Thanks guys.
I had seen the hex mode numbers at the lilo stage, but then I remembered
doc/lilo/Manual.txt:
vga=<mode> alters the VGA mode set at startup. The values normal ,
extended , ask or a decimal number are recognized. (See also
"Booting
kernel images from a file".)
And so I didn't think that hex would work.
Moral Of The Story:
RTFM, but don't T(rust)TFM :)
jc