The 2007 World Cup was supposed to be a relaxed affair as the West Indies played host to a carnival of cricket.
But the peace and quiet of this most tranquil of international sporting occasions was ripped apart when the Pakistan coach Bob Woolmer was found dead in his luxurious hotel room.
As if the death of one of the most gifted tacticians the game had ever known was not shocking enough, the Jamaican Police promptly announced that they were launching a murder investigation following a post mortem examination of his body.
Cricket went into meltdown, with accusations that match fixers, enraged fans and even angry players could have played a part in the 58 year-old coach's demise.
What began as a tragedy turned into a global media circus.
Lurid allegations about the Pakistan team, a cabal of murderous sub-continental bookmakers, and even Woolmer's personal life emerged as a chaotic murder investigation lurched from one implausible scenario to the next.
After an interminable delay of more than three months, and with the Met Police called over from London to assist in the investigation, further forensic tests suggested Woolmer had died accidentally and the Jamaican authorities announced that he had succumbed to death by "natural causes".
In November 2007 an official inquest recorded an open verdict, leaving conspiracy theorists to speculate about this bizarre mystery.
So how did Bob Woolmer meet his untimely end, and why does the world still not know what really happened inside that hotel room?

When the BBC and the government clashed over the "45 minute" dossier that took Britain to war in Iraq there was always going to be trouble.
But no-one could have imagined that the heated battle over whether Saddam could launch biological weapons at Britain in less than an hour would lead to the tragic death of Dr David Kelly.
A highly-respected weapons expert and UN inspector, Kelly tipped-off BBC reporter Andrew Gilligan that No. 10's dossier over the capacity of the Iraqi military to attack Britain in 45 minutes had been "sexed-up".
After vehement denials by Tony Blair and his spin-doctor-in-chief Alastair Campbell, Kelly, who had remained anonymous thanks to Gilligan's refusal to name his source, was clumsily unveiled as the whistle blower by Whitehall.
He was pitched into a political maelstrom, which saw him torn apart by senior officials, scrutinised by the press and forced to appear before a parliamentary hearing on the sexed-up dossier.
Within days of giving evidence to the investigation into the scandal, Dr Kelly's body was found on 18 July 2003 in woodland near his home in
Oxfordshire.
He had failed to return from his regular afternoon walk the previous day, and was discovered on Harrowdown Hill, less than a mile from his house.
The immediate story was that Kelly had taken an overdose of co-proxamol painkillers and slit his left wrist. The government's Hutton Inquiry backed this version of events, but many in the conspiracy community are not so sure.
Of all the cases we have looked at in this series of blogs the circumstances of Dr Kelly's death seem the most sinister, the most dark and underhand. Here was a man used to dealing with the press. He was happy, well-adjusted and comfortable in his own skin.
The suggestion that a man like this would kill himself over the furore that erupted following the BBC's report is baffling.
But surely there must be evidence to back the officially-sanctioned suicide theory?
Not according to the expert toxicologists who have come forward to argue that he did not have a fatal amount of co-proxamol in his system.
And not according to the paramedics on the scene, who claim the amount of blood found on his body was not consistent with the quantity normally found on a man who had slit his wrists.
This appears to be a very disturbing case indeed, and has left conspiracy theorists convinced that Kelly was murdered by the secret services to put an end to the damaging Iraq dossier affair.

Less than 90 miles from the bright lights of Las Vegas lies a military facility so secretive that the US government spent decades denying its existence.
On the edge of Groom Lake, deep in the Nevada desert, the entrance to Area 51 is decked out with "no trespass" signs and warnings to intruders that deadly force may be used on those who venture into the base.
The fact that the military are hiding something inside is beyond doubt, but what exactly is lurking behind the ultra-tight security is the subject of intense speculation in the conspiracy community.
In the dry bed of Papoose Lake, just south of the main base, the government is said to be testing top secret aircraft, described by those who have come forward to lift the lid on Area 51 as "flying discs".
UFO watchers believe these crafts are reverse engineered from crashed alien spaceships which have been recovered and analysed at Area 51 for half a century.
Over the past decade the US government has grudgingly admitted that it does have a top secret base at Groom Lake, but the authorities remain tight-lipped about the nature of the classified operations at the site.
So the question facing conspiracy theorists is simple. Are we speculating wildly about highly-developed human technology being tested by the air force?
Or has the US military stored, reverse engineered and perfected the techniques used to produce alien aircraft?

