When I went to art classes at my school during the late 1960s there were several painters regarded as all-time greats: Michelangelo, Raphael, Manet, Leonardo da Vinci, Botticelli, Picasso, Salvador Dali, Vincent Van Gogh and ... Hieronymus Bosch.

The best known painting by Bosch is probably “The Garden of Earthly Delights” (a copy of which I have got framed in my lounge). People see all sorts of demonic and sexual imagery in this painting. In actual fact it is a deeply religious painting executed in the idiosyncratic nature of the artist. All sinister interpretations of the painting are totally unjustified.

Likewise the exact same can be said about Abbé Bérenger Saunière's church. All sorts of rubbish has been claimed about it by the mythomaniacs of Rennes-le-Château. Notice that this rubbish has not been endorsed by the Church. Notice that there has never been a single historian that has dealt with the subject matter of Bérenger Saunière and Rennes-le-Château. All the noise comes from the mythomaniacs and the Tourist Board out to make some easy money. (I have a feeling that experts in the history of the French Republic in Universities all treat the subject matter of Rennes-le-Château with a mixture of horror and humorous contempt.)

I once showed my slides to some people who were interested where I went to on my holidays. When I showed slides of the interior of the church of Rennes-le-Château, they were astonished – “we didn't know that you were religious” – they said. When I told them about the interpretations of the church they all burst out laughing. When I told them about the “mysterious wealth” of Bérenger Saunière they burst out laughing again. “Donations! That was the source of the priest's wealth!” That was the instant reaction, without even having to bother to think!

Indeed, very close to where I live (about 80 yards away) – is a recently built religious community centre opposite a church that cost about £400,000. Half of that amount was provided by the Church, the other half was provided by congregations (with very deep pockets) from all over the country. What Bérenger Saunière was doing in Rennes-le-Château was similar to what was happening very close to where I am living: TODAY.

I found the BBC 2 “Chronicle” documentaries during the 1970s very interesting and became instantly hooked. I waited for Henry Lincoln's book to be published, but that wasn't until 1982. In the meantime I had to be content with Henry Lincoln's essay in the book “Chronicle” (1978), a second-hand copy of “Treasures of the World” by Robert Charroux (1966), and a series of articles written by Brian Innes in “The Unexplained” magazine (1980).

When “The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail” was eventually published I was astonished – it wasn't an “update” on the TV documentaries – but rather a book about a Jesus Christ Bloodline! Also, the author's knowledge of Christianity was embarrassingly non-existent. When people say it was only religious people (“The Vatican”) who complained about it – WRONG. Sceptics of Christianity and Humanists scoffed. Middle-of-the-Road people could not believe what they were reading.

It was only in retrospect that I found out that Henry Lincoln went on the road giving Lecture Tours about the Jesus Bloodline – and that he wanted to use it as the explanation to Rennes-le-Château and Saunière's activities in the final BBC 2 documentary. I found out from Fred Gettings himself that he wrote the conclusion to “Shadow of the Templars” (1979). I later found out from the TV Producer the sequence of events that led to the publication of “The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail”.

The authors failed to treat their readership with respect. René Descadeillas was caricatured as a dimwit and the authors weren't forthright about the existence of Saunière's Correspondence and Account Books demonstrating his source of wealth – that was Hermetically Sealed from all the followers of “The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail ”.

Furthermore, the authors failed to give updates on Plantard's revised version of the Priory of Sion during the 1990s; about the trouble Plantard got into when he claimed Roger-Patrice Pelat was Grand Master of the Priory of Sion; as well as failing to give details of Plantard's 1982 radio interview where he called the Jesus Bloodline theory nonsense (these were substantial omissions, but understandable when taken into consideration of the vast damage it would have caused to the sales of “The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail”).

Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh decided to write about other things, and Henry Lincoln turned his attention to Sacred Landscape Geometry in and around Rennes-le-Château. I know that Lincoln got this idea as a result of his attending the private lectures and meetings of David Wood at his home (they both lived in the South of England). I also got the TV Producer into trouble with Henry Lincoln when I asked an author who wrote a Rennes-le-Château bibliography (he knew the authors) for an update of “The Holy Place” (he had no idea Lincoln was writing it) – and Henry Lincoln shouted to the TV Producer: “Why did you tell Smith that!” (Henry Lincoln was hoping to use “The Holy Place” for another BBC documentary, if my memory serves me correctly).

Therefore, the whole subject matter of Rennes-le-Château is a mixture of “sound and fury signifying nothing” – avoided like the plague by historians and serious researchers – because the real and historical Abbé Bérenger Saunière has been lost in the morass of pseudo-historical fable, invented and perpetuated by the likes of Henry Lincoln, Indeed, lectures about the “Bloodline” of Jesus Christ and Mary Magdalene are given in Rennes-le-Château today.

The fanciful misinterpretations of the painting “The Garden of Earthly Delights” by Hieronymus Bosch are nothing compared to all of this.