AN INTERVIEW WITH DAN GREEN

February 2007

The mystery of Rennes-le-Château runs wide and deep. Author and researcher Dan Green believes it runs north as well, encompassing Lincoln Cathedral, in the county of Lincolnshire, England.

Lincoln Cathedral – England © Andrew Gough

Green has published two provocative books that propose that the mystery of Rennes-le-Château is entwined with Lincoln Cathedral in a number of remarkable ways. Greens books include:

Dan Green’s two books
Both books available at £5.50 inc p/p from dan1.green@ntlworld.com

In addition to his books, Green’s theories are well documented on his web site and are regularly debated on various Rennes-le-Château forums. Refreshingly, Green is putting is money where is mouth is and is scheduling a scan for the spring of 2007 that will determine once and for all if his alleged discovery of a great treasure in the grounds of Lincoln Cathedral is correct, or not.

Arcadia met up with Green in Lincoln and received a tour of the Cathedral. What follows is an interview conducted that day.

Dan Green – outside Lincoln Cathedral, at the site of his alleged discovery © Andrew Gough

Dan Green, welcome to Arcadia 17 Questions. Thanks again for the tour. Fascinating stuff! Shall we begin?

Glad you enjoyed it. Fascinating, indeed! Let’s go!

1. So Dan, can you tell us why you have chosen an alias for your writing?

Basically because I structured my books, especially the first, on Dan Brown’s Da Vinci Code bestseller. Obviously he’s a Brown, so I decided I’m going to be a Green. Also the city of Lincoln has a strong association with the colour green which goes back to the Robin Hood myths. Additionally, Fulcanelli wrote about the green language, which is a code that appears to be contained in all Cathedrals, so I thought there are three good reasons to use Dan Green as an alias. I’ve since noticed it’s an anagram of ‘endanger’, so I don’t know if that’s my subconscious at play as well.

Can you reveal your real name?

Probably not a good idea! I can confirm that my father was Scandinavian, and on my Mother’s side, my ancestry goes back to the biblical tribe of Laban.

2. How did you get introduced to the enigma of Rennes-le-Château and when did you first make the connection between it and Lincoln Cathedral?

I first visited Rennes-le-Château back in 1986, and what an adventure it was. Some time later, when I returned to the UK, I intuitively felt there was a connection of some sort between it and Lincoln Cathedral.

I think this for a variety of reasons. For a start they’re both high up on a hill and both have a strong Magdalene connection. Few are aware that the first religious building in Lincoln was dedicated to the Magdalene. Sadly it has since been knocked down to make way for the Minster, so in effect Lincoln Cathedral was built on top of Mary Magdalene’s church, if you like. And then, within Lincoln Cathedral we have the famous Lincoln Imp – a demon statue that is more than slightly reminiscent of the Asmodeous statue in the church of St. Mary Magdalene in Rennes-le-Château. So initially I observed some subtle and some not so subtle similarities, in addition to how the sites felt. They’re both quite magical.

Anyway, going back to Rennes-le-Château, like many others at the time I had just read the The Holy Blood and Holy Grail and was open to the possibilities. And that’s when I met a chap by the name of David Wood, who had just appeared on the scene with a ground breaking book about Rennes-le-Château called Genisis.

I remember that David was quite keen on date calculations at the time. And as much as I find it difficult to say this, because I’m preferably a neurologist right brain thinker and I find it difficult to use words like UFO’s and paranormal, but looking back now it really did seem as if we had to go to Rennes-le-Château at that specific time, almost a tryst, a rendezvous. Now this seems to me to be the aspect of Rennes-le-Château that has touched a lot of people; an aspect that none of us can really explain. This is the heart of the mystery.

David Wood comments in his books that he often felt followed, have you had a similar sensation given what you believe you are about to unearth in Lincoln?

I don’t know what the climate’s like just now, because I have no intention of returning to Rennes-le-Château. But at the time it was very eerie and there was a feeling of danger in the air. Actually, I remember David laughing down the phone saying “I thought everyone knew the CIA ran the valley” and yes, every time we travelled somewhere we were watched. This is not paranoia, this is an objective observation. And much later, after we returned to Britain, there was growing evidence that my mail had being tampered with. So much so in fact that I went to a lawyer, who actually took fright and said “well it’s beyond my scope actually; I’ll do what I can”. So yes, sadly there’s clear evidence that having left the area it hadn’t ended there. Everywhere I went I was viewed from a distance, by whom I couldn’t say, but the fact that I was being observed was reasonably obvious.

