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Graham Phillips
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Biography Graham Phillips has investigated unsolved mysteries for over fifteen years. In the 1980s, with Martin Keatman, he co-authored The Green Stone and The Eye of Fire , which documented the discovery of the Meonia Stone hidden after the Gunpowder plot of 1605, and the Ranton Bell, now in the hands of the Queen's cousin Lord Lichfield |
In the 1990s, Phillips and Keatman's bestselling King Arthur - The True Story revealed dramatic new evidence for Arthur's historical existence, and The Shakespeare Conspiracy created international controversy by suggesting that William Shakespeare had worked as a government spy.
Graham's other books investigating historical enigmas include Robin Hood - The Man Behind The Myth and The Search For The Grail
Act Of God explores the mystery surrounding Tomb 55 and discovers for the first time that Smenkhare had been held responsible for the greatest catastrophe in Egypt's history - the plagues as described in the Book of Exodus.
Graham's most recent book is entitled THE MARIAN CONSPIRACY,published in March by Macmillan, examines the true parentage of Jesus and looks at the evidence for the historical reality of Mary, the mother of Jesus. He follows her life after the time of the Crucifixion and concludes that she departed for Britain, at the time one of the only countries outside of Roman juristiction. He traces legends which speak of her burial on the Isle of Anglesey and finally comes upon a previously unknown grave site that might just be the earthly remains of the Virgin Mary.
Graham Phillips has lectured on media studies at Cambridge, Brunel and Warwick Universities, and is a regular speaker at The Questing Conference. He has previously worked as a magazine editor and programme presenter with the BBC.
The Lecture...
THE SEARCH FOR THE VIRGIN MARY AND THE MYSTERIOUS ORIGINS OF CHRISTIANITY
Graham is no stranger to the Questing Conference. He has attended all but one over the past ten years. This time he was here to expound the quest undertaken in his recent book THE MARIAN CONSPIRACY (Sidgwick and Jackson, London, 2000). He began by summing up what is known of the Virgin Mary from the Gospels, before focusing on the quest to find her final resting place. He traced her movement from Palestine westwards to Britain, the only obvious haven for those escaping Roman persecution in the first century AD. Her final destination was, it seems, the Isle of Anglesey, in the company of Joseph of Arimathea, Graham's identification of the 'good disciple' who takes care of Mary after the Crucifixion. Anglesey was the stronghold of the British Druids until its sacking by the legions of the Emperor Nero in AD 61. Graham's conclusion is that there is a real likelihood that her grave and earthly remains existed on Anglesey and were guarded by individuals who preserved the knowledge in secret through till medieval times.
At the suspected site of the grave near an old holy well, Graham working alongside local archaeologists, found a headstone on which was the sign for Virgo, a symbol used in medieval times to denote the Virgin Mary. A geophysical survey organised by Graham showed evidence for the presence of a grave site near the spring.
That Christians were present on Anglesey as early as the first-century AD has recently been confirmed. Construction work on a new road near Llanarchmed in the center of the island uncovered various graves in which were items bearing early Christian symbols such as the fish. Organic remains have provided Carbon-14 dates pointing to a settlement locally during the first-century AD. Is it possible, Graham asked, that the Druids of Anglesey had converted to Christianity by the time that the Emperor Nero ordered his legions to march on their stronghold? In the knowledge of Nero's fervent hatred of Christians, this makes complete sense. Graham proposes also that one of the reasons why early Christians came to Anglesey was pre-existing links with earlier colonies who had journeyed either from Egypt or the Levant coast. Such a proposition is certainly plausible in the light of convincing evidence of Egyptian contact with Britain presented in Lorraine Evans' recent book KINGDOM OF THE ARK (Simon and Shuster, London, 2000).
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