Hide the Bible

[Graeme Cole]

This might be of particular interest to the series finalists waiting around in their hotel rooms over the next few days. Literally minutes of fun.

Hide the Bible

[Phil Reynolds]

Excellent. I once watched attentively while Ian McKellen, in his one-man show, demonstrated his technique for tearing out the page containing Leviticus 18:22 from a Gideon Bible, which he continues to do in hotel rooms all over the world. Apparently it's catching on; one fan sent him a collection of 40 such pages, which they suggested he might like to thread onto a piece of string and hang up next to his toilet, so that at least the offensive literature could be put to some practical use.

If one had the money, a more constructive approach might be to buy a large supply of copies of Richard Dawkins' The God Delusion and leave those in hotel rooms instead.

[Chris Corby]

Excellent. I once watched attentively while Ian McKellen, in his one-man show, demonstrated his technique for tearing out the page containing Leviticus 18:22 from a Gideon Bible, which he continues to do in hotel rooms all over the world. Apparently it's catching on; one fan sent him a collection of 40 such pages, which they suggested he might like to thread onto a piece of string and hang up next to his toilet, so that at least the offensive literature could be put to some practical use.

Let's not forget that a little further on, Leviticus also bans the eating of prawn cocktails (prawns being a seafood without fins or scales) so I suggest Leviticus believers should devote equal time to picketing Beefeater restaurants....unless of course they have actually enjoyed a few in their lifetimes!

[Ciaran Thompson]

Getting out the Bible whilst waiting around in their hotel rooms would actually be very good thing to help you succeed at Countdown, as Susie Dent would probably tell you. Its influenced the English language more than Shakespeare, and Shakespeare quoted it 1,200 times. The King James Version of the Bible is 400 years old this year, and we get the following words from it:

backslide, fisherman / fishermen, scapegoat, seashore, taskmaster, viper, zealous - all of which can be used in letters rounds and some can be conundrums.

and the following phrases:

a law unto themselves, at my wits’ end, by the skin of my teeth, fall from grace, fell flat on his face, fly in the ointment, go from strength to strength, labour of love, heart’s desire, on the straight and narrow, pride goes before a fall, see eye to eye, sour grapes, the letter of the law, the powers that be

see: www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-12205084
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00zmc6f

[Matt Morrison]

How has Jono escaped mention here?

[Gavin Chipper]

How has Jono escaped mention here?

I was thinking the same!

[Marc Meakin]

Aint it about time we had a sequel.

[Steve Balog]

Excellent. I once watched attentively while Ian McKellen, in his one-man show, demonstrated his technique for tearing out the page containing Leviticus 18:22 from a Gideon Bible, which he continues to do in hotel rooms all over the world. Apparently it's catching on; one fan sent him a collection of 40 such pages, which they suggested he might like to thread onto a piece of string and hang up next to his toilet, so that at least the offensive literature could be put to some practical use.

If one had the money, a more constructive approach might be to buy a large supply of copies of Richard Dawkins' The God Delusion and leave those in hotel rooms instead.

Might do this next time I'm at a hotel -- the US is a lot more obsessive about cherry-picking and mangling Bible verses to justify hatred.

I need to see if I can find that picture of the guy who got Leviticus 18:22 tattooed on his arm. Don't think he'd have done that had he read maybe a page further.