Prince of Wales Lodge No. 1705

So come on, who are the puzzle solvers among you? Dan Brown's latest novel is called The Lost Symbol and is purported to contain 'hidden secrets of Freemasonry' - it doesn't, although there are a number of very accurate descriptions within the pages. The book itself is a typical Dan Brown page turner and is bound to leap straight to the top of the best seller lists. As usual with his books there are a number of puzzles contained within the pages.

But first, why was the book released on 15th September 2009? Yes, your webmaster does know the answer but can you work it out? email me if you know.

One of the main puzzles within the book revolves around the mysterious symbols found on the bottom of pyramid. (Believe me, I'm not giving the plot away by reprinting the symbol grid below)

Now can you solve the riddle?

The only clue you have to go on is -

The

secret hides

within The Order.

Eight Franklin Square.

 So, what is the answer? 

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Spoiler - don't scroll any further down if you don't need a clue.

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The only other clue that I will give now is that it is a seven letter word which has Masonic connotations.

But, what is the word? Again, let me know if you solve it. If you are really stuck, just email me and I will point you in the right direction.

In the year 2006, the Lord came unto Noah (who was now living in England) and said, "Once again, the earth has become wicked and over-populated, and I see the end of all flesh before me. Build another Ark and save 2 of every living thing along with a few good humans."
He gave Noah the CAD drawings, saying, "You have 6 months to build the Ark before I will start the unending rain for 40 days and 40 nights.

 " Six months later, the Lord looked down and saw Noah weeping in his yard - but - no Ark.
"Noah!" He roared, "I'm about to start the rain! Where is the Ark?"

"Forgive me, Lord," begged Noah, "but things have changed. I needed Building Regulations Approval because the Ark was over 30m². I've been arguing with the Fire Brigade about the need for a sprinkler system. My neighbours claim that I should have obtained planning permission for building the Ark in my garden because it is development of the site (even though in my view it is a temporary structure) but the roof is too high.

We had to go to appeal to the Secretary of State for a decision. The Local Area Access Group complained that my ramp was going to be too steep, and the inside of the Ark wasn't fully accessible, then the Department of Transport demanded a bond be posted for the future costs of moving power lines and other overhead obstructions, to clear the passage for the Ark's move to the sea. I told them that it didn’t matter because the sea would be coming to us, but they would hear nothing of it.

Getting the wood was another problem. All the decent trees have Tree Preservation Orders on them and we live in a Site of Special Scientific Interest set up in order to protect the spotted owl. I tried to convince the environmentalists that I needed the wood to save those owls - but they wouldn’t have it!

I started gathering the animals anyway but, the RSPCA sued me. They insisted that I was confining wild animals against their will. They argued the accommodation was too restrictive, and it was cruel and inhumane to put so many animals in a confined space.

Then the County Council, the Environment Agency and the Rivers Authority ruled that I couldn't build the Ark until they'd conducted an environmental impact study on your proposed flood.

I'm still trying to resolve a complaint with the Equal Opportunities Commission on how many BMEs I'm supposed to hire for my building team. The trades unions say I can't use my sons. They insist I have to hire only CSCS accredited workers with Ark-building experience.

To make matters worse, Customs and Excise seized all my assets, claiming I'm trying to leave the country illegally to export endangered species.

 So, forgive me, Lord, but it would take at least 10 years for me to finish this Ark."

Suddenly the skies cleared, the sun began to shine, and a rainbow stretched across the sky.

Noah looked up in wonder and asked, "You mean you're not going to destroy the world?"

"No," said the Lord. "The government beat me to it."

It seems another Mason, Master of his Lodge, went to heaven and met with St. Peter. He identified himself as a member of the Craft and St. Peter asked, what Lodge? Proudly the Master replied Prince of Wales Lodge No. 1705. St. Peter immediately took him to the Masonic Clock Room. The Master, in puzzlement, looked around the room which was filled with clocks. Each clock had a Lodges' name on a brass plate, and strangely enough, each clock was at a different time. He asked why and St. Peter informed him that the hands only moved when someone in that Lodge made a mistake in the ritual. The Master the asked where his Lodges' clock was as he couldn't see it!

