The Prisoner A Day in the Life Novel Written by Hank Stine 1970 (Page numbers come from the 2003 paperback edition published by iBooks)

When Number 6 is imprisoned within what is already the prison of the Village, he finds a chance for escape.

Notes from the Prisoner chronology

The events of this novel take place shortly after those of Number Two. The comic book mini-series Shattered Visage that takes place 20 years after the events of "Fall Out" seems to ignore the events of this novel and the two published before it, I Am Not a Number! and Number Two. In order to maintain these novels in the chronology, one may want to consider them to be hallucinations experienced by Number 6 after/during his ordeal in "Fall Out", as it is implied in Shattered Visage that Number 6 was at least partially "broken" by the use of drugs and psychological techniques in the final two TV episodes, "Once Upon a Time" and "Fall Out".

Didja Know?

Despite the book's title, the story takes place over the course of several days, maybe longer.

Didja Notice?

The cover of the 2003 ibooks edition of the novel features a pieced-together image of Number 6 behind bars...with hilariously tiny hands in comparison to his head!

    Pages 1-2 describe our hero's actions in the opening titles of the TV series up to the point he gets knocked out by gas in his own home, with some modifications: the music playing on the KAR's speaker plays the rock song "White Rabbit"; he's wearing a scarf; thinking of a woman; chomping on a cigar; he smacks down his resignation letter, apparently without speaking; and the spire of St. Paul's is seen through the window as he passes out. "White Rabbit" is a 1967 song by Jefferson Airplane. The woman he is thinking of may be his fiancé, Janet Portland, as revealed in "Do Not Forsake Me, Oh My Darling". "St. Paul's" is a reference to St. Paul's Cathedral in London, though it is not within viewing distance of Number 6's London home at 1 Buckingham Place as seen in the TV series.

    Page 2 states that the agent throws a group of travel folders into an already packed valise. If the valise is already packed, it suggests he was already prepared for a quick getaway after turning in his resignation. Perhaps he suspected all along that someone would come after him if he hung around?

   One of the travel folders that spills onto the floor when the agent passes out features a photograph of a village and the name PENRHYNDEUDRAETH: PORTMEIRION. The exterior Village scenes of the TV series were shot in the village of Portmeirion in the larger community of Penrhyndeudraeth on the coast of North Wales. This may be meant to suggest that Portmeirion actually is the Village and the agent already had some idea of what was going on there, but it is hard to imagine that a real world, functional village could suddenly by taken over and hidden by a government faction and not have it be public knowledge.

   (The opening pages of the Prisoner novel The Prisoner's Dilemma also retell the same scenes, in the form of Number 6's recurring dream of the events, without the modifications seen here.)

On page 5, Number 6 and Number 105 speak German to each other:

Guten morgen, Nummer Sechs. (Good morning, Number Six.)

Wie geht es Ihnen? (How are you?)

Gut, danke, und Ihenen? (Good, thank you, and you?)

Gut, danke. (Good, thank you.)

Number 87 is introduced as the grocer on page 5.

Number 87 charges Number 6 1.15 credit units for some pickled herring, a half-dozen eggs, a five pound bag of flour, and a half-pound of cheddar cheese. The next day, he charges .85 credit units for a steak.

Number 24 is the delivery boy at the grocer, but soon quits to make a film about Village life instead. Different Number 24s appeared in "Dance of the Dead" and "The Schizoid Man".

Number 237 is a fishing aficionado in the Village.

This novel shows that Number 6 has continued to play chess and have discussions of "unmutual" topics with the Admiral. The Admiral was introduced in "Arrival" and had the number 66 (though two other Number 66s also appeared in that episode, as well as yet another in "Free for All"!). Here, though, he is said to be Number 307.

Number 157 is the tobacconist.

On page 7, Number 157 says, "Bonjour" to Number 6. This is French for "Good morning."

In the book, Number 32 is a female resident of the Village. On page 19, she mentions her husband's name was Harry, but something happened to him when he continued to defy the Village authority.

On page 8, Number 157 says, "Qu'est-ce que c'est que ceci?" and "Je ne compre." These are French for "What is this?" and "I don't understand."

One of the young men working on the film is Number 569. This is the second highest number we've ever seen in a Prisoner story; the highest is Number 666 in Miss Freedom.

On page 9, Number 569 remarks that the Admiral has been in the Village longer than anybody.

On page 9, Number 157 says, "A bientöt, Number Six". A bientöt is essentially French for "Be seeing you."

