Is today, 8/08/08, the luckiest day of the year?

But don't fall into complete and utter despair just yet. For today - in some circles at least - is held to be one of the luckiest days ever.

Its significance is said to lie in the importance of the number eight, which is linked to good fortune by many cultures.

And as this is the eighth day of the eighth month of the eighth year of this millennium, there are three of them in a row - 8/8/08 - which apparently all adds up to a pretty darn cosmically good state of affairs.

The number eight is a lucky number for millions around the world

The belief is particularly strong in China, where eight is very lucky.

This is because the words for the number eight are ba in Mandarin and paat in Cantonese, which sound similar to the words for prosperity, fa in Mandarin and faat in Cantonese.

It is no mere coincidence that the Chinese chose to start the Olympics in Beijing today - and at exactly 8.08pm. The date and time were specially picked in a bid to bring them luck.

Chinese tradition aside, numerologists say eight is known as the 'great balancer' or the karmic 'you reap what you sow'.

The internet, meanwhile, is awash with entries from those of a superstitious disposition from all over the world reminding us that this is an auspicious day to do everything from open a new business to move house.

The cynics among us will no doubt be quick to echo the words of Edmund Burke, the 18th century politician, who famously said 'superstition is the religion of feeble minds'.

Nevertheless, Tom Woods, of Little Clacton, Essex, will be counting himself a very lucky little boy today - because it is his eighth birthday.

He was born eight days overdue, weighing 8lbs 8oz, and has lived at house number eight in his street all his life.

His mother Andrea said: 'He is very excited. It was only last year that we twigged he would be eight on the eight of the eighth 2008.'

The Chinese timed the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games for 8/08/2008 because of its lucky connotations

A quick glance back at what has happened on previous August 8s may partly back up the notion it is a lucky date.

Famous people born on 8/08 include the Duke of York's daughter Princess Beatrice (and in 1988 too), tennis champion Roger Federer (1981) and former Grand Prix ace Nigel Mansell (1954)..... but then again, August 8, 1963 was the date of the Great Train Robbery.

Yet such is the draw of 8/8/08 that couples are queueing up marry today.

Register offices have been booked up months in advance as couples hope to reap the fortune of 'all the eights'. In some parts of the country it is proving to be a more popular date to tie the knot this year than Valentine's Day.

In Newbury, Berkshire, bride-to-be Rosemary Donnan, 54, will wed fiance Wayne Lock, 45, today with eight bridesmaids and her wedding cake has been designed as three interlocking eights.

'I lived in Hong Kong in the 1980s so I picked up a bit of their culture,' she said.

In Liverpool, Rochelle O'Brien, 32, and Anthony Ellis, 24, have added yet more eights to their wedding by arranging it for 8am and having an eight-sided wedding cake. Keen observers will note they were also born eight years apart.

But while these and many other couples look forward to the happiest day of their lives, some numerologists and astrologists warn it might not really be that special after all.

In brow-furrowing internet discussions, they say a luckier day would have been the August 8 of 2,000 years ago - the pure 8/8/8. Today's date, despite its three eights, contains 'negative energies' from other numbers and therefore is not as favourable.

So it seems you just can't win - and maybe, after all, the only superstition worth abiding by is that it is bad luck to fall out of a 13th storey window on a Friday.

But it's not always so...

Mega-theft: Great Train Robbery 1963

August 8, 1963, was the date of the Great Train Robbery when £2.6million was stolen from the Glasgow to London travelling post office train.

Members of the gang were sentenced to a total of 300 years, but the bulk of the money was never recovered.

And some numerologists and astrologists were last night warning that today might not really be that special after all. In brow-furrowing internet discussions, they argued that a luckier day would have been the August 8 of 2,000 years ago - the real 8/8/8.

Today's date, despite its three eights, apparently contains 'negative energies' from other numbers and therefore is not as favourable.