Posted by Robert Hill on January 23, 2013 at 10:46:06 user eclrh.
In Reply to: The Big Six - But Not AR! posted by Mike Dennis on January 23, 2013 at 03:36:09:
It seems most unlikely that the Big Six noted by Mike is a usage that has spread from AR. The later years of WWII saw summits between the Big Three. In any area of activity there are likely to be a handful of individuals, companies or nations that dominate the arena, and are likely to be known as the Big 2/3/4/5/6.
Except in reading The Big Six I've only ever once seen a reference to Scotland Yard's Big Five. It was a few years ago and I posted about it on here. The Guardian's crime correspondent was retiring and an extract from his memoirs was published in the paper's weekend magazine.