Unfortunately my liaison with David Wood was cut short quite early back in the eighties, involving strange circumstances beyond our control. I have to maintain confidentiality because there are things that David told me that he may not want other people to know. At the end of the day I respect the man.

You have also worked with Patricia and Lionel Fanthorpe, two of the first researchers in the mystery of Rennes-le-Château. What is your relationship with them?

That’s quite a recent thing, actually. They were the first on the scene, even before The Holy Blood Holy Grail. Much later, when I was unearthing my own revelations in Lincoln I thought I really have to bounce this off somebody; I really have to share this with somebody to see what they think. And to me the Fanthorpes seemed to be the right sort of mature couple. I’m sure if they thought it didn’t make sense or it was far fetched they would have told me. I treated them as mentors, and I did say to Lionel “I hope you don’t mind, I’m treating you as a mentor if that’s alright.  Let me know what your thoughts are”. And subsequently Lionel has actually defended me in the press and has been very respectful towards my research.

3. Anyone who has ever toured Lincoln Cathedral can attest to the fact that its interior and exterior are laden with peculiar, apparently esoteric anomalies. On a high level, can you tell us what clues you have identified within the Cathedral itself?

There are so many. Take for instance the Lincoln Imp I mentioned earlier. The Imp is considered to be just a Masonic joke. And this attitude is quite typical. When something unusual is encountered within the Cathedral its common practice to pass it off as a Masonic joke.

The Lincoln IMP (Copyright BBC)

However reflecting on Dan Brown’s work for a moment, when we take a look at the Lincoln Imp we notice that it has an exposed left leg upon which we see a ‘V’ shaped notch which Dan Brown believes is representative of the Chalice. I traced the origin of the word Imp back to its earliest roots and amazingly enough it translates as Sion. So I thought right, this Lincoln Imp, which has been present in the church since the 13th century, well it seems to be a marker of some sort.

And there are many others. For instance, from an aerial view you can see that the Cathedral is in the shape of a Templar Cross. And then there is a 13th century woodcut of a Station of the Cross whereupon a dog stares up at Christ.

Dog staring up at Christ : Lincoln Cathedral

Also, the Rose Window, which is actually a ‘Star Clock’, highlights certain constellations.

Lincoln Cathedral Star Clock (copyright crichtonmiller.com)

Astonishingly, Rennes-le-Château Parchment 1 decodes at the Cathedral in its entirety. Firstly, there is the East Sundial. The sundial has no hour lines marked earlier than 6am because as a Dog Day marker in conjunction with the Dog Day Sirius-earth it is earlier than 6am that we see the sunrise during the Dog Days. Not until late September does the sun resume rising after 6am. This Dial is drawing our attention to this fact. It also contains the motto ‘Pereunt et imputantur’, the Imp or demon guardian, being completed in the word ‘imputantur’.

Additionally, the translated motto, ‘they (the hours) are consumed and will be charged to our account’ refer to  the hours leading up to the  conjunction, the 22nd of July; Magdalene’s Feast Day, being consumed and charged to the account of the merging of Sirius with our Sun.

Lincoln Cathedral: The East Sundial © Andrew Gough

Then there is the pregnant Shepherdess Eleanor of Castille statue at the South East corner.

Lincoln Cathedral: The pregnant shepherdess © Andrew Gough

Next we have the horse and cross of God representation at the Angel Choir.

Choir Stalls bench carving: ‘by this horse and cross of God’

And then we have the ‘blue apples’ phenomenon which I have personally witnessed shining through a strategic pane glass at mid-day on July 22nd; the Feast day of Mary Magdalene.

Blue Apples in Lincoln Cathedral on the 22nd of July: Feast day of Mary Magdalene

So did the initial clues inspire you to look further, to the grounds of the Cathedral?

Absolutely. What kicked started my Lincoln Da Vinci Code book was the great East window and its enigmatic scene of the Last Supper.

