Nopesport

JK and the Holy Grail?

Orienteers love a puzzle and a fascinating new theory has highlighted a centuries old enigma on the doorstep of next year’s JK. The secret code on the bottom of the famous Shepherd’s Monument at Shugborough Hall on the edge of Cannock Chase has been the subject of conjecture over the centuries by everyone from Charles Darwin to the Bletchley Park Enigma heroes and is popularly thought to reveal the whereabouts of the Holy Grail.

It was put in place by the present Earl Lichfield’s ancestor George Anson in 1748 who was a member of the Priory of Sion, a secret society which had links with the Knights Templar, French Crusaders who allegedly found the Holy Grail in the 11th Century.

But the latest theory published this week by a professional secret service code breaker (too secret to be identified!) links it with a stone tablet handed down by Old Testament prophet Jacob which the Priory revered and which Anson was said to have captured from a French Ship and buried in Nova Scotia.

Whatever the truth, campers at JK2005 will have a very good chance to make up their own minds as they will be issued with a JK Joker card entitling them to a £5 discounted entry to Shugborough Hall among many other similar benefits (if well used it will probably more than pay for the cost of the camping pitch). Other orienteers can collect their JK Jokers at the Event Centre – Lichfield Rugby Club.

Lynden Hartmann