Two In The Think Tank - 288 - The Masquerade Treasure Hunt

Episode Date: April 28, 2021

In the 1970's, an artist set out to create a children's book like no other - one that lead readers on an actual treasure hunt! And it was .... a bit of a mess, to be honest. Come to our live screening of The Mummy + Live Fraising The Bar on September 10 :lidocinemas.com.au/mummyMatt’s New TV Show 'The Beer Pioneer': https://youtu.be/ej4TUguJL58 Support the show and get rewards like bonus episodes: patreon.com/DoGoOnPod Buy tickets to our streamed shows (there are 12 available to watch now! All with exclusive extra sections): https://sospresents.com/authors/dogoon Check out our AACTA nominated web series: http://bit.ly/DGOWebSeries​ Submit a topic idea directly to the hat: dogoonpod.com/Submit-a-Topic Twitter: @DoGoOnPodInstagram: @DoGoOnPodFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/DoGoOnPod/Email us: [e-mail] Check out our other podcasts:Book Cheat: https://play.acast.com/s/book-cheatPrime Mates: https://play.acast.com/s/prime-mates/Listen Now: https://play.acast.com/s/listen-now/ Our awesome theme song by Evan Munro-Smith and logo by Peader Thomas REFERENCES AND FURTHER READING:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouvi-fwrfIYhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masquerade_(book)https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-47671776

Hey everybody, Jess and Dave, just jumping in really quickly at the top here to make sure that you are across all the details for our upcoming Christmas show. That's right, we are doing a live show in Melbourne Saturday December the 2nd, 2023, our final podcast of the year, our Christmas special. It's downstairs at Morris House, which usually be called the European beer cafe. On Saturday December the 2nd, 2023 at 4.30pm, come along, come one, come all, and get tickets at dogoonpod.com. This episode is brought to you by Progressive. Most of you aren't just listening right now.

You're driving, cleaning, and even exercising. But what if you could be saving money by switching to Progressive? Drivers who save by switching save nearly $750 on average, and auto customers qualify for an average of 7 discounts. Multitask right now, quote today at progressive.com. Progressive casualty and trans company and affiliates, national average 12 month savings of $744 by new customer surveyed who saved with progressive between June 2022 and May 2023. Potential savings will vary, discounts

not available in all safe and situations. Are you working way too hard for way too little? There's never been a better time to consider a career in IT. You could enjoy a recession-resistant career and a rewarding field with plenty of growth opportunities and often flexible work environments. Go to mycomputercareer.edu and take the free career evaluation.

You could start your new career in months, not years. Take classes online or on campus Hey everyone, it's Dave here with a short but exciting announcement. Some of you will know that we do a spin-off Patreon-only podcast called Frazing the Bar, where we chronologically go through the films of Brendan Fraser. Now, to be honest, we've watched some early shockers and have been counting down to the mummy which will cover in September, and what better way to celebrate one of the greatest action films of the 90s, nay, all time, by screening the film in its entirety at Lido Cinemas in Hawthorn, and then afterