Ancient secret societies use latest science for world domination

ANGELS & Demons, the companion volume to Dan Brown’s blockbuster thriller, The Da Vinci Code, opens with the discovery of a murdered physicist at the CERN atomic particle laboratory.

This poor boffin was branded with, it appears, an ancient symbol of the secret Illuminati sect.

As if this wasn’t bad enough, a canister of deadly anti-matter was stolen from the laboratory and is hidden underneath the Vatican City, ready to blow up.

Worse still, Conclave – the meeting of cardinals who select the new Pope – is about to begin.

The Illuminati was founded in Bavaria in 1776, with members spread throughout government, science and the arts.

It could date even further back to the 1500s and was created to counter the Church’s scientific thinking.

In Angels & Demons, Illuminati members, known as the Enlightened Ones, were driven underground and became extremely hostile to the Vatican.

In Dan Brown’s world, conspiracy theorists believe the Illuminati still exist and are plotting a New World Order.

Brown’s Da Vinci Code hero, Dr Robert Langdon, played by Tom Hanks, who luckily happens to be an Illuminati expert, is invited to Rome, where he is equally lucky in meeting beautiful scientist Vittoria Vetra, played by Ayelet Zurer.

Naturally, it’s a race against time to stop the Vatican being blown heavenwards.

The CERN scientists, busy finding out about the universe with its Large Hadron Collider, were happy for it to be used as a set in the film,

The Vatican, however, was not. Angels & Demons director Ron Howard says that this is standard practice with any film request.

“They don’t allow anybody to shoot,” he says. “There have been times when I feel they have exerted their influence and made it difficult for us to shoot in places, but we don’t know that for a fact. That’s my own Dan Brown conspiracy theory!”