Simon Mattacks
speaker
2,981 appearances
17 recordings
3 series
first heard Dec 2024
last heard 13 Sep
Simon Mattacks’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.
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recordings per month · last 12 monthsRecordings per month over the last 12 months — 14 in all, peaking in Aug 2026 with 3.
Appearances
One of these is called the Chalice Well Cup.
According to this story, Joseph had hidden the grail in a natural spring at the foot of the Glastonbury Tor.
A well does exist there, with its waters running over rocks that have turned red.
However, there are only rumors of an actual cup having been discovered in that spot.
Another intriguing story is that the grail is hidden inside an elaborately decorated pillar at Rosslyn Chapel in Scotland.
Reportedly fashioned by a master stonemason, this pillar was such an achievement that it supposedly sent the stonemason's master into a jealous fit.
A metal detector scan of the pillar has indicated that a metal item could be inside, but no shape can be determined, and the curator will not allow it to be X-rayed.
Nor, obviously, will anyone be smashing through the precious pillar to see what's inside.
In the early 19th century, an Austrian writer named Josef von Hammer-Pogstall laid another brick in the foundation for many of the modern Grail stories, including the ones featuring Indiana Jones.
Tapping into an actual organization from hundreds of years ago, he connected the Knights Templar to the idea of the Grail.
suggesting that they had a major role in protecting its legacy.
In his interpretation, the grail was not a physical object as much as it was a receptacle of secret knowledge.
This link between the Knights Templar and the grail has no basis in fact.
However, it really took hold of the popular imagination.
As the 19th century continued, Victorian ideals about chivalry and purity drove renewed interest in the stories of Arthur and his knights.
Their quests suited the sensibilities of the era.
With those stories, of course, came legends of the Grail.
Numerous writers mentioned it, most notably the poet Tennyson, who published his Arthurian cycle Idols of the King between 1859 and 1885.
Tennyson's work drew mainly upon Le Morte d'Arthur by Sir Mallory, but it was seen as a commentary on Victorian society.
This is a perfect example of how the stories of the Grail morphed repeatedly to suit new audiences.
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