4711 - Popular References

Popular References

• The number 4711 is sometimes used by software engineers where an indeterminate, but specific, number is needed.

• In Finland the telephone number (09) 4711 is a direct line to the Poison Information Centre, that answers questions concerning the prevention and treatment of acute poisonings every day around the clock.

• In Yevgeny Zamyatin's novel We, the name S-4711 is a reference to the Eau de Cologne.

• In The Rocky Horror Picture Show, 4711 is tattooed on Frank's upper thigh.

• Electronic musician Vladimir Ussachevsky composed a work called Improvisation on 4711 (1958).

• The German Navy during World War II issued vast amounts of 4711 perfume to the submariners of the U-Boat fleet. As there were limited facilities and few opportunities for bathing, the scent was to be used in an attempt to improve the odour aboard the vessel. Crew members typically didn't use much of it and would take home bottles as presents for mothers, wives, or girlfriends.

• "4711 Kommando" was a slang term used in the Buchenwald Concentration Camp to refer to a latrine work detail

• Are You Being Served? - In Series 8, Episode 5, Mr Humphries (playing the cross-dressing role of his mother) picks up a handkerchief allegedly belonging to her son (i.e., himself). She (he) sniffs it and says "So that's what happened to my 4711!". In Series 9, Episode 1, Mr. Humphries answers the phone in menswear, identifying himself as 'Assistant 4711'.

• Holly Golightly sprinkles her neck with this cologne in the novella Breakfast at Tiffany's.

• According to President John F. Kennedy's teen mistress Mimi Alford in her memoir Once Upon a Secret, this was the President's cologne of choice.

• In the card game Contract Bridge a 7-4-1-1 hand shape is known as a "Swan", the 7 being the long neck, the 4 the round body, and the 1-1 the feet.