BBC Radio 4 "On The Trail Of The Templars"

As we approach October 13th and the 700th anniversary of the arrest of the Templars, there's an increase in media interest in the order. This weekend, there is an excellent BBC Radio 4 Program available on the web, On The Trail Of The Templars.

It requires a Real Player to listen.

There are several pieces to this hour-long program. The show itself is 27 minutes, and there are two extra interviews. The first is with Professor Jonathan Riley-Smith on the development of the Templar order, who gives an excellent explanation of where the Templar wealth REALLY came from (as opposed to digging for treasure). The second is with Rev. Robin Griffiths-Jones, Master of the Temple Church in London (who I've had the pleasure of meeting).

For those of you who have been to the London Temple Church in the past, it appears from photos on the feature page that there has been an unfortunate addition brought on by the Da Vinci Code mania - new steel rails have been erected to keep idiots from kicking the effigies in the floor. *sigh*

The show contains a nice section with Helen Nicholson who cuts through much silliness in no time flat. And there's a bit with a member of the Grand Priory of Knights Templar in England and Wales, which is part of the non-Masonic Ordo Supremus Militaris Templi Hierosolymitani (who apparently took a negative view of joining the Masonic Templars. God love the British. They just can't help taking swipes at Masons).