Eratosthenes knew that there was a well in Cyene, Egypt, into which the sun shone directly down on the summer solstice. However, further north, no well had this property. He went to Alexandria on the summer solstice, and measured the elevation of the sun with a stick in the ground. He was able to deduce the diameter of the Earth with a bit of trigonometry, and more profoundly, that the Earth was (and still is) round.

Zack

Around 250 B.C., by measuring the difference in the angle of sunlight at noon on the June Solstice, which he had heard illuminated the bottom of a well at Syene (now Aswan) Egypt near the Tropic of Cancer, with the length of the shadow cast on the same date and time by a vertical pillar in Alexandria, a known distance to the North, Eratosthenes determined the Earth's circumference.

Alan

Eratosthenes' calculation of the circumference of the earth. He heard that there was a well at Syene in southern Egypt down which the rays of the sun shone directly at noon on midsummer's day. He measured the angle of the shadow of a pillar at Alexandria at noon on the same day. By assuming (not without evidence) that the earth was spherical, and that the sun was sufficiently distant for its rays to be considered parallel when they reach the earth, he reasoned that the angle of the shadow at Alexandria was equal to the angle subtended at the centre of the earth by the arc between Alexandria and Syene. The distance between the two points was known, and so he was able to calculate the circumference of the complete great circle - a calculation that has been shown to be impressively accurate.

Sgt Dudfoot

William Clark Gable, Thomas Sean Connery, Philip Anthony Hopkins, George Orson Welles, and Eldred Gregory Peck all dropped their first given name. So the odd man out is Charles Spencer Chaplin, who can be replaced by James Paul McCartney.

Alan

Rolling Stones albums: 12 x 5, Out Of Our Heads, Beggar's Banquet, Let It Bleed, Black and Blue, Some Girls, and Undercover.

I suppose the Shamen put their feet up in the Voodoo Lounge.

Sgt Dudfoot

Joshua, of the Old Testament of the Bible, as follows:

My ancestry might suggest illegitimacy to the over-literal.

Joshua's full name was Joshua (Yehoshua) Bin-Nun, or "Joshua, son of Nun". Since nuns were not allowed to marry, this could certainly suggest illegitimacy.

I am a celebrated spymaster.

Joshua 2: "Now Joshua the son of Nun sent out two men from Acacia Grove to spy secretly, saying, "Go, view the land, especially Jericho." So they went, and came to the house of a harlot named Rahab, and lodged there."

I have a more famous namesake who is known by a different name.

The name "Jesus" from the Greek New Testament is the same as the name "Joshua" from the Hebrew Old Testament.

I prosecuted a war criminal.

Joshua 7 tells of the prosecution of Achan for stealing war spoils from Jericho:

"And Achan answered Joshua and said, "Indeed I have sinned against the LORD God of Israel, and this is what I have done: 21When I saw among the spoils a beautiful Babylonian garment, two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold weighing fifty shekels, I coveted them and took them. And there they are, hidden in the earth in the midst of my tent, with the silver under it." 22So Joshua sent messengers, and they ran to the tent; and there it was, hidden in his tent, with the silver under it. 23And they took them from the midst of the tent, brought them to Joshua and to all the children of Israel, and laid them out before the LORD. 24Then Joshua, and all Israel with him, took Achan the son of Zerah, the silver, the garment, the wedge of gold, his sons, his daughters, his oxen, his donkeys, his sheep, his tent, and all that he had, and they brought them to the Valley of Achor. 25And Joshua said, "Why have you troubled us? The LORD will trouble you this day." So all Israel stoned him with stones; and they burned them with fire after they had stoned them with stones."

I have my own book.

Joshua is the sixth book of the Old Testament.

I kept my word to a prostitute.

Joshua kept his word to Rahab, the prostitute, and spared her from the destruction of Jericho.