St. Peter replied "Why it's in the kitchen of course."

"The kitchen!?" said the Master.

"Yes, you see, we needed a new fan."

The Worshipful Master of another Lodge found a bottle with a Genie in it. In accordance with custom, the Genie offered to grant him a wish.
"OK," said the WM, "I live in Canada now, but I hate the long flight. So my wish is for you to build a bridge so I can drive to Canada."
"I can't do that!!!" exclaimed the Genie. "Don't you know that's impossible? No Genie could do that. It's too far, the water is too deep, it's just totally beyond anybody's power. You will have to make another wish."
"OK," said the Master. "I wish that at our next Lodge G.P. Meeting all the PMs would just get along, not have to tell us how they did it their year, not complain about the ritual, not put down the current officers ... just sit on the sidelines and agree!"
"Hmmmmm," said the Genie. "Do you want that bridge with 2 lanes or 4??"

A man had been convicted of murder and was about to be hanged. Just before the sentence was executed, the hangman asked the man if he had any last words. "Yes" came his reply, "I hate Masons!" "Why do you hate Masons?" asked the hangman. "The man I killed was a Mason," explained the murderer, "the detective who hunted me down was a Mason, the Prosecutor who tried my case was a Mason, the Judge who presided at the trial was a Mason, and all of the men on the jury who found me guilty and said I should be hanged were Masons!        That's why I hate Masons!"

"Have you finished?" asked the hangman,

"Yes" replied the convicted murder.

"Not your day is it? You will now take a short pace towards me with your left foot."

These are just some bits and pieces to break up the site a bit. All of these items will change on a daily basis.

Aldrin, Edwin E - Astronaut
Amundsen, Roald - Norwegian explorer - first to South Pole
Armstrong, Louis - Musician
Arne, Thomas Augustine - Composed 'Rule Britannia'
Arnold, Benedict - American General and later traitor
Ataturk, Mustapha Kemal - Founder of modern Turkey
Astor, John Jacob - German-American merchant and financier
Austin, Stephen F - Father of Texas
Autry, Gene - Actor

Bach, Johann - Composer
Basie, William "Count" - Composer
Bell, Lawrence - Bell Aircraft Corp.
Berlin, Irving - Entertainer
Blanc, Mel - voice of thousands of cartoon characters
Bolivar, Simon - Fought for South American independence from Spain
Boomer, Walter - Commander of Marine forces during Desert Storm
Borglum, Gutzon - Father and Son who carved Mt. Rushmore
Borglum, Lincoln - Father and Son who carved Mt. Rushmore
Borgnine, Ernest - US Actor
Boswell, James - Scottish writer, biographer of Dr Samuel Johnson
Bowie, James - Alamo
Bradley, Omar N - US Military leader
Bradman, Sir Donald - Australian Cricketer
Buchanan, James - President of the U.S.
Burke, Edmund - Irish-born British politician and writer
Burns, Robert - The National Poet of Scotland
Burton, Sir Richard - English Explorer
Byrd, Admiral Richard E - US Polar explorer
Byron, Lord William - British poet

Campbell, Sir Malcolm - Land speed record holder
Canning, George - British Prime Minister 1827
Cantor, Eddie - American entertainer
Carnegie, Andrew - Philanthropist and steel industry industrialist
Carson, Christopher "Kit" - Frontiersman
Casanova - Italian Adventurer, writer and entertainer
Chagal, Marc - Russian artist, domiciled in France
Chrysler, Walter P - Automotive fame
Churchill, Lord Randolph - British politician who led the so-called Fourth Party
Churchill, Sir Winston - British Prime Minister & WWII leader
Citroen, Andre - French Engineer and motor car manufacturer
Clark, William - Explorer (Lewis and Clark Fame)
Cody, "Buffalo Bill" William
Cole, Nat 'King' - Great ballad singer
Collodi, Carlo - Writer of Pinocchio
Colt, Samuel - Firearms inventor
Conan Doyle, Sir Arthur - Writer
Cooper, Tommy - TV Comic & (supposedly) inept conjurer - born in Caerphilly!
Crocket, David - Frontiersman and Alamo fame

