I'm pleased to announce that the video of my recent presentation, entitled Le Serpent Rouge and the Zodiac of Rennes-les-Bains, is now available for viewing on my Youtube channel. This was a two-hour talk delivered to a small group on the evening of 14 November 2025, at La Confluence Events Centre in Couiza, Aude, France. It was a special night for me, in more ways than one, an opportunity to present the results of my work to an appreciative audience in a warm and welcoming environment.

So firstly, a huge thank you to René and Jill of La Confluence for hosting the event. They have created a great space for exhibitions, events, and evenings such as this recent one, in a fully restored building in the centre of the small town of Couiza. It's literally at the foot of the hill on which stands the village of Rennes-le-Château. The talk took place in their recently renovated salon, with comfy chairs for all, drinks, snacks, and a relaxed convivial atmosphere. A large, splendid, portrait of Henry Lincoln hangs on the wall. It was a perfect setting and location for a deep dive into the story of one of the most enigmatic literary works of the twentieth-century, the mystery poem of Le Serpent Rouge.

I would also like to thank the editor of the video for doing such an excellent job of putting together the talk, including the slides, the Google Earth videos, and even one or two minor post-production additions. So thank you, Judith, who in addition to being my go-to video editor is also my wife. When she is not making videos she is an artist, specialising in watercolour paintings of the landscape, villages and châteaux where we live these days, in the Haute Corbières mountains, in the Aude. You can see her beautiful work here, and watch her videos here. I only just realised that a painting of hers is hanging behind me during the talk on the wall in the video, still in place from a recent exhibition she was part of there!

With the credits out of the way, a few words on the talk itself. It's been now three years since the publication of The Map and the Manuscript. I've given several presentations on the book and my work since then, but they have tended to focus on the landscape geometry aspects of the story. In this case, and in this place, I was very pleased to have the opportunity to talk about my discoveries in relation to Le Serpent Rouge, a tantalising literary puzzle whose mysteries have remained unsolved since its publication in 1967.

This talk contains, I am bold enough to claim, the full, complete, correct solution to the key problems surrounding the poem, including the identity of the author, the identification of key characters including the serpent rouge itself, and the details and origin of the ancient zodiac format in the landscape on which the work is based. And there's much more. Scan the chapter headings in the video description for indications.

This material is all fully documented in the book, but I think it brings a great deal of clarity to the argument to be able to lay it out verbally, with visual cues, in one setting. So here it is, now available, by clicking on the image below. I invite you to pull up a comfy chair, perhaps a drink and some snacks, and enjoy the talk.

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The Map and the Manuscript: Journeys in the Mysteries of the Two Rennes

Available in Kindle, paperback, hardback and ePub.

​Amazon.co.uk Amazon.com Great British Bookshop​