If you had the patience to make it all the way to the end of Lost back in the mid-to-late noughties, well done.
Incredibly, a decade has slipped by since the iconic yet frustrating series first appeared on British screens.
Even if you did manage to follow the adventures of the marooned survivors of Oceanic Flight 815, you’d be forgiven for not realising the significance of yesterday’s date.
Stateside however, it was a very different story…
Along with smoke monsters, polar bears and some Scottish bloke in an underground hatch, the mysterious numbers 4, 8, 15, 16, 23 and 42 were one of many elements of the show that had viewers scratching their heads in bewilderment.
The numbers cropped up all over the place and were even revealed as the winning lottery numbers of Hugo ‘Hurley’ Reyes, one of the show’s more distinctive characters.
As Americans insist on writing their dates incorrectly, yesterday was 4/8/15, and at 16:23:42, all of the numbers aligned. This caused a fair degree of excitement amongst fans, with some of whom proclaimed it to be ‘Lost Day’.
If you don't understand #LOSTDay just wait til the end of it when nothing gets explained.
— John Fugelsang (@JohnFugelsang) April 8, 2015
As silly as it sounds, perhaps we shouldn’t be so quick to dismiss such a fixation with a string of apparently meaningless numbers. In 2011, four of the numbers were drawn on a $355 million lottery draw.
More than a few Lost fans pocketed $150 each as a result – hopefully this made up for the fact that many of the questions thrown up by the seven seasons still remain unanswered!