Davidson, Jim - British Comedian
DeMille, Cecil B - US Film director
Dempsey, Jack - US Boxer, later ran New York restaurant
Desaguliers, John Theophilus - Inventor of the planetarium
Diefenbaker, John G. - Prime Minister of Canada 1957-63
Dole, Robert - US Senator, Vice Pres Candidate 1976, Pres. Candidate 1996
Doolittle, General James - US Air Force Pilot, led early WWII raids on Tokyo
Dow, William H - Dow Chemical Co.
Dunant, Jean Henri - Founder of the Red Cross

Edward VII - King 1901-10
Edward VIII - King 1936 (later Duke of Windsor)
Ellington, Duke - Composer, bandleader, pianist

Fairbanks, Douglas - Actor
Fields, W C - Actor
Fisher, Geoffrey - Archbishop of Canterbury 1945-61
Fleming, Sir Alexander - Invented Penicillin
Ford, Gerald R - President of the US
Ford, Henry - Pioneer automobile manufacturer
Franklin, Benjamin - 1 of 13 Masonic signers of Constitution of the US
Frederick II ("the Great"), King of Prussia 1712-86

Gable, Clark - Actor
Garfield, James A - President of the U.S.
Garibaldi, Guiseppe - Italian patriot and hero
Gatling, Richard J - Built the Gatling Gun
George IV - King 1820-30
George VI - King 1936-52
Gershwin, George - American composer
Gibbon, Edward - Writer - Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
Gilbert, Sir William S - half of Gilbert and Sullivan
Gillette, King C - Gillette Razor Co.
Glenn, John - First American to orbit the earth in a space craft
Goethe (von), Johan Wolfgang - German poet
Grissom, Virgil "Gus" - Astronaut
Guillotin, Joseph Ignace - Inventor of the Guillotine

Haig, Earl Douglas - British Field Marshal during World War I
Haley, Alex - Author of 'Roots'
Hancock, John - 1 of 9 Masons to sign the US Declaration of Independence.
Harding, Warren G - President of the U.S.
Hardy, Oliver - Actor, Comedian
Haydn, Franz Joseph - Austrian Composer
Herbert, Bishop Percy - Bishop of Norwich
Hilton, Charles C - American Hotelier
Hogarth, William - Artist
Hoover, J Edgar - Director of FBI
Hope, Bob - Comedian
Houdini, Harry - Magician & Illusionist
Houston, Sam - 2nd & 4th President of the Republic of Texas
Hussein, King of Jordan

Irving, Sir Henry - Actor
Irwin, James B. - American astronaut
Ives, Burl - Singer

Jackson, Andrew - President of the US
Jackson, Rev. Jesse - Minister
Jenner, Edward - Inventor - Vaccination
Johns, Hugh - UK sports Journalist & Commentator
Johnson, Andrew - President of the US
Johnson, Lyndon B - President of the US
Jolson, Al - Jazz Singer
Jones, John Paul - Scottish born "Father of the US Navy"

Khan, Aga - Statesman
Kipling, Rudyard - Writer
Kitchener, Lord - British Secretary of State for War (WWI)

Lewis, Meriwether - Explorer (Lewis and Clark Fame)
Lever, William Hesketh - British industrialist and philanthropist
Lindbergh, Charles - Aviator
Lipton, Sir Thomas - Grocery and tea magnate; philanthropist
Liszt (von), Franz - Hungarian composer and virtuoso pianist
Lloyd, Clive - West Indies Cricketer
Lloyd, Harold - Entertainer

Macadam, John - Scottish engineer. Developed the macadamising process
MacArthur, Gen. Douglas - Commander of US Armed Forces
MacDonald, Sir John A - Prime Minister of Canada 1867-73 & 1878-91
McKinley, William - President of the U.S.
Marshall, Gen. George C - US soldier, diplomat, politician won Nobel Peace Prize
Marx, Harpo - one of the Marx Brothers
Mayer, Louis B. - Film producer of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) fame
Menninger, Karl A - Psychiatrist famous for treating mental illness
Mesmer, Franz Anton - practiced Mesmerism, a precursor to Hypnotism
Michelson, Albert Abraham - Successfully measured the speed of light in 1882
Miller, Glenn - US Bandleader and composer
Mitchell, Edgar D - US Astronaut who flew on the Apollo 14 mission
Mix, Tom - U.S. Marshal turned actor. Stared in over 400 western films
Monroe, James - President of the U.S.
Montgolfier, Jacques Etienne - Co-developer of first practical hot-air balloon
Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus - Composer
Murphy, Audie - Most decorated American Soldier of WWII.