On 7 July 1947 a rancher in New Mexico reported the discovery of a strange flying saucer that had crash landed in the desert 40 miles north of the small Air Force town of Roswell.
With its strange markings and unusual design, the find soon sparked a furious debate about where the bizarre craft could have come from.
The summer of 1947 had seen dozens of UFO sightings over Roswell.
Locals reported blinking lights, hovering discs and oddly-shaped aircraft in the clear night skies.
So when the Air Force issued a press release saying that a flying disc had been found, the rumour mill went into overdrive.
To those convinced that we are not alone in the universe, Roswell was the defining moment that saw years of UFO sightings and alien encounters backed up with cold, hard evidence.
But the UFO theory was quickly dispelled by military officials, who claimed the object they had recovered was a humble weather balloon, and for more than 30 years the eyes of the world turned away from the New Mexico desert.
Then, in 1980, retired Major Jesse Marcel, who had been involved in the recovery of the craft, told the National Enquirer that the military had covered-up the discovery of an alien spaceship at Roswell.
Since that interview the incident has gained legendary status in the conspiracy community,
For millions across the globe, it is the strongest proof yet that the US government has concealed the existence of aliens for more than 60 years. The American military continues to refute the claims of UFO enthusiasts, and intelligence chiefs have stuck to their "weather balloon" story since 1947.
So have we all been duped by a government cover-up to convince the public that little green men and flying saucers are make believe, or is Roswell just another UFO hoax?

In the plush grounds of the prestigious Yale University in Connecticut a grim, grey building known as "the tomb" sits amid the affluence and elegance of America's most illustrious law school.
What lurks behind the imposing entrance to the spooky cavern is a mystery to all but the chosen few who are initiated each year into the ultra-secretive Skull & Bones society.
The fraternity, established in the early 1830s and modelled on German university sects, counts myriad Senators, CIA staff and state department diplomats amongst its membership.
It has also nurtured three US Presidents, William Taft, George Bush Snr and George W Bush, as well as the current President's 2004 democratic opponent John Kerry.
To all intents and purposes the society is an "old boys' club", a harmless gathering of promising young men where they can share stories, jokes and a few beers.
But over the years Skull & Bones has earned a more mysterious reputation as a secret power base for the elites, who covertly control everything from politics to the stock market. While gathered in their sandstone Yale bunker, these hugely influential men are said to carry out satanic rituals and indulge in bizarre sex ceremonies.
Conspiracy theorists say these men have banded together to create a New World Order and divide power over our lives among themselves.
So could these hugely influential men be involved in a dastardly plot to dominate the earth, or are they just a bunch of spoiled rich kids messing around in a dank, creepy clubhouse?

Very few days in history truly change the world forever.
Whatever the truth of what happened on 11 September 2001, it was undoubtedly one of those days.
More than 3,000 people lost their lives as two airliners flew into the twin towers of the World Trade Centre in New York, another smashed into the Pentagon and a fourth crashed into a field in rural Pennsylvania.
The shockwaves of the audacious assault were felt across the world and ushered in a new era of terror that would redefine international relations and warfare in the 21st century.
We all saw images of the 19 Islamist fanatics who planned the assault, and were told that through military conflict in Afghanistan and Iraq, the US would smash al-Qaeda and bring the figurehead who controlled them, Osama Bin Laden, to justice.
But there are millions of Americans and others around the globe who do not believe a word of that story. A committed collection of online theorists have harnessed the power of the web to put over a very different version of events.
Either through a shadowy conspiracy by the military-industrial complex, or through a dastardly plan by the Bush administration itself, they are convinced that the attacks of 9/11 were carefully orchestrated from within the US.
Could the world's most deadly terror atrocity really have been based on the most spectacular and bloody conspiracy in US history?