This book reintroduces Number 127, a waitress at the Village restaurant. The dialog between her and Number 6 implies she is the same Number 127 who appeared in I Am Not a Number! and had an infatuation with Number 6, which he used to manipulate her in an escape attempt. This drove her to attempt suicide-by-drowning in the sea, from which Number 6 himself saved her. She was apparently in the local hospital for some time and just recently released to resume her job at the restaurant. Their reintroduction here is awkward for them, but she says she forgives him and Number 6 admits it was one of the less creditable episodes in his life.

On page 10, Number 6 and the Admiral open their chess game with the traditional Queen's pawns to Queen's four. Queen's pawn to Queen's four is the second most popular opening move in chess.

The beautiful new blond woman in the Village is Number 7. In I Am Not a Number!, Number 7 was the secret identity of Number 2, who escapes from the Village near the end of the book.

On page 11, Number 6 remarks to the Admiral that he must prefer the Scotch opening. The Scotch Opening is a standard opening tactic in chess and does involve the movement of Knight to Bishop three, as the Admiral does here.

Also on page 11, a young Village band is playing the Beatles' "Michelle", led by four mustached young men in gaudy uniforms. "Michelle" is an actual 1965 song by the rock group, the Beatles. The description of the four young men matches the photo of the band members on the cover of the Beatles' 1967 album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Either the four lads are deliberately costumed to look like the Beatles or John, Paul, George, and Ringo have been incarcerated in the Village!

The band accompanying the four lads is said to be dressed in Salvation Army grey. The Salvation Army is a worldwide Christian charitable organization. The group's uniforms are different colors in different countries, including some in grey (like the UK) and they do have a brass band.

This book deals a lot with Village mutuality and with individuals who are considered "unmutual" by the powers-that-be. This harkens back to "A Change of Mind", in which some Village residents, including Number 6, were declared "unmutual".

Page 16 reveals that the Village has a Women's League for Better Government.

On pages 16-17, the Village P.A. system announces that the Women's League for Better Government is sponsoring a showing of Gone With the Wind at 7:30 that night. This refers to the 1938 film Gone With the Wind, starring Clark Gable.

The announcement also mentions the display of a sculpture by Number 336.

At the end of the P.A. announcement, the speaker starts to play Mantovani's arrangement of "Yesterday". Mantovani (1905-1980) was a popular Italian light orchestra conductor. In 1966, he did a cover of the Beatles' 1965 song "Yesterday".

As the P.A. announcement ends, the female announcer refers to herself as Number 215. This is presumably the same announcer heard in episodes of the TV series, voiced by actress Fenella Fielding.

On page 19, another announcement states there will be a class on "The Village--Its Charter and Government" at 7 a.m. on Tuesday the 19th in the Civic Center.

Number 6 is seen to be fond of cigars in this novel. He also smokes a cigar in "The Schizoid Man" and in I Am Not a Number!. Page 23 states that the Village has always gone out of its way to provide him his favorite brand in the past.

On page 25, Number 6 says "Guten morgen" to Number 105. This is German for "Good morning."

On page 27, the Admiral remarks that his charwoman didn't come by today as she normally does on Thursdays. "Charwoman" is a British term for a house cleaner.

The Admiral remarks to Number 6 that his thoughtful look is a dangerous sign, bound to get him into trouble. Number 6 gestures to the Village and responds, "What more trouble could there be?" and the Admiral retorts, "Don't say it. You're bound to find out if you ask. I always have and I've never liked the answer." This suggests that the Admiral has been a troublemaker within the Village himself in the past.

    On page 28, the Admiral tells Number 6 that the word is out there's a new Number 2 and he's said that Number 6 is persona non grata, no longer to receive special treatment. Persona non grata is Latin for "an unwelcome person"; the term is often used in diplomacy for a foreign person who is prohibited from entering or remaining in a country. Of course, Number 6 would be perfectly happy to leave the Village if he's truly persona non grata!

   At one point in The Prisoner's Dilemma, Number 6 is declared celebrity non grata, a term occasionally used in the showbiz press to declare a celebrity a recent lost cause.

On page 30, Number 7 remarks that she tried dismantling her television to stop it playing/spying on her, but a repairman showed up right away and repaired it. This is similar to Number 6 having smashed the speaker in his cottage to shut it up in "Arrival", only to have a repairman show up almost immediately and fix it.

Number 7 refers to the Village as rather Alice in Wonderlandish. This refers to Lewis Carroll's 1865 novel Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Wonderland is a hidden, semi-mystical world that does not run by the same rules the normal world does.