Lincoln Cathedral East window: The Last Supper (A dog on the plate of Christ)

We are now entering Da Vinci territory in a very big way. In the scene we see something quite peculiar. Upon Christ’s plate, instead of a loaf of bread or a cup, we see a dog! Now, lots of people have said “well that can’t be a dog, can it? Certainly it must be a paschal lamb”. However, if you look in and around the Cathedral this ‘dog symbolism’ pops up repeatedly.

So the clues, or architectural anomalies, do interlock and have led me to an actual ‘X’ marks the spot location near the Cathedral. So imagine my surprise when I discovered that this spot marks the spot where a church once stood, before being demolished in 1781. The ‘X’ is located on the very spot where the church crypt existed, and of course still remains, albeit underground. This was 1781, the same year when the Rennes-le-Château Noble Marie de Negre passed away. The Lincoln Da Vinci Code is loaded with synchronicities.

So what you’re saying is that there are a several clues pointing to the same spot outside the church?

Yes! Today there is a marker stone above the crypt, or so it would appear. There’s a strange tale as to why that marker stone should be there. If one stands at the marker stone and faces Lincoln Cathedral, one is instantly reminded of the bas-relief in the church in Rennes-le-Château, with the kneeling Magdalene. Curiously on the far left of the bas-relief is the clear image of Lincoln Castle.

At the Tomb marker looking towards Lincoln Cathedral and pregnant shepherdess © Andrew Gough

Just behind the tomb marker the old name plate of ‘Grecian Stairs’ can still be seen at the top of Greestone Stairs, which leads to the St Margaret’s burial grounds and the concealed tomb. Why should it refer to being Greek when this is a noted old Roman area? Well, here we find our own hidden Greek Arcadia! 

The 17th century leases of the area inform us that it was referred to as the word ‘greyce’ signifying  a ‘step’, and I would say that this is meant to be the step that Poussin’s shepherd rests his foot upon in the same way as the Lincoln Imp rests its foot upon a mount.  Grecian Stairs corrupts from ‘Greesing Stairs’ and the word ‘greesing’ still survives in the architectural word ‘grees’ from the Masonic compound de-grees. To ascend Grecian stairs is to symbolically ascend the Masonic Ladder which leads to St Margaret’s

Greestone Place – a step to the tomb marker? © Andrew Gough

If we return to the Cathedral, there’s something hidden away in the choir stalls. I speak of a picture of a falling night on a horse, which I believe relates to the Rennes-le-Château parchment which states ‘by this horse and cross of God’. There are seven studs on one side of the horse, a crossed leg representing a multiplication sign ‘X’ in the middle, and there are four studs on the other side. Multiply seven by four you get twenty eight. (See previous picture of Knight on Horse).

Going back to the church in Rennes-le-Château, if you draw a straight line through the eye level of the Magdalene and continue it through the centre of her cross, it touches on the inner tomb shaped design on exactly the twenty-eighth image. Also, if we consult local history records regarding the location where the church once stood, what we find that it is the twenty eighth plot out of fifty-six!

Sauniere’s alter painting in Rennes-le-Château: a clue to the Lincoln tomb?
(copyright Dan Green)

Also of note within the Cathedral in Lincoln is a painting by Matthew William Peters, a member of the Royal Academy of Art who went on to become a Canon at the Cathedral. He was famous for paintings of salacious women and this one is supposed to be a representation of the annunciation, but no where is it listed as such.

The painting looks very much like how we perceive Mary Magdalene, and she’s looking at a tomb which precisely fits the tomb which sits in the burial Cathedral today, with scrolls balanced upon it. The implication here being that we’re looking at an ‘X’ marks the spot associated with Mary Magdalene, and scrolls relevant to her history.

My friend Margaret Starbird has commented on this image and is happy to state that it is a painting that clearly illustrates the sacred feminine. We have a Mary Magdalene type female dressed in bright red with red hair. One wonders how this can be the Virgin Mary.

Matthew William Peters: Mary or the Virgin? What is she looking at?

Am I correct in believing that the painting has moved locations within the church?

Yes it has. When it was painted in 1800 it occupied a prestigious position behind the High Alter. However, in 1855, when the strange image of the dog on the plate in front of Christ was installed, the painting was moved and stashed away in a dusty corner of the Cathedral, where it has been rather neglected.

So to summarise, can you tell us what you think might be concealed in the crypt?