In the aftermath of World War II, and with Cold War against the Soviet Union looming on the horizon, the USA began to experiment with a new form of warfare. The MK Ultra programme is one of the most controversial projects ever conceived and saw the government using its own citizens as guinea pigs for a brainwashing project that would stun the world. With techniques ranging from sleep deprivation to covert drugging of soldiers with PCP and LSD, the secret services showed a breathtaking disregard for human suffering as they invaded the minds of their subjects. But just how far did the experiments go, and how many future killers were bread by the MK Ultra scheme?

It was the crowning achievement in man's pursuit of knowledge and the pinnacle of human exploration. Celebrated not just as the most significant achievement of the century, but as a victory for the capitalist US space programme over its Russian communist counterpart, the moon landing became the defining moment of the Sixties.

But conspiracy theorists believe the landings were faked and that the footage shown to the world of Neil Armstrong stepping on to the moon's surface was actually filmed in a Hollywood basement. The hoax argument was taken so seriously by NASA that they once planned a $15,000 book project debunking the theories. Filmmaker Bart Sibrel, a leading light in the conspiracy movement, was even punched by Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin, when he confronted him over the alleged "hoax".

The Case -

On 22 November, 1963, at just before 12.30pm President John F Kennedy's motorcade pulled in to Dealey Plaza in Dallas, Texas. As his open-top limousine drew past the Texas School Depository on to Elm Street gunshots rang out and the iconic young leader slumped into the arms of his beautiful wife Jackie Onassis.

Mortally wounded, JFK was struck in the side of the head by a final bullet as his car passed a grassy knoll on the north side of Elm Street. His car sped to nearby Parkland Hospital where he was declared dead in the emergency room by Dr George Burkley.

At 1.30pm his death was announced to a grief-stricken nation by the White House.
By 2.38pm Lyndon B Johnson was being sworn in as the 36th President of the United States on board Air Force One.

At around the same time police swooped on a cinema in downtown Dallas and arrested Lee Harvey Oswald for the murder of JFK. Just two days later Oswald was shot dead before he could face trial by Jack Ruby.

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THIS blog is, I have come to realise, a chance to live out my journalistic dreams.

Growing up I was a massive fan of the X Files and quickly came to indulge my over-active young imagination with a wild variety of cover-ups and conspiracies.

From these seeds of mistrust and cynicism, my interest in becoming a reporter grew.
Sadly, the reality of life in the news room compelled me to change my perspective.

Though I love my job, the chances of me finally proving that the moon landings were faked, or that Princess Diana was abducted by aliens, are, I must now confess, very slim.

The problem is that everything in the paper has to be categorically, undoubtedly, and provably true.
While forced to accept and abide by this one unbreakable law of journalism, I still crave the chance to spread my wings and speculate, argue and accuse.

So even though my day job may not provide the opportunity for scuppering secretive sects bent on world domination, there is nothing to stop me indulging these fantasies on the wonderful worldwide web.

To those of you who share my love of conspiracies, the internet is the ultimate tool. Type 9/11 plot into Google and you get more than 2.5 million hits.

Finally we have a medium where all it takes to share your paranoia is a video camera, a keyboard and a
broadband connection.

What better place then to discuss some of the conspiracy theories that have come to obsess us over the years?

Was the US government complicit in the murder of thousands of innocent citizens inside the Twin Towers?
Could the British secret service have slaughtered controversial weapons expert Dr David Kelly in cold blood?

Are the Royal Family a group of reptilian humanoids who......um actually probably best not to go down that road!

This blog will not blather on about the historical origins of conspiracy theory or throw semi-psycho babble at those who indulge in them.
What we want is a debate!

Each week I will provide a brief outline of a popular conspiracy theory, complete with the pros and cons as I see them. Feel free to disagree and whatever your views are - make them known!!

Given the title of this new forum, it would be silly not to start with the most infamous conspiracy of all time - the assassination of President John F Kennedy.
So there you have it.

A simple blog can't tell you if the truth really is out there, but we can have a damn good try.

NEXT WEEK: JFK - The Great American Conspiracy