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CODEX is back – but this time two teams will compete every week to win the series!

Are you interested in history? Are you brave enough to spend the night in a Museum? Can you make up a team? We’re looking for 3 people who work together or have shared knowledge to make up a team. It could be friends, relatives or colleagues. Maybe you’re brewers or traders, artists or engineers, students or sailors, potters or politicians … we’re open to ideas!

Teams will compete in a series of quiz rounds, based around some of the most famous historical artefacts in the British Museum.

Contact us now! codex@diverse.tv or call 0207 855 7463
Kind Regards

Kate Brooks and Will Thorne

Codex Contestant Team

EMAIL: codex@diverse.tv or call: 020 7855 7463

From The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction, No. 579 Volume 20, No. 579, December 8, 1832

In your Correspondent Selim’s laudable endeavour to vindicate the ancient inhabitants of this island from the character of barbarians given them by Cæsar, he has made some errors, which, with your permission, I will attempt to rectify. First, I beg leave to dissent from the derivation of the word Druid, “Druidh,” a wise man, as such a word is not to be found in the Welsh language. In one of your early volumes there is a letter from a Correspondent, deriving the word (in the above language it is written Derwydd) from Dar and Gwydd, signifying chief in the presence, as the religious ceremonies of the Druids were considered to be performed in the presence of the Deity. This may seem far fetched; but, according to the genius of the language, any word commencing with g, and having another word prefixed, the sound of the g is always dropped: therefore, those words would be written Dar-wydd, only a difference of one letter from the proper word.

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The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction, Vol. 10, Issue 268, August 11, 1827

The Romance of War

A French soldier, who accompanied the armies of Russia, concealed a small treasure at the entrance of a village near Wilna, with a view of taking it with him on his return. After the defeat of Moscow he was made prisoner, and sent to Siberia, and only recovered his liberty at the end of last year. On reaching Wilna he remembered his hidden treasure, and after tracing out the spot where he had hid it, he went to take it away. What was his astonishment to find, in the place of his money, a small tin box, containing a letter addressed to him, in which a commercial house was mentioned at Nancy, where he might receive the sum buried, with interest, since the year 1812. The soldier supposed this was all a hoax; he went, however, to the house pointed out, where he received his capital, with twelve years’ interest. With this sum he established a small business at Nancy, which enables him to live comfortably; but he has never been able, though he has taken some pains, to ascertain how his money was taken away and restored to him.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6201286.stm

Historians in Poland have discovered the wreckage of a World War II RAF Halifax bomber along with the remains of its British and Canadian crew.

The hull of the aircraft, from 148 Squadron, was found buried in a field near the southern Polish town of Dabrowa Tarnowska.

The bomber was shot down while dropping supplies and ammunition to the Polish underground during the Warsaw uprising.

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Has anybody else noticed the massive numbers of fake of pound coins in circulation at the moment? I guess whoever is making them doesn’t do a very good job of plating them because they sure are easy to spot once they have been in circulation for a while.

Anybody know anything about this? Does anybody have any pictures of fake pound coins they have found in their change? Are other denominations of coins being faked in large numbers?

Does anybody remember… A few years ago, an episode of Crimewatch (or a similar “police appealing for information” type show) covered a murder case with a treasure related twist.

A man had been found murdered, his house ransacked and police believed that those responsible had been looking for a treasure map the man reportedly had in his possession.

Does anybody remember seeing this show or reading about this crime? I have tried to find further information online and I am starting to think I might have imagined the whole thing…

If you have any more information, please let me know.

Ever wanted to go into space but don’t have the right stuff? Here is the next best thing, Send your name to the asteroid belt on the Dawn spacecraft.

The SS Deaths Head Ring Treasure, or, The Treasure of Wewelsburg castle.

For the time being, The Space Directory web site can be found here and the Astronaut Autopen Guide can be found here. I hope to find a more permanent home for the site in the near future.

Billy and Charley - The Story of the Shadwell Forgeries