Page 30 reveals that Number 7 is an American. Might she be the woman Liora with whom Number 6 had a romantic attachment in I Am Not a Number!, with her and Number 6's memories of each other erased? In that novel, she becomes Number 41 after her capture by the powers-that-be. In this novel, her name is Sandra Champaign (at least she thinks it is). It is also mentioned that she is younger than him in the earlier novel and here she says she is 25 years old (again, younger).

On page 33, the new Number 2 is revealed to be the former Number 4. It's implied he is the same Number 4 that attempted to usurp the position of Number 2 in Number Two, most of the events of which have apparently been erased from Number 6's memory.

In this novel, Number 2 appears to once again be interested in Number 6's reason for resigning from his government job. In the two earlier novels, I Am Not a Number! and Number Two, it didn't seem to come up. And, of course, Number 6 still refuses to say specifically his reason for resigning, even to Number 7.

On page 38, Number 7 remarks she tried to get out of the Village, but there's no train or bus or car, and if you try to walk out, the Guardians stop you. In I Am Not a Number!, a train stop is described as existing in the Village, though no train is ever actually present (it's also possible the Village in that novel was a different Village, though it suddenly seems to be the original Village again in the later two novels).

Also on page 38, Number 6 tells Number 7 his name is the British equivalent of John Smith. This may be a reference to John Drake, Patrick McGoohan's character in Danger Man, and which he is referred to directly as at the beginning of Number Two. On page 81, Number 6's KAR keys have the initials J.D. on the fob and his fiancé, Janet Portland, calls him John on page 92. The Field Marshal refers to him as Mr. Drake on page 107.

On page 39, Number 7 says she was flying from Los Angeles to New York to catch a free Dylan concert at Woodstock when she woke up in the Village. "Dylan" presumably refers to Bob Dylan, an extremely popular singer-songwriter since the 1960s. As far as I can find, he never performed a free public concert in his home town of Woodstock, New York.

Number 7 tells Number 6 that when she was married, she and her husband participated in the Poor People's March in Washington, D.C. This was a real world event in June 1968, organized by Martin Luther King, Jr. and carried out after his murder on April 4, 1968.

On page 40, Number 7 relates that she spent some time with a "spade cat" in the Bahamas. "Spade cat" is a term used for an African-American male (nowadays considered a derogatory term).

Also on page 40, Number 7 notices that Number 6 has a nice stereo in his cottage, which she doesn't. He explains that he asked for it and they gave it to him.

On page 43, Number 7 tells Number 6 that she once lived with a boxer in New Orleans. New Orleans is a major port city in the U.S. state of Louisiana.

On page 44, Number 569 says his sister, Number 73, is the secretary for Number 2. Another female Number 73 killed herself with a leap from her hospital room window in "Hammer Into Anvil".

Number 157 and a few others are growing marijuana in the woods just east of town.

On page 47, Number 7 mentions the TV shows The Fugitive, The Invaders, and The F.B.I. These were all actual TV shows in the 1960s, with themes of law enforcement and paranoia.

Number 7 refers to the Village as "Disneyland with J. Edgar Hoover at the helm." On page 82, Number 6 thinks of the Village as a "mad Disneyland". Disneyland is a reference to the Disneyland amusement park in Anaheim, California. J. Edgar Hoover (1895-1972) was the controversial, secretive, and power-hungry first director of the FBI from 1935-1972.

On page 47, a mob of women is protesting outside the Village bookstore, demanding a ban on Portnoy's Complaint. Portnoy's Complaint is a sexually explicit 1969 novel by American author Philip Roth.

On pages 48-49, Number 105 speaks a few lines of German:

Entschuldigen sie, Nummer Sechs. (Excuse me, Number Six.)

mutter and grossmutter (mother and grandmother)

liebling (darling)

ja (yes)

Danke (Thank you)

Nein (no)

On page 49, Number 105 says, "The devil makes work for idle hands." This is an idiom which has its roots in Biblical scripture, such as 2 Thessalonians 3:10-12, 1 Thessalonians 4:11, Psalm 28:4, and Isaiah 1:1-31.

After Number 105 asks Number 6 for advice on what to do about her daughter becoming pregnant with Number 24's child, he recommends she speak to the boy's parents. This suggests that families, complete with children, have been brought (or raised) in the Village, as hinted at previously in "Arrival", "It's Your Funeral", and I Am Not a Number!.

