Part of our Football Crazy weekend with the England and Norway Writers Teams. What was the meaning behind Beckham's choice of the number 23 shirt to play for Real Madrid? Was it because we have 23 pairs of chromosomes, Michael Jordan wore the number 23 shirt or because Caesar was stabbed 23 times? Professor of Mathematics at Oxford University and football fanatic, Marcus du Sautoy, feels moved to point out that many pundits seem to have missed the true significance of Beckham's choice; that 23 is a prime number. Through a series of interactive games, du Sautoy will explore some of the interesting properties of prime numbers and explain why they are important both for mathematicians and footballers. Du Sautoy is Simonyi Professor for the Public Understanding of Science and presenter of numerous television programmes including The Royal Institution Christmas Lectures and The Story of Maths. Joe Dunthorne, author of Submarine, described by the Independent as “the sharpest, funniest, rudest account of a troubled teenager’s coming of age since Catcher In The Rye”, will pitch in too with his performance poetry. (Recommended for ages 11 to 111!).

Photo credit for Joe Dunthorne: Angus Muir.