuff I sneak in with my bags.