On page 55, an old man in the Village is described as having the clean, angry, look of an IRA captain. The IRA is the (Provisional) Irish Republican Army (not to be confused with other versions and splinter groups calling themselves the IRA) which continued to fight for complete Irish freedom from the United Kingdom even after the peace accords which created the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland (part of the U.K.). The group existed as a paramilitary and political organization from 1969-1997 and is classified as a terrorist group by the U.K.

Number 24 is described as having a neb on page 55. "Neb" is a British term for beak/nose.

On page 56, the sergeant tells a constable to take Number 6 to cell 6, but he says it as, "Take Prisoner, The: A Day in the Life to cell six." Obviously, the book is becoming self-referential here, but why? It doesn't really make sense in the context of the scene. Is it a misprint?

Discussing potential evidence against him, Number 6 remarks to the sergeant that photos can be changed and the sergeant agrees, saying, "So can fingerprints," and 6 responds, "I should have known." This may be referring back to the "proof" of Curtis' (Number 12's) fingerprints supposedly being the same as Number 6's in "The Schizoid Man".

On pages 57-59, Number 157 says bonjour, oui, and Je ne comprend. These are French for "Good morning", "yes" and "I acknowledge that" respectively.

Page 58 reveals that Number 157 came to the Village by boat, simply having answered an advertisement to accept a position there as tobacconist, not knowing what the Village was. This fits with previous speculation I've made in the Prisoner studies that some of the residents of the Village may be simply hired hands, not "prisoners" per se.

On page 59, Number 157 tells Number 6 that he bought the cheapest paint they had at the Village store, on clearance in order to cover up the patchwork he'd done in his cottage while hiding marijuana in the wall. Number 6 asks if the paint was "Rhoz" and 157 confirms it. I've been unable to determine exactly what "Rhoz" refers to, but it may be a reference to banned hazardous materials (similar to the European Union's current RoHS 1, the Restriction of Hazardous Substances Directive). This may be evidenced by the fact that Number 157 says that his wife became ill after arriving there and that he himself had heart trouble after doing the painting. Possibly, the paint in the Village store was on clearance so they could get rid of a newly-declared hazardous material!

Page 59 also reveals that Number 157 once lived in the same cottage that Number 6 lives in now. He was made to move to another, larger one when the powers-that-be decided they wanted that particular cottage for Number 6 when he arrived.

On page 60, one of the dinner items Number 6 orders is Welsh rarebit. This is a dish of a savory cheese sauce poured over toasted bread, sometimes with an egg on top.

On page 61, Number 157 says Excusez moi, Je ne comprend and Je regrette. These are French for "Excuse me", "I understand", and "I am sorry", respectively.

During the trial, the judge chides Number 6 for not knowing the manner in which proceedings are conducted; he would know if he had attended the charter and government class in the Village which the public was offered last month. Number 6 remembers the course announcement; is this the same course announced on page 19? That announcement was only a day or two ago for the date of the 19th, not "last month". I suppose the course may be offered every month or so.

On page 62, the judge reveals that a computer weighs all the evidence in Village cases and renders a judgment. He shows the defendants two stacks of IBM cards detailing the evidence so far which will be fed in to the computer. An IBM card is another name for a computer punch card, a now obsolete system for feeding commands or data into a computer. The system was developed by IBM and later adopted widely by other computer manufacturers.

This book introduces a prison island in the bay near the Village. The prison seems to have sprung up virtually overnight for the purpose of holding Numbers 6 and 157, even though it looks old.

After getting the flu in prison, Number 6 is placed in the hospital, where his regimen includes taking a penicillin pill every day. Penicillin is an antibiotic.

On page 67, an anti-Semite in the hospital with Number 6 refers to Hebes running out of a synagogue after he bombed it. "Hebe" is a derogatory term for a Jewish person, derived from "Hebrew", the word often used for the Semitic Israelites in the Jewish Bible (in Christianity, the Old Testament). On page 69, he uses the derogatory nicknames Jerries (for the Germans) and Polack (Polish person).

On page 71, Number 6 witnesses Number 157 being executed by firing squad for his crime. A priest walks by Number 157's side to the execution range. Religion and religious figures have always been absent from the Village before; perhaps an exception is made for the case of a resident being sentenced to death?

There is also a police presence indicated in the Village in this book, whereas Number 6 had been told there was no police station in "Arrival". I suppose "no police station" is not necessarily the same thing as "no police"; the security men seen at times in episodes of the TV series might be construed as police, as needed.

