<?php
/**
 * Toscho’s Template Tools
 *
 * Helpers for WordPress templates.
 *
 * @author  Thomas Scholz <[email protected]>
 * @version 1.1
 *
 */
class TTT
{
    /**
     * Retrieves a post/page/custom-type/taxonomy ID by its title.
     *
     * Returns only the first result. If you search for a post title
     * that you have used more than once, restrict the type.
     * Or don’t use this function. :)
     * Simple usage:
     * $page_start_id = TTT::id_by_title('Start');
     *
     * To get the ID of a taxonomy (category, tag, custom) set $tax
     * to the name of this taxonomy.
     * Example:
     * $cat_css_id = TTT::id_by_title('CSS', 0, 'category');
     *
     * The result is cached internally to save db queries.
     *
     * @param  string      $title
     * @param  string      $type Restrict the type.
     * @param  string|bool $tax Taxonomy to search for.
     * @return int         ID or -1 on failure
     */
    static function id_by_title($title, $type = 'any', $tax = FALSE)
    {
        static $cache = array ();
        $title = mysql_real_escape_string( trim($title, '"\'') );
        // Unique index for the cache.
        $index = "$title-$type-" . ( $tax ? $tax : 0 );
        if ( isset ( $cache[$index] ) )
        {
            return $cache[$index];
        }
        if ( $tax )
        {
            $taxonomy      = get_term_by('name', $title, $tax);
            $cache[$index] = $taxonomy ? $taxonomy->term_id : -1;
            return $cache[$index];
        }
        $type_sql = 'any' == $type
            ? ''
            : "AND post_type = '"
                . mysql_real_escape_string($type) . "'";
        global $wpdb;
        $query = "SELECT ID FROM $wpdb->posts
            WHERE (
                    post_status = 'publish'
                AND post_title = '$title'
                $type_sql
            )
            LIMIT 1";
        $result = $wpdb->get_results($query);
        $cache[$index] = empty ( $result ) ? -1 : (int) $result[0]->ID;
        return $cache[$index];
    }
}

<?php
wp_list_pages(
    array (
        'sort_column'   =>  'menu_order',
        'depth'         =>  1,
        'title_li'      =>  '',
        'exclude'       =>  TTT::id_by_title('Start')
    )
);
?>