Palmer, Arnold - Professional Golfer
Peary, Robert E - First man to reach the North Pole (1909)
Penny, James C - US Retailer (J C Penny)
Pershing, John Joseph - Decorated American Soldier
Poinsett, Joel R - US Minister to Mexico who developed the flower " Poinsettia"
Polk, James Knox - President of the U.S.
Pope, Alexander - Writer
Price, Richard - Welsh mathematician, philosopher - invented actuarial tables
Pushkin, Aleksander - Russian Poet

Raffles, Sir Thomas Stanford - Founded Singapore & Zoological Society
Revere, Paul - Famous Revolutionary American
Rhodes, Cecil - Prime Minister of Cape Colony 1890
Rickenbacker, Eddie - Great American Air Force Ace
Ringling Brothers - All 7 circus brothers and their father were Masons
Robinson, Sugar Ray - American Boxer
Rogers, Roy - American cowboy and screen star
Roosevelt, Franklin D - President of the US
Roosevelt, Theodore - President of the US

Sanders, Harland ("Colonel") - Founder of Kentucky Fried Chicken Restaurant
Sarnoff, David - Father of US TV
Savalas, Telly - Actor who played 'Kojak'
Sax, Antoine Joseph - Invented the Saxophone (1846)
Scott, Capt. Robert Falcon - British Polar Explorer
Scott, Sir Walter - Writer
Sellers, Peter - Comic Actor
Shackleton, Sir Ernest - British Polar Explorer
Sibelius, Jean - Composer (Finland)
Sloane, Sir John - Artist
Smith, John Stafford - Wrote the music that became the US National Anthem.
Smith, Joseph - Founder of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Sousa, John Philip - Led the U.S. Marine Band from 1880 - 1892
Spilsbury, Sir Bernard - English Scientist
Stanford, Leland - Founded Stanford University
Still, Andrew T - American Physician who devised treatment of Osteopathy
Stratton, Charles "Tom Thumb" - Entertainer
Sullivan, Sir Arthur - Half of Gilbert & Sullivan
Swift, Johathan - Wrote Gulliver's Travels

Taft, William Howard - President of the U.S.
Thomas, Dave - Founder of Wendy's Restaurant
Thornhill, Sir James - English Artist
Tirpitz, Alfred Von - German Naval officer responsible for submarine warfare
Travis, Colonel William B - Alamo
Trollope, Anthony - English novelist
Truman, Harry S - President of the U.S.

Voltaire - French writer and philosopher

Wadlow, Robert Pershing - Tallest human on record being almost 9 feet tall
Wallace, Governor George C - Presidential Candidate - nearly assassinated
Warner, Jack - Warner Brothers Fame
Warren, Earl - US Supreme Court Justice
Washington, George - 1st President of US
Wayne, John - Actor
Webb, Capt. Matthew - First man to swim the English Channel (1875)
Wellington, Duke of - Soldier and statesman. Defeated Napoleon at Waterloo.
Wells, H G - Author
William IV - King (1830-37)
Wilde, Oscar - Anglo-Irish wit and dramatist
Wolfitt, Sir Donald - Actor
Wozniak, Steve. Co-founder of Apple Computers
Wyler, William - Director of "Ben Hur"

Young, Brigham - 2nd President of the Mormon Church

Zanuck, Darryl F - Co-founder of 20th Century Productions in 1933
Ziegfeld, Florenz - His Ziegfeld's Follies began in 1907

This list is by no means comprehensive. If you know of other famous masons who you think should be added to the list, please let the site manager know and (once we have checked the authenticity) we will add the details to this list.