Again, I’m pretty convinced that we’ve located a long lost forgotten crypt which will contain something of value something to do with the truth about Mary Magdalene. The climate has changed over the years and people’s perception and interpretation of the Holy Grail have also. The Lincoln area has strong Knights Templar associations, the suggestion being that this may well be the treasure that’s often spoken about in Rennes-le-Château legend, because of the Rennes-le-Château parchments, whether people like me saying this or not, can be seen to be decoded at Lincoln Cathedral rather comfortably.

4. Speaking of decoding clues outside of the Cathedral, what about the Alfred Tennyson plaque and its curious, raised letters?

Curiously, there are only two statues of Tennyson anywhere to my knowledge, and Tennyson of course is most renowned for his Holy Grail poem. If we take a close look at his plaques they are loaded with symbolism and things that I have since decoded and which are germane to the Rennes-le-Château mystery.

Tennyson Plaque – outside Lincoln Cathedral © Andrew Gough

The Tennyson plaque is only about two or three hundred yards from the marker tomb. On it we can clearly see ROI and SION; and SION and ROI interlock, which is pretty much the main body of Parchment 2 at Rennes-le-Château. ROI is French for King. So we have King and SION.  Much of the plaque relates to his famous Holy Grail poem. For instance, if you read the last four lines its clear they contain clues to Lincoln Cathedral and the link in the Da Vinci Code. I go into this in some details in my books. The odds against all this happening are just astronomical.

Dan Green pointing out anomalies at the Tennyson plaque © Andrew Gough

Tennyson Plague: the intersecting ROI (King) and SION © Andrew Gough

5. Back to the tomb / crypt. What is the status of your quest to scan it?

As I’m sitting here now I have in fact obtained permission for the scan. It’s going through the Cathedral protocol right now. I’m using a company in Cambridge that accidentally discovered lost Royal tombs in Westminster, so I’m using the best company and the best technology. It will be a ground penetrating radar scan at a depth where I anticipate the treasure to be found. It’s really that straight forward.

You mentioned earlier that the spot has been validated as being potentially significant by other means, namely dousing. Can you elaborate on what others have found and to validate your X marks the spot?

I did commission a dowser, renowned for finding things in the past and I gave him very little information to go on. He said ‘just tell me what you want me to look for and I’ll do what I do’.  At the time I just said that this is a burial ground and we’re looking for a hidden / lost tomb. The dowser located a spot which he said exactly coincided with a hot spot and it was the tomb. He said it made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up and that it was one of the most powerful jolts he’s ever had in his entire dowsing career. In fact, the spot he identified was six inches away from where I expect to conduct the scan.

Also, a top Rosslyn researcher showed a picture of the tomb to his most trusted ‘psychic’ researcher without telling them any other information. He came up with a beautiful woman, a knight, a dog, and France. Absolutely true!

And he wasn’t aware of what spot you were referring to?

No, no, no.

That’s interesting.

He even said to me, don’t give me any information, just tell me what you want me to look for and I’ll do what I do.

6. So forgive me for asking, but what happens if the tomb proves to be empty?

Now then, a lot of people submit that the Rennes-le-Château treasure may be spiritual. One of the theories that I embrace in my life, which I personally believe to be true, is Lovelocks Gaia theory; that the earth thinks as if it is a physical body. Just like acupuncture, the planet earth has its energy grids. It could just be that I have been lead to a spot that requires an excavation and in the Lovelock sense that would be an act of acupuncture or micro-surgery on the planetary body that, as in acupuncture, will have a healing effect somewhere else on the planetary body. This is very cosmic, and I am allowing for the fact that my way of thinking is ‘anything is possible until proven impossible’, it could just be that I have located a spiritual treasure that needs an excavation or point of entry on the earths surface.

7. That’s interesting because I think it’s in your second book you include a discussion on some papers from a local library that had to do with a quest that appeared to lead to the exact spot, can you elaborate on that?

Yes! Grantham library, in Lincolnshire possessed a very interesting document that dates back to 1917. Legend has it that the document was written by Victor Hugo. Now, I don’t believe for a moment it was written by Victor Hugo, and I’ve compared the handwriting. I believe that Hugo came to the Isle of Wight, although there’s no proof that he have wandered about the United Kingdom whilst in exile. That said, I think he was in exile for about sixteen years. He came here the very year the dog on the platter was installed in Lincoln Cathedral.