Joshua 2: "Now therefore, I beg you, swear to me by the LORD, since I have shown you kindness, that you also will show kindness to my father's house, and give me a true token, 13 and spare my father, my mother, my brothers, my sisters, and all that they have, and deliver our lives from death." So the men answered her, "Our lives for yours, if none of you tell this business of ours. And it shall be, when the LORD has given us the land, that we will deal kindly and truly with you." Joshua 6: "But Joshua had said to the two men who had spied out the country, "Go into the harlot's house, and from there bring out the woman and all that she has, as you swore to her." 23 And the young men who had been spies went in and brought out Rahab, her father, her mother, her brothers, and all that she had. So they brought out all her relatives and left them outside the camp of Israel. 24 But they burned the city and all that was in it with fire. Only the silver and gold, and the vessels of bronze and iron, they put into the treasury of the house of the LORD. 25 And Joshua spared Rahab the harlot, her father's household, and all that she had. So she dwells in Israel to this day, because she hid the messengers whom Joshua sent to spy out Jericho."

I committed genocide, more than once, but I claimed I was obeying orders from on high.

Joshua 6 describes the fall of Jericho. "They devoted the city to the LORD and destroyed with the sword every living thing in it - men and women, young and old, cattle, sheep and donkeys."

Joshua 8 describes the fall of Ai.

"When Israel had finished killing all the men of Ai in the fields and in the desert where they had chased them, and when every one of them had been put to the sword, all the Israelites returned to Ai and killed those who were in it." Joshua 11 describes how many peoples gathered to fight Israel and how God delivered these people unto Joshua, who killed them all. "...and they smote all the souls that [were] therein with the edge of the sword, utterly destroying [them]: there was not any left to breathe..." "And all the cities of those kings, and all the kings of them, did Joshua take, and smote them with the edge of the sword, [and] he utterly destroyed them but every man they smote with the edge of the sword, until they had destroyed them, neither left they any to breathe."

Pete Michell

Mary Cassatt. "Girl Arranging Her Hair". (1886 - Oil on canvas, The National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, USA).

Mike

With 31 socks, there are 465 discrete ways of choosing two. Of these, 45 will yield a red pair, 28 a blue pair, 15 green, 6 yellow, and 1 pink, for a total of 95 colour matches. The fraction is therefore 95/465, which simplifies to 19/93.

Alan

Between partition and peacemaker, I find partner, parvenu, pasquinade, Passover, past, paternoster, Pathans, pathetic, patois, patronymic, pauper, and pawn shop. (pawnbroker)

I also find:

partridge

paschal lamb - the lamb slain and eaten as Passover

pasch egg - an Easter egg

passion fruit

pasta

paste (come on, we've all done it...)

pasteurized milk

pastille - a small (often medicated) sweet

pastrami

pastry

pasture - food

pasty - a pie filled with game, fish, or the like

pate patent flour - a fine grade of flour

Patna rice - a long-grained rice originally grown in Patna, India.

patty - a small flat cake of minced beef or other food

patty pan - a variety of summer squash having a fluted rind

paua - abalone

pavlova - a sweet dish with a base of meringue topped with whipped cream and fruit

pawn - a peacock

pawpaw - papaya

pea

pea bean

peaberry

Pete Michell

The numbers represent UK telephone area codes. The sequence is derived from the British road system, which defines radial zones centered in London and Edinburgh, as follows:

A1 - London to Edinburgh

A2 - London to Dover

A3 - London to Portsmouth

A4 - London to Bristol

A5 - London to Holyhead

A6 - London to Carlisle

A7 - Edinburgh to Carlisle

A8 - Edinburgh to Greenock

A9 - Edinburgh to John O'Groats

Therefore, the missing number is 1228, the UK telephone area code for Carlisle; and, assuming you are considering the entire sequence (not just the roads emanating from London), the sequence would end in John O'Groats (part of Wick) with a code of 1955. Note that the clue refers to the international access code for the UK, which is obviously not necessary if you are calling from within.

Pete Michell

Q1

Q2

Q3

Q4

Q5

Q6

Q7

Q8

Q9

Q10

Pete Mitchell

8

Alan

8

Zack

7

Sgt Dudfoot

7

Mike

4

Mick T

2

Dadge

2