On page 75, Number 7 tells Number 6 that Colonel Schjeldahl sent her to help him. The name was revealed in I Am Not a Number! and the man seems to be the same unnamed Colonel from "Many Happy Returns".

On page 77, Number 7 tells Number 6 that the Colonel wants three men, who together comprise the position of Number 1, to be killed by him (Number 6) in order to declassify the Village and free its prisoners. The men are later identified as Sir John Wilkinson, the Field Marshal, and Sir Charles Portland (the father of Number 6's fiancé, Janet; he was seen in "Do Not Forsake Me, Oh My Darling").

Pages 78 and 82 seem to confirm that Number 6 had planned to retire in Portmeirion before being abducted to the Village, a seeming duplicate of Portmeirion. This is why a travel folder about the place fell from his valise when he collapsed into unconsciousness on page 2. Of course, in "Arrival", we see photos of one or more tropical locations, not Portmeirion.

On page 78, Number 7 for some reason refers to Number 6's chosen place of retirement as "unpronounceable". "Portmeirion" is not that difficult to pronounce. Perhaps she is referring to the larger community of Penrhyndeudraeth in which it resides, especially as an American who is not regularly exposed to such Welsh language names.

Page 78 implies the prison island where Number 6 is being held is Aran Island off the north coast of Ireland. This is an actual, 8-square mile island. This would further imply that the Village is located on the coast of Ireland, in Donegal County. This seems somewhat unlikely, as Aran Island is populated to a small degree by civilians who would potentially have questions about the prison and the Village, which would be visible on the coast; also, Ireland was granted independence from the United Kingdom in 1922, so it seems unlikely the nation would tolerate a British concern (as the Village is revealed to be by the Colonel on page 89).

Number 6 shoots Number 7 with a blast from the gas gun on page 78 before taking off in the helicopter. It's not clear if he did it because he could not afford to trust her or if it was prearranged to make it look like he overcame her and escaped.

Reunited with KAR 120C, Number 6 admires its Flamberge body "so much like the Rolls-Royce of MGs." The term "flamberge" refers to a type of sword with undulating waves along the blade; I suppose the Lotus Seven body could be said to have something of that look. MG is a British car manufacturer, though it has nothing to do with the Lotus Seven car owned by Number 6 (as far as I know). Rolls-Royce is a British manufacturer of luxury automobiles.

This novel reintroduces Janet Portland, Number 6's fiancé in London, whose only previous appearance was in "Do Not Forsake Me, Oh My Darling".

On page 81, Number 6 finds his car still has the last music tape he played in it, Surrealistic Pillow. This is a 1967 album by the rock band Jefferson Airplane. This novel has Number 6 listening to various tracks of rock music, but he was always presented as having a preference for classical music in the past.

Also on page 81, Number 6 finds that his car keys have disappeared from where they were in his pocket, having found them in the ignition of the already-running Lotus when he walks up to it. This is one of many indications that the escape portions of this novel are imaginary, a mental manipulation by the powers-that-be in the Village.

On page 82, Number 6 seems to think of Portmeirion as the most popular resort in the Kingdom. While the resort enjoys a certain popularity, it was never, then or now, "the most popular resort in the Kingdom."

On page 84, Number 6 drives past a mileage sign for Shrewsbury. This is an actual town in Shropshire, England, about 73 miles from Portmeirion.

Pages 85-87 describe Number 6 driving into the parking garage (as he did at the beginning of "Arrival"), then pulling up to an orange box where he inserts his card, opening a gate that allows him to drive onto a lift that lowers his vehicle into the subterranean recesses of his old place of work, finally allowing him to walk into a clerk's office. Similar, but different from what we see in "Arrival". Possibly, this is a different building.

On page 86, Number 6 is still holding an internal debate as to whether what he is experiencing is real or illusion. He notes that everything seems as solid and real as the chimes of Big Ben. The phrase is likely an intentional play on the title of the episode called "The Chimes of Big Ben", in which Number 6 thought he'd managed to escape the Village to London, but the incorrect time chimes of Big Ben out the window made him realize he'd been bamboozled.

Most of Number 6's former associates at the government building refer to him as Zed-M 73. This was his codename, as revealed in "Do Not Forsake Me, Oh My Darling". It's ironic that in his "real world" job, Number 6 was/is still largely known as a form of number!

On page 88, the Colonel has a video screen disguised as a window showing a rooftop view of Piccadilly Circus (since his office is underground, the view is provided by a camera on the roof of the building). Piccadilly Circus is the circular junction of several major roads in the West End of London ("circus" is Latin for "circle").

