Mile mile to diverge. Owing to the importance of the surveyor's rod in deeds and surveying undertaken under Henry VIII, decreasing the length of the rod by would have amounted to a significant tax increase. Parliament instead opted to maintain the mile of 8 furlongs (which were derived from the rod) and to increase the number of feet per mile from the old Roman value. The applicable passage of the statute reads: "A Mile shall contain eight Furlongs, every Furlong forty Poles, and every Pole shall contain sixteen Foot and half." The statute mile therefore contained 5,280 feet or 1,760 yards.
How Many Miles to Babylon? (novel) starring Daniel Day-Lewis as Alec and Christopher Fairbank as Jerry. In 2005 the actor and director Alan Stanford adapted the novel for stage and it was produced by Second Age Theatre Company and directed by David Parnell. The play has been performed several times subsequently. The book featured as the "Book at Bedtime" on BBC Radio 4 in April 2013. "In the Army :" How Many Miles to Babylon? (novel) How Many Miles to Babylon? is a novel by Irish writer Jennifer Johnston, first published in 1974. The novel explores the relationship of two men, an Anglo-Irish aristocrat, Alexander Moore,