Now then, this does appear to be a spurious document. It reminds me of the Priory documents in the Rennes-le-Château mystery. Here we have our own version, this time; it’s a quest for a lost Cathedral. And if interpreted through the eyes of the Da Vinci Code it leads us from Grantham to the very spot where our marker tomb is located. They were deposited there in 1917, the year Saunière died. How can this be? How can something that’s gone unnoticed and gathering cobwebs for all these years, be interpreted in the year 2005 and point to the same spot?

8. You mention that the tomb marker sits on the site of the crypt of Saint Margaret’s church, what do you know about the significance of Saint Margaret?

Saint Margaret was a shepherdess. She was a virgin Saint but strangely enough, she was a patron of pregnant women. She was beheaded, and when we take a look at the kneeling Magdalene in the Rennes-le-Château church we clearly see a skull which to me is indicative of beheading, or if you like a burial ground because we are in Saint Margaret’s burial ground. Saint Margaret went everywhere with a cross; holding a cross identical to the one that the kneeling Magdalene is holding. Also, in Poussin’s ‘Shepherds’ painting, the shepherd nearest the shepherdess clearly has his staff decapitating him.

You mentioned that she beheaded, wasn’t there a headless skeleton discovered nearby – just outside Lincoln Cathedral, in the preparation for the filming of the Da Vinci Code?

Yes! The very week that Hollywood were at Lincoln Cathedral, electricians had to dig some cable to provide power to the light rigs inside the Cathedral, and low and behold, what did they find whilst they were digging? A tomb which nobody had an inkling ever existed. The Cathedral has no record or document of it at all. Intriguingly, in the tomb were the remains of a female minus her head.

The archaeologists instantly dated it to the fourteenth / fifteenth century. My suspicions are, and again it fits comfortably in my link with the Da Vinci Code, that this was a decoy tomb for anybody who might have had any information about a tomb in the area that contained the bones of Mary Magdalene, and draws attention to St Margaret, whereupon the real tomb sits in her burial grounds only a few hundred yards away.

Tomb outside of Lincoln Cathedral: site of the headless female corpse © Dan Green

9. You use the term led in your books, as though you have been led to this mystery as opposed to having actively sought it out. Can you comment on that?

Well it seems to me when looking back that the key event in my ever going to Rennes-le-Château was to be there to witness what I saw at 8pm on the evening of 24th April 1986. Having had an already eventful experience or two that day; arriving at a sealed rock crop tomb that is clearly painted at the top of Da Vinci’s ‘Virgin of the Rocks’, the one where Mary Magdalene is without halo.

That plus a strange incident at the church of Bugarach; my wife, stepson and I were resting at the humble stone built hut belonging to Daniel, who still lives in the valley I believe. Three bright lights in the distance, which looked like stars, started to move and then suddenly disappeared. Next, we all witnessed a strange red cloud with flashing lightning approach the valley and eventually traveling around the back of the Chateau. It was like something out of Spielberg’s ‘Close Encounters’ movie! Daniel broke our silence to announce ‘I think it was a spaceship’. Why we had to be there to witness that is anybody’s guess. There wasn’t a single other person about throughout the entire encounter.

We left for England the next morning. Surely there are residents still living at the Chateau who witnessed this? I know David Wood has encountered ‘UFO’ stuff too, and I’ve even managed to photograph strange aerial anomalies at Glastonbury, Lincoln Cathedral and Temple Bruer since then. Not easy for a neurologist to explain!

So it’s very strange. I’m by no means a treasure hunter. However, twice in my life circumstances brought me to Lincoln, however each time I moved on. The third time circumstances brought me to Lincoln I stayed, and within a number of years this research seems to have presented itself to me. So much so that I had to check it and confirm it, and present it to the public. I’ve nothing to hide. My intention is to share this with people. If it’s being presented to me, I’m quite happy to share it.

10. What is your understanding of the history of the Knights Templar in Lincoln?

Some commentator once said there seems to have been more Knights Templar occupation in the area than there should be. For instance, one of the areas most famous is a place called Temple Bruer, which is twelve miles south of the Cathedral. It’s still in existence, and seems to be a part of the Lincoln Da Vinci Code simply because of the fact that it’s west wall presents a strange etching which seems to represent the device in the top left corner of Rennes-le-Château parchment number one.

