The idea was inspired by (and the world map traced from) a conveniently-timed Sainsbury’s advertisement for exotic foods. Both the front page and the inside page have an outline world map with strategically positioned numbers. The numbers refer to countries, the initial letters of which spell out the message, with the missing numbers being spaces between the words. Some required letters are under-represented as initials of country names and so some countries had to be used more than once. The full list of countries – as far as I can now recall them – and the revealed message are:
Front page
1: Hong Kong 2: Ascension 3: Pakistan 4: Paraguay 5: Yemen 6: 7: Canada 8: Haiti 9: Reunion 10: Iceland 11: South Africa 12: Turkey 13: Mexico 14: Australia 15: Sierra Leone 16:
Inside page
17: Angola 18: Namibia 19: Dominican Republic 20: 21: Bermuda 22: Estonia 23: Saudi Arabia 24: Thailand 25: 26: Wallis & Futuna Islands 27: Indonesia 28: Singapore 29: Hungary 30: Ethiopia 31: Sri Lanka 32: 33: Finland 34: Oman 35: Rwanda 36: 37: Taiwan 38: Honduras 39: Egypt 40: 41: Nigeria 42: Equatorial Guinea 43: Wake Island 44: 45: Yemen 46: El Salvador 47: Algeria 48: Reunion 49: 50: Falkland Islands 51: Romania 52: Oman 53: Madagascar 54: 55: Bangladesh 56: Reunion 57: India 58: Argentina 59: New Zealand 60: 61: Brazil 62: Afghanistan 63: Romania 64: Kenya 65: Ecuador 66: Rwanda
Version 22: Revised 23 December 2008
Brian Barker