On page 90, the Colonel tells Zed-M 73 that Sir Charles became suspicious of him when he resigned without fully revealing the reason why, and so had him diverted to the Village, with Taggert's agreement (though he hardly had a choice). Taggert was mentioned as Zed-M 73's superior in I Am Not a Number!.

On page 91, Zed-M 73 pulls up to his mews and walks up the steps to his front door. "Mews" is a British term for a group of small dwellings along a pedestrian sidewalk.

Zed-M 73 finds his butler still at his London domicile to greet him and care for his needs. However, this does not seem to be the Butler from the Village, with whom he escaped the Village in "Fall Out" and last seen in I Am Not a Number! (in Number Two, Number 6 remarks that butlers are out of fashion, "even short, silent ones.") Zed-M 73's butler here is different, but similar, described as a dwarf, but with smooth, dark skin, with something Montenegrin in the man's features (Montenegro is a small country in southern Europe); Zed-M 73 refers to him as Sancho, possibly a reference to Sancho Panza, the squire of the mad "knight" Don Quixote in Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra's classic 1605 novel Don Quixote. The man does not speak in his couple brief appearances in the novel, but is never described as mute.

Page 91 states that an 18th Century landscape hangs above the fireplace in Zed-M 73's home. In the televised episodes of The Prisoner, the painting is of a battle on horseback. However, both I Am Not a Number! and Number Two seem to describe him living in a different location in London than the one seen earlier in the TV episodes.

On page 91, Zed-M 73 asks his butler to bring some Pernod. This refers to Pernod Anise, a liqueur made by the French beverage distiller, Pernod Ricard.

Zed-M 73 opens the safe behind his television set on page 92. This was first seen in "Do Not Forsake Me, Oh My Darling". The combination of the safe is 21, 33, 12. What might be the significance of these numbers? Possibly, they could be interpreted as a scrambled version of his fiancé's birth date if it were 12/21/33.

On page 93, John reminds Janet of a message he sent her and she asks, "John. That was you, wasn't it? Tell me it was you." This is a reference to the events of "Do Not Forsake Me, Oh My Darling", in which he is sent from the Village back to London in another man's body with his memories of the Village erased so that he can fulfill a mission for the powers-that-be.

Janet states that she has not seen John for two years. Assuming she is ignoring his appearance in another man's body in the aforementioned "Do Not Forsake Me, Oh My Darling", this would mean about one year has passed since the end of that episode, since it is established there that he had been missing from his London life about a year there. But, the previous novel, Number Two, supposedly took place 5 years after I Am Not a Number!.

Page 97 mentions Sir John Wilkinson's residence being near Kingsdown. This is probably referring to the Village of Kingsdown in county Kent, England.

When the servant answers the knock on the door on page 97, Zed-M 73 asks for, "Sir John Wilkinson, Bart?" "Bart" is an abbreviation for the British title of baronet.

On page 98, the author uses the term "Rotarian". This refers to a member of the service organization Rotary International.

On page 100, Sir John recalls Sir Charles saying that he knew of one man (implication: Zed-M 73) who killed only from his conscience. This would seem to indicate that Zed-M 73/John Drake/Number 6 killed only those he believed deserved death, even in his former job as a government agent.

Page 103 implies that Zed-M 73 uses a Colt to kill Sir John. Colt is an American firearms manufacturer.

On page 109, Zed-M 73 kills a man known only as the Field Marshal. "Field Marshal" is a senior military rank, usually a general who is above other generals.

On page 112, Zed-M 73 blows Sir Charles' head off and sees gleaming copper wires among the flesh of his skull. This hearkens back to the elderly female Number 1 seen at the end of I Am Not a Number!. However, most of the last half of our current novel is later revealed to have been a mental simulation foisted on Number 6 by the powers-that-be, so it's, perhaps, unlikely that Sir Charles is actually a robot.

On page 115, Number 569 is now Number 2 (again, part of the simulation).

On page 127, Number 2 mentions Southampton. This is a city in Hampshire, England.

On page 129, Number 6 sees a newspaper headline, ROVING YOUTHS BATTLE POLICE IN PICCADILLY. Piccadilly is a road and area of London, running east from Hyde Park Corner to Piccadilly Circus.

On page 133, Number 157 is revealed to have been the real Number 2 throughout the novel, part of a manipulation of Number 6. But Number 6 defeated the scheme, as usual.

Number 2 speaks some French on page 133: veuillez and merci. "Please" and "thank you".