58-771: Christopher " Kit " Williams (born 28 April 1946) is an English artist, illustrator and author best known for his 1979 book Masquerade , a pictorial storybook which contains clues to the location of a golden (18 carat ) jewelled hare created by Williams and then buried "somewhere in Britain". Williams published three other books and was commissioned to create three public clocks with elaborate mechanisms and moving parts, such as animals, for visual interest. Born in Kent , England, Williams continues to paint figurative art at his studio in Gloucestershire . Kit Williams now primarily works as
116-664: A bee theme. The book was initially published without a visible title, and readers were challenged to work out the title from clues inside the book and send in their answer without using the written word. This competition ran for just a year and a day, and the winner was revealed on the live BBC TV chatshow Wogan . In 1985 Kit Williams designed the Wishing Fish Clock, a centrepiece of the Regent Arcade shopping centre in Cheltenham , Gloucestershire, England. More than 45 feet tall,
174-423: A better solution, awaiting them at their favourite spot. Kit would expect them to continue undismayed by the much publicised diversion at Ampthill and would be looking forward to the day when he would greet them as the real discoverers of the real puzzle of Masquerade . Optimistic expeditions were still setting out, with shovels and maps, throughout the summer of 1982. Masquerade' s puzzle is elaborate. The answer
232-635: A circle with their heads near its centre. While each of the animals appears to have two ears, only three ears are depicted. The ears form a triangle at the centre of the circle and each is shared by two of the hares. The image has been traced from Christian churches in the English county of Devon right back along the Silk Road to China, via western and eastern Europe and the Middle East. Before its appearance in China, it
290-631: A computer game developed during the height of the Masquerade hype, is still unsolved. Many later hunts make use of technologies that were unavailable when Masquerade was published, such as the web-based homage Menagerie , the CD-ROM based Treasure Quest , and Text4Treasure , which uses SMS messaging. Others, such as Army of Zero and West by Sea: A Treasure Hunt That Spans the Globe (Expeditionaire, 2016) follow Masquerade 's use of physical media for
348-504: A deep sense of responsibility to all those many people who were genuinely looking for it. Although I didn't know it, it was a skeleton in my cupboard and I'm relieved it has come out." Dugald Thompson founded a software company called Haresoft, and offered the jewel as a prize to a new contest which took the form of a computer game , Hareraiser . The company and its game (which many believe to be unsolvable with only meaningless text and graphics), were unsuccessful, yielding no winner. When
406-427: A figurative painter in which he uses traditional oil-painting techniques, fashioning first a wooden panel covered in linen and oil gesso . He then uses many layers of opaque and transparent Dutch oil paint to create luminous images. Williams likes to maintain complete control of every aspect of his artwork including making the clothes worn by the models, creating sets and props, and often making mechanisms either within
464-525: A former acquaintance of Williams. The revelation caused a minor scandal. Two other persons were later acknowledged to be the first to have correctly solved the puzzle. In the 1970s, Williams was challenged by Tom Maschler , of the British publishing firm Jonathan Cape , to do "something no one has ever done before" with a picture book. Williams set out to create a book that readers would study carefully rather than flip through and then discard. The book's theme,
522-464: A girlfriend of Kit Williams. Guard allegedly convinced Robertson to help him win the contest because they were both animal rights activists and he promised to donate any profits to the animal rights cause. The Sunday Times alleged that while living with Williams, Robertson had learned the approximate physical location of the hare, while remaining ignorant of the proper solution to the book's main puzzle. After supposedly finding out from Robertson that
580-449: A hare. Hares are swift animals and can run up to 80 km/h (50 mph) over short distances. Over longer distances, the European hare ( Lepus europaeus ) can run up to 55 km/h (35 mph). The five species of jackrabbits found in central and western North America are able to run at 65 km/h (40 mph) over longer distances, and can leap up to 3 m (10 ft) at
638-586: A hare. The hare was once regarded as an animal sacred to Aphrodite and Eros because of its high libido. Live hares were often presented as a gift of love. In European witchcraft , hares were either witches' familiars or a witch who had transformed themself into a hare. Now pop mythology associates the hare with the Anglo-Saxon goddess Ēostre as an explanation for the Easter Bunny , but is wholly modern in origin and has no authentic basis. In European tradition,
