Posted on 11/24/2004 11:03:39 PM PST by nickcarraway
A team of Second World War codebreakers was today poised to reveal the solution to a cryptic 18th century riddle which is rumoured to reveal the location of the Holy Grail.
Oliver Lawn and his wife Sheila, the leaders of the team, are now in their 80s but were posted at the codebreaking centre at Bletchley Park, Buckinghamshire, during the Second World War.
The couple, who worked on cracking the Enigma code, have spent the last seven months deciphering the significance of a sequence of letters on the Shepherd’s Monument in the Shugborough Estate in Staffordshire.
The marble slab, located in the garden at the ancestral home of the Earl of Lichfield, features a carved image of a Nicolas Poussin painting with the letters D.O.U.O.S.V.A.V.V.M. underneath.
The organisers of the project have shrouded the team’s findings in secrecy ahead of today’s announcement at Bletchley but legend has it that the inscription could reveal the whereabouts of the Holy Grail.
According to myth, the Grail was used either by Jesus at the Last Supper or to catch his blood during the Crucifixion.
The quest for the Grail became a popular theme in art, inspiring Thomas Malory’s poem Le Morte D’Arthur, which told the story of King Arthur’s search, as well as Richard Wagner’s opera Parsifal.
John Cleese, Michael Palin et al parodied such earnest renderings in the cult classic Monty Python and the Holy Grail. More recently, Harrison Ford joined forces with Sean Connery to find the Holy Grail in the action movie Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.
The findings will be revealed at a media briefing at Bletchley Park at 11am.
ping
Is Geraldo going to be there to open the secret vault?
BTTT
Some call me "Tim."
lol! and the silly thing is that the entire world will be watching for hours, as nothing is revealed.
What is the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow?
reference
I bet it is hidden in the Castle Anthrax.
Curiosity Book Mark
What ... is your favorite colour?
"Blue, no I mean red ... ahhhhhhhh!"
ditto here
I thought the whole point was that you weren't supposed to find it!
Right. Remember what happened to the guy who touched it?
Okay, who wants to go first?
"First shalt thou take out the Holy Pin, then shalt thou count to three, no more, no less. Three shalt be the number thou shalt count, and the number of the counting shalt be three. Four shalt thou not count, neither count thou two, excepting that thou then proceed to three. Five is right out. Once the number three, being the third number, be reached, then lobbest thou thy Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch towards thou foe, who being naughty in My sight, shall snuff it."
See #9
I forgot.
Leaving fingerprint
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.