Temple Bruer: similor in design to Rennes-le-Château parchment #1?
(Copyright Dan Green)

Rennes-le-Château Parchment 1: note image in the upper left hand corner

11. You’ve received a tremendous amount of both local and national press coverage. In the process the location of the marker tomb has been revealed. Aren’t you worried that enthusiasts might start to dig?

I’ll be devastated if anything untoward happened there. I think in some sense I’ve protected the area really by announcing it. I think there would be far more chance of people digging speculatively had I just said somewhere in the region. I think I’ve protected the area and from what I’ve seen there has been a lot of respect shown to it. I’ve seen people come take photographs. I’ve seen objects placed there, including a stone with a ‘PS’ carved in it that somebody had left and a bouquet of roses.

12. So what is your view on the Priory of Sion; real or hoax?

I think that if there had been a secret organisation down throughout history, there may be times when it needed to change its name for various reasons. The fact that we’ve been promoting the Priory of Sion and people have came to say well it was only created in 1956 only; I think there is a strong possibility that there has been a secret organisation throughout history that may have called itself the Priory of Sion at one point. I don’t think the name is as important as possible fact that there has always been an organisation, which could be there till this day, whether it’s called Priory of Sion or not.

As I mentioned earlier, I researched the origin of the Lincoln Imp statue, Lincoln Cathedrals own demon guardian, and low and behold the word Imp actually goes back to Sion. I always suspected that the Imp was a marker, with its foot on a pedestal, in exactly the same fashion as the shepherd in the Nicolas Poussin painting (Shepherds of Arcadia).

13. So with respect to your two books, what has the reaction been locally? You must be quite well known in Lincoln.

There seemed to be a change in perspective with the second book. The first book was perceived by a lot of people as less than serious; more fiction than fact. Then when the sequel came out, and I didn’t anticipate I was going to do a sequel, I just couldn’t ignore the fact that more and more evidence was coming, so when the sequel came out a lot of people were somewhat shocked that it looked like I was doing a u–turn and was now saying what I may have announced as fiction is absolute fact. A lot of people seemed to distance themselves from that, because suddenly it was taking on this very serious issue.

We have an individual who has nominated a precise location in Lincoln and is implying that possibly here is one of the most legendary treasures in history. And because I’ve announced a GPR scan I think a lot of people are suspending their criticism. Obviously, people who want to isolate the Rennes-le-Château mystery to France will look the other way. The irony is that without the clues associated with Rennes-le-Château I could never have discovered anything in Lincoln; it needed a mergence between Rennes-le-Château and Lincoln, and that confirms my suspicion that there was always some sort of connection between the two.

So the city was less receptive than you would have wished?

Since the second book, there’s been a bit of an eerie silence. Who would have thought that the Cathedral could possibly be tied up in this Mystery? It had some bad press long before I came on the scene – a sex scandal in the early 1900’s. In 1995, the then Dean of the Cathedral announced to the British public that he was having troubles and finally had to retire from his job. He was experiencing personal problems resulting from being involved in a sex scandal. Then he casually announced to the British public that he would like to close the Cathedral for three months in order to have had it exorcised! He went on to also say that he considered Lincoln Cathedral to be the battle ground, or focal point between the forces of good and evil, which is an extremely strange thing for a Dean of a Cathedral to suddenly say. What’s his flock going to think of that then? He didn’t elucidate any further at the time, and as recently as last year he still refuses to comment on that.

How was that received at the time? That’s quite a shocking thing to say to the general public.

Because the poor chap was embroiled in a sex scandal, lots of people might have perceived that he would say anything. He claimed that the allegations levied against him were the result of evil or of dark forces. I think a lot of people believed that is why he was asking for an exorcism, in order to exonerate himself. But looking back now I do wonder if Lincoln Cathedral has harboured, harnessed or hid a secret for centuries and centuries and maybe he may have known a little about that.

14. So tell us, what was Lincoln like at the time of the filming of Ron Howard’s Da Vinci Code? How has it changed since?

Well it’s not often you have Hollywood on your doorstep. Naturally a lot of people turned up everyday outside the hotels where the cast and stars were; many hung around the Cathedral looking for autographs. I know a lot of people associated with the Cathedral were offended by the fact that the institution took a £100,000 fee for the filming when obviously the nature of the book is upsetting too many Christians.

