Today's Guardian features a close look at an odd ad which appeared in the Daily Telegraph, which seemed to suggest the Templars were making a comeback:

The order seemed to have disappeared - until yesterday, when this tantalising advertisement appeared.

Apart from the odd misplaced apostrophe and various arcane references to "annulling the bull", the advert gravely announced that the Knights Templar would petition the Pope to "restore the Order with the duties, rights and privileges appropriate to the 21st century and beyond". It called on all Templar groups and "brothers in arms" around the world to get in touch, either via its website, www.theknightstemplar.info, or an address in west London, which could clearly become a mecca for long-lost Templars and baffled Telegraph readers alike.

My quest was to decipher this advertisement and find out why someone would pay several thousand pounds to place it in the press.

The question you might ask is why? Of course, there is the chance to buy a bit of paper claiming you are a Templar, and giving you the right to wear robes and carry a sword without looking like a madman or some live-roleplaying type - OK slightly less like one. However, there are other things at stake:

What the advert demands is a formal restoration of the Knights Templar. Such a move would not be without precedent: the Jesuits were suppressed by the Catholic church in 1773 before being formally restored by Rome in 1814. "In the background is a mix of Da Vinci Code nonsense and a hard-headed real estate issue," says Palmer. "The consequences of the papacy restoring the Knights would be to open up an enormous can of worms."

One of the worms is property. While Palmer dismisses contemporary "orders" that claim lineage back to 14th-century Templars, he believes modern Templars could in theory claim rights to property seized by the Catholic church. There could, for instance, be a dispute over the ownership of the Temple Church in London (which passed to the Church of England).

Another possible worm is the reaction that the restoration of the Templars would cause among some Islamic groups who associate the Templars with the Crusades. Palmer believes the Pope, who has worked hard to build bridges between Islam and Christianity after several gaffes, would be wary of triggering more conflict with the Muslim world.

So who are the people behind this?

And so I find myself in west London, at the address given in the advert. It turns out to be the offices of Sloane & Co, a small accountancy firm set up by David Sloane in 1974. Sloane is no boring bean-counter - he's a rock accountant. Over the years, he's done the books for INXS, Maxi Priest, Mark Morrison and even Melinda Messenger. His top clients today are the Wiggles, the Australian preschool entertainers who sport primary-coloured turtlenecks and have made millions from selling CDs of songs about Dorothy the Dinosaur.

The connection between turtleneck-wearing entertainers and a secretive group of warrior monks has me stumped.

...

According to the Charities Commission, Sloane is the official representative of the Knights Templar Trust charity, which is listed on the advertisement. Sadly, Sloane is not at his office and does not return my calls. All he will say is the Ancient & Noble Order of the Knights Templar "is a client of Sloane & Co". Why does the client want to reinvigorate and restore the Knights Templar? Apparently a press release in a couple of days will reveal all.

The Templars' website is registered under the name of another accountant. Are the Templars a group of accountants? Sadly, this man is said to have left the company of tax accountants on the Isle of Man three years ago and he eludes my attempts to find him. Still, if the Templars hid from us for 700 years through a combination of secret trap doors and shy accountants, it's probably no disgrace that I can't locate them in one afternoon.

"Were there a serious attempt to re-establish the order, we would see all kinds of funny creatures coming out from under the stones," predicts Palmer. "This could be an interesting meeting of mysticism and Mammon."

Interesting, indeed. "Annulling the bull?" If only.

We'll keep an open for developments but don't hold out much hope for anything too spectacular. As my previous "encounter" with the British Templar resurgence suggests, answers may be the last thing you discover on such quests. Read on...