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#1733084857927696-545: A hunt for a valuable treasure, became his means to this end. Masquerade contains fifteen detailed paintings that illustrate the story of a hare named Jack Hare, who seeks to carry a treasure from the Moon (depicted as a woman) to the Sun (depicted as a man). On reaching the Sun, Jack finds that he has lost the treasure, and the reader is challenged to discover its location. Along with creating
754-517: A much-prized dish enjoyed in Greece and Cyprus and communities in the diaspora. The hare (and in recent times, the rabbit) is a staple of Maltese cuisine . The dish was presented to the island's Grandmasters of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta , as well as Renaissance Inquisitors resident on the island, several of whom went on to become pope . According to Jewish tradition , the hare
812-420: A self portrait of Kit Williams surrounded by fourteen animals, the first letter of each making "Merry Christmas". On 11 December 1988, The Sunday Times printed a story accusing the winner of the Masquerade contest of being a fraud. "Ken Thomas" was revealed as a pseudonym of a man called Dugald Thompson. Thompson's business partner, John Guard, was the boyfriend of Veronica Robertson, who had previously been
870-578: A shadow like the pointer of a sundial . On 7 August 1979, Williams and celebrity witness Bamber Gascoigne secretly buried the hare's casket at Ampthill Park . Williams announced publicly that his forthcoming book contained all clues necessary to identify the treasure's precise location in Britain to "within a few inches." At the time, the only additional clue he provided was that the hare was buried on public property that could be easily accessed. To ensure that readers from further afield had an equal chance of winning, Williams also announced that he would accept
928-446: A tall jug that stands in a pan of water. It traditionally is served with the hare's blood (or the blood is added right at the end of the cooking process) and port wine . Jugged hare is described in an influential 18th-century English cookbook, The Art of Cookery by Hannah Glasse , with a recipe titled, "A Jugged Hare", that begins, "Cut it into little pieces, lard them here and there ..." The recipe goes on to describe cooking
986-471: A time. Normally a shy animal, the European brown hare changes its behavior in spring, when it can be seen in daytime chasing other hares. This appears to be competition between males (called bucks ) to attain dominance for breeding. During this spring frenzy, animals of both sexes can be seen "boxing", one hare striking another with its paws. This behavior gives rise to the idiom " mad as a March hare ". This
1044-489: A warren. Other rabbits and hares live and give birth in simple forms (shallow depression or flattened nest of grass) above the ground. Hares usually do not live in groups. Young hares are adapted to the lack of physical protection, relative to that afforded by a burrow, by being born fully furred and with eyes open. They are hence precocial , able to fend for themselves soon after birth. By contrast, rabbits are altricial , being born blind and hairless. Easily digestible food
1102-419: A wide variety of conditions, and reproduce quickly, so hunting is often less regulated than for other varieties of game. They are a common source or protein worldwide. Because of their extremely low fat content, they are a poor choice as a survival food . Hares can be prepared in the same manner as rabbits—commonly roasted or parted for breading and frying. Hasenpfeffer (also spelled Hasenfeffer )
1160-434: Is a traditional German stew made from marinated rabbit or hare. Pfeffer here means not only the obvious spicing with pepper and other spices, but also means a dish in which the animal's blood is used as a thickening agent for the sauce. Wine or vinegar is also a prominent ingredient, to lend a sourness to the recipe. Lagos stifado ( Λαγός στιφάδο )—hare stew with pearl onions, vinegar, red wine, and cinnamon—is
1218-524: Is among mammals deemed not kosher , and therefore not eaten by observant Jews. Muslims deem coney meat (rabbit, pika , hyrax ) to be halal , and in Egypt , hare and rabbit are popular meats for mulukhiyah ( jute leaf soup), especially in Cairo . The blood of a freshly killed hare can be collected for consumption in a stew or casserole in a cooking process known as jugging . First the entrails are removed from
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#17330848579271276-649: Is back in full working order as of 12 May 2017. Other clocks designed by Williams can be found in Telford Shopping Centre and in the Midsummer Place section of Central Milton Keynes Shopping Centre . Williams was also involved in the design of the Dragonfly Maze in Bourton-on-the-Water , Gloucestershire, England, which comprises a yew maze with a pavilion at the centre. The object
1334-416: Is hidden in the 15 painted illustrations. In each painting, a line must be drawn from each depicted creature's left eye through the longest digit on its left hand, and out to one of the letters in the page border. Then from the left eye through the longest digit on the left foot; the right eye through the longest digit on the right hand; and finally the right eye through the longest digit on the right foot. This