I remember the now infamous nun protest, which was on national television. But other than that I think the rest of the town just responded to the fact that Hollywood was turning up on their doorstep; let’s go and meet and greet, etc. I actually managed to present a copy of my first book to producer Ron Howard, which I thought was quite neat.

What was he like?

He was very down to earth, none of this Hollywood glitz and smaltz. He actually walked from his hotel every day to the Cathedral to do the filming. I was impressed that he walked whilst the rest of the cast were driven.

Has tourism changed since?

That’s a moot point actually, as a lot of people expected a massive snowballing effect. Obviously Da Vinci Code fans were going to come and see where the movie was filmed which would have added to the usual amount of visitors from around the world, but whether it’s been a mammoth turn out or not I’m not so sure. I think maybe there might have been a bit of hype in there as well. But Hollywood is actually returning next year to do a remake of the Dam Busters, so ha ha, we could get accustomed to this.

15. Have you been approached by organisations or individuals with more information or people who feel threatened by what you may have uncovered?

I do get a lot of readers via e-mails who have suggested things. In fact, the week before my book was actually published, by a publisher in Lincoln, the very week before it was due to coincide with Hollywood’s arrival, I got a phone call from the publisher and he said “I want nothing further to do with this, I’m returning all your stuff. I want out!”

Now I’d been working with this guy two months previously without a problem. Everything on the table – no hidden agendas or anything, and I said “what’s the problem, what’s the matter?” And he said “you are giving away Freemasons secrets”. This was at the eleventh hour. Now you must understand that Lincoln is a very strong Masonic town, and while I don’t believe that modern Freemasons have any insight into these historical mysteries, I did wonder if there was concern about my talking freely about my rather un-Masonic interpretation.

Also in 1989, I sent a dossier to the 33 degree Freemasonry headquarters in England and Scotland. I included some photographs that I had taken at Rennes-le-Château; strange photographs. I weaved in amongst it some of my own theories and involvement in the Rennes-le-Château mystery as it appeared to me at the time. So, I sent this information anonymously to both bodies and rang each up two or three weeks later, and apparently the Scottish Freemasons had taken a vote on the implications of the dossier.

That’s interesting…

They actually took a vote, but apparently the vote had been close and they decided to take no motion.

No motion?

No motion, nothing from England but the Scots actually took a vote. That dossier may well still be in existence today.

Do you still have a copy?

No. Regretfully, I did not keep a copy for myself.

16. What was the essence of it? It must have been quite a serious work for the Scottish masons to have taken a vote, no?

It was about changes that were coming in the world and Freemasons as an organisation that declares itself as benevolent. It’s something they should sit up and take notice about, and looking back now, everyday the news reports are coming out about global warming and all the changes that are going on in the world. There seems to be a heralding of some change going on in the world, and I thought if masons were true to their cause they should be doing something about that in some way.

As the worlds largest charitable organisation that’s a reasonable place to have taken that issue.

Yes, yes, I felt a bit uncomfortable about doing it obviously, because one can never be sure when involved in Rennes-le-Château just what the ramifications could be, and people have been followed about and had mail intercepted by who knows or what. One would feel uncomfortable about having done such a thing.

17. That’s great stuff Dan. Thank you for all of your insight. Is there anything else you would like to add?

I think great changes are underway on this planet. We know it. We just have to look at the climate and evolution; there’s something changing, something momentous, something cosmic.

I think the Rennes-le-Château mystery is a cosmic mystery. We may not understand it. It draws people to it, but it seems to me to be at the crux of something momentous that is going to occur in our life time. What is behind it I couldn’t say? Whether it’s a human agency or not, I’m a neurologist, we don’t understand how the human brain works at all. If the planetary body is as Lovelock says, that it has a mind and a brain, it could assemble us to do its bidding for whatever is going to occur in a planetary or cosmic sense, again my intuition tells me it’s something like the closing scenes of Kubrick’s 2001 a Space Odyssey.

It’s almost as if this earth is giving birth, hence the Rennes-le-Château emphasis on the number 22, the number of days that a pregnant cell develops corpus luteum, and the ‘X’, the female sex chromosome.

Fingers crossed that the scan will give birth to some new information on the mystery.

Before a birth you have a scan…

Touché!