Nine seagulls on a rail on Bognor Regis pier Nine for the Nine Bright Shiners Since this is the ninth month of the year, I thought I might produce some incoherent ramblings related, however obliquely, to the number nine. D’you remember the Dilly Song, also known as the Apostles Song, that begins ‘I’ll give you one-O, Green grow the rushes O’? Like the Twelve Days of Christmas, it accumulates an extra line with each verse until it gets to the twelfth: ‘ I’ll give you twelve, O Green grow the rushes, O! What are your twelve, O? Twelve for the twelve Apostles Eleven for the eleven who went to heaven, Ten for the ten commandments, Nine for the nine bright shiners, Eight for the April Rainers. Seven for the seven stars in the sky, Six for the six proud ...