1392-438: Is not only to reach the pavilion, but to gather clues as one navigates the maze. Correctly interpreting these clues when one reaches the pavilion allows access to the maze's final secret. In August 2009, Kit Williams was reunited with the golden hare from Masquerade , which he had not seen for more than 30 years. He was quoted as saying: This reunion was revealed in a 60-minute documentary about Williams's work, The Man Behind
1450-671: Is only done for eyes and digits that are visible in the painting. The letters indicated by these lines can be made to form words, either by treating them as anagrams or by applying the sequence of animals and digits suggested by the Isaac Newton painting (pictured). Following this method reveals fifteen words or short phrases, which together form a nineteen-word message: C ATHERINE'S L ONG FINGER O VER S HADOWS E ARTH B URIED Y ELLOW A MULET M IDDAY P OINTS T HE H OUR I N L IGHT OF EQUINOX L OOK YOU The acrostic of these words and phrases reads "CLOSEBYAMPTHILL". Properly interpreted,
1508-547: Is present not only in intermale competition, but also among females (called does ) toward males to prevent copulation. Hares are generally larger than rabbits, with longer ears, and have black markings on their fur. Hares, like all leporids , have jointed, or kinetic , skulls, unique among mammals. They have 48 chromosomes, while rabbits have 44. Hares have not been domesticated, while some rabbits are raised for food and kept as pets . Some rabbits live and give birth underground in burrows, with many burrows in an area forming
1566-436: Is processed in the gastrointestinal tract, expelling the waste as regular feces. For nutrients that are harder to extract, hares, like all lagomorphs , ferment fiber in the cecum and expel the mass as cecotropes , which they ingest again, a practice called cecotrophy . The cecotropes are absorbed in the small intestine to use the nutrients. The 34 species listed are: Hares and rabbits are plentiful in many areas, adapt to
1624-460: The UKTV Food television channel found only 1.6% of the people under 25 recognized jugged hare by name. Seven of ten stated they would refuse to eat jugged hare if it were served at the house of a friend or a relative. In England, a now rarely served dish is potted hare. The hare meat is cooked, then covered in at least one inch (preferably more) of butter. The butter is a preservative (excludes air);
1682-832: The Golden Horse (Intravision, 1984), The Key to the Kingdom (Pavilion Books, 1992), The Merlin Mystery (Warner Books, 1998) and the French On the Trail of the Golden Owl (Manya, 1993), which was solved in October 2024. Kit Williams himself also created a second treasure-hunt book, The Bee on the Comb (1984). Similar hunts have continued being published in various formats. Alkemstone (Level-10, 1981),
1740-557: The Hare , perhaps the best-known among Aesop's Fables , the hare loses a race through being too confident in its swiftness. In Irish folklore, the hare is often associated with the Aos sí or other pagan elements. In these stories, characters who harm hares often suffer dreadful consequences. A study in 2004 followed the history and migration of a symbolic image of three hares with conjoined ears. In this image, three hares are seen chasing each other in
1798-592: The Masquerade , broadcast on BBC Four on 2 December 2009. The programme began with Masquerade and ended with an exhibition of the best 18 pieces of his art from the previous 30 years at the Portal Gallery, which had first exhibited his work in the 1970s. The programme showed Williams being reunited with the golden hare for the first time when it was loaned by its anonymous present owner, who lives in East Asia. The hare
Kit Williams - Misplaced Pages Continue
1856-590: The Sun and the Moon dancing around the Earth, the hands of the two figures are clasped together, pointing at the date of the spring equinox. On 21 December 1980 the Sunday Times published an additional clue created by Kit Williams to the puzzle. This drawing needed to be cut out, folded in half and then with a light shone through a message could be read in a mirror. The message read "To do my work, I appointed four men from twenty,
1914-561: The basis of the Br'er Rabbit stories. The hare appears in English folklore in the saying " as mad as a March hare " and in the legend of the White Hare that alternatively tells of a witch who takes the form of a white hare and goes out looking for prey at night or of the spirit of a broken-hearted maiden who cannot rest and who haunts her unfaithful lover. The constellation Lepus is taken to represent
1972-506: The book was called 仮面舞踏会 kamenbutoukai , meaning a masquerade ball or masked ball), France and the United States. Searchers often dug up public and private property, acting on hunches. One location in England named " Haresfield Beacon " was a popular site for searchers, and Williams paid the cost of a sign notifying searchers that the hare was not hidden nearby. Real-life locations reproduced in
2030-459: The book, Williams crafted 18- carat (75%) gold and jewels into a large filigree pendant in the shape of a hare. He sealed the hare inside a small ceramic casket , both to protect the prize from soil and to foil attempts to locate the treasure using a metal detector . The casket was inscribed with the legend "I am the keeper of the jewel of Masquerade, which lies waiting safe inside me for you or eternity". Kit Williams later said: If I
2088-413: The clock features a duck that lays a never-ending stream of golden eggs and includes a family of mice that are continually trying to evade a snake sitting on top of the clock. Hanging from the base of the clock is a large wooden fish that blows bubbles every half-hour. Catching one of these bubbles entitles you to make a wish, hence the name of the clock. The clock has undergone essential restoration work and
2146-489: The company went into liquidation in 1988, the hare was sold at Sotheby's London on behalf of the liquidators, Peat Marwick , in December 1988. The hare sold for £31,900 to an anonymous buyer. Williams himself went there to bid, but dropped out at £6,000. The treasure's whereabouts remained unknown for over 20 years, until it came to light in 2009. The BBC Radio 4 programme The Grand Masquerade , broadcast 14 July 2009, told
2204-495: The dirt piles they had left behind. Bamber Gascoigne , having been asked by Williams to witness the burial of the hare and to document the contest from beginning to end, wrote the book Quest for the Golden Hare . He summarised his experiences thus: Tens of thousands of letters from Masqueraders have convinced me that the human mind has an equal capacity for pattern-matching and self-deception. While some addicts were busy cooking
2262-523: The dish can be stored for up to several months. It is served cold, often on bread or as an appetizer. No extant domesticated hares exist. However, hare remains have been found in a wide range of human settlement sites, some showing signs of use beyond simple hunting and eating: The hare in African folk tales is a trickster ; some of the stories about the hare were retold among enslaved Africans in America and are
2320-633: The first precisely correct answer sent to him by post. A modified version of the book appeared in Italian, with a treasure buried in Italy. The book was reinvented and translated by Joan Arnold and Lilli Denon with the name Il tesoro di Masquerade (Emme Edizioni). The book sold hundreds of thousands of copies worldwide, many in the United Kingdom, but some also in Australia, South Africa, West Germany, Japan (where
2378-409: The frame or the painting that reveal moving elements of the artwork and encourage interaction by the viewer. Using marquetry , he has always made his own frames which enables him to make pictures of any shape and allow elements of the picture to continue into the frame in often intricate detail. As well as his best-known book, Masquerade , Williams wrote The Bee on the Comb , a puzzle book with
Kit Williams - Misplaced Pages Continue
2436-535: The hare carcass before it is hung in a larder by its hind legs, which causes blood to accumulate in the chest cavity. One method of preserving the blood after draining it from the hare (since the hare is usually hung for a week or more) is to mix it with red wine vinegar to prevent coagulation , and then to store it in a freezer. Jugged hare, known as civet de lièvre in France, is a whole hare, cut into pieces, marinated, and cooked with red wine and juniper berries in
2494-588: The hare symbolises the two qualities of swiftness and timidity. The latter once gave the European hare the Linnaean name Lepus timidus that is now limited to the mountain hare . Several ancient fables depict the Hare in flight ; in one concerning The Hares and the Frogs they even decide to commit mass suicide until they come across a creature so timid that it is even frightened of them. Conversely, in The Tortoise and
2552-522: The hare was in Ampthill , Guard and two associates were said to have started searching for it using metal detectors . After searching for some time with no success, they drew a crude sketch of the location, which Thompson then submitted to Williams under the name "Ken Thomas", and it was this that Williams acknowledged as the first correct answer. Reacting to the revelations, Williams said: "This tarnishes Masquerade and I'm shocked by what has emerged. I feel
2610-411: The inspiration for a genre of books known today as armchair treasure hunts . In March 1982 Williams received a letter and sketch from a man called Dugald Thompson, which he acknowledged as the first correct solution to the puzzle, meaning that Thompson had won the contest. It was later found that Thompson had not solved the puzzle and had guessed the hare's location using insider knowledge obtained from
2668-451: The largest lagomorphs . Most are fast runners with long, powerful hind legs, and large ears that dissipate body heat. Hare species are native to Africa, Eurasia and North America. A hare less than one year old is called a "leveret". A group of hares is called a "husk", a "down", or a "drove". Members of the Lepus genus are considered true hares, distinguishing them from rabbits which make up
2726-582: The main puzzles, but provide additional clues online. The book is one of the subjects presented in Brian Moriarty 's 2002 presentation "The Secret of Psalm 46" in regarding to game design, easter eggs, and conspiracy theory. Hare See text Hares and jackrabbits are mammals belonging to the genus Lepus . They are herbivores , and live solitarily or in pairs. They nest in slight depressions called forms, and their young are able to fend for themselves shortly after birth . The genus includes
2784-559: The message tells the reader that the treasure is buried in Ampthill Park in Bedfordshire , near the park's cross-shaped monument to Catherine of Aragon , at the precise spot touched by the tip of the monument's shadow at noon on the day of either the March or September equinox . Many additional hints and "confirmers" are scattered throughout the book. For example, in the painting depicting
2842-457: The paintings were searched by treasure hunters, including Sudbury Hall in Derbyshire and Tewkesbury , Gloucestershire . In March 1982, Williams received a letter containing a sketch which he recognised as the first correct solution sent to him. Williams telephoned the sender, a man calling himself "Ken Thomas". Williams instructed him to dig for the hare. He realised that Thomas had not solved
2900-411: The pieces of hare in water in a jug set within a bath of boiling water to cook for three hours. In the 19th century, a myth arose that Glasse's recipe began with the words "First, catch your hare." Many other British cookbooks from before the middle of the 20th century have recipes for jugged hare. Merle and Reitch have this to say about jugged hare, for example: In 2006, a survey of 2021 people for
2958-477: The puzzle in the intended manner, and it seemed that he had made a lucky guess. Soon after Thomas was formally awarded the prize, Williams received a correct solution to the puzzle, sent by physics teachers Mike Barker of William Hulme's Grammar School and John Rousseau of Rossall School . Barker and Rousseau seemed to have unearthed the prize themselves when digging at Ampthill, but had not noticed it inside its clay box; it appeared that Thomas had discovered it in
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#17330848579273016-568: The rest of the Leporidae family. However, there are five leporid species with "hare" in their common names which are not considered true hares: the hispid hare ( Caprolagus hispidus ), and four species known as red rock hares ( Pronolagus ). Conversely, several Lepus species are called "jackrabbits", but classed as hares rather than rabbits. The pet known as the Belgian hare is a domesticated European rabbit which has been selectively bred to resemble
3074-399: The riddle, others were more single-mindedly continuing their own pursuit of the hare quite regardless of the news that it had been found. Their own theories had come to seem so convincing that no exterior evidence could refute them. These most determined of Masqueraders may grudgingly have accepted that a hare of some sort was dug up at Ampthill, but they believed there would be another hare, or
3132-495: The story of the creation and solution of the puzzle. Williams was interviewed and presenter John O'Farrell claimed that this was the first time Williams had talked about the scandal for 20 years. During the interview Williams expressed the desire to see the hare again. Hearing this, the granddaughter of its then current owner—an anonymous purchaser "based in the Far East"—arranged for Williams to be reunited briefly with his work. This
3190-423: The tallest and the fattest, and the righteous follow the sinister." The "...four men from twenty" refers to four fingers and toes out of twenty digits; "...the tallest and the fattest" relates to using the longest digits; "..the righteous follow the sinister" provides a clue to the decoding of the letter order (left (sinister) eyes through left finger and toe first, then the righteous (right) ones). The clue featured
3248-675: Was featured in a television documentary, The Man Behind the Masquerade , which aired on BBC Four on 2 December 2009. The hare was on display at the V&;A Museum , London, as part of its "British Design 1948–2012" retrospective in 2012. Masquerade became the forerunner of an entire genre of cryptic puzzles known as armchair treasure hunts . It spawned a succession of books and games from other publishers seeking to emulate its success, including The Piper of Dreams (Hodder & Stoughton, 1982), The Secret (Bantam Books, 1982), The Golden Key (William Maclellan, 1982), Treasure: In Search of
3306-561: Was on display at the V&A Museum , London, as part of its retrospective "British Design 1948–2012" from 31 March to 12 August 2012. Masquerade (book) Masquerade is a picture book, written and illustrated by Kit Williams and published in August 1979, that sparked a treasure hunt by including concealed clues to the location of a jewelled golden hare that had been created and hidden somewhere in Britain by Williams. The book became
3364-432: Was to spend two years on the sixteen paintings for Masquerade I wanted them to mean something. I recalled how, as a child, I had come across "treasure hunts" in which the puzzles were not exciting nor the treasure worth finding. So I decided to make a real treasure, of gold, bury it in the ground and paint real puzzles to lead people to it. The key was to be Catherine of Aragon 's Cross at Ampthill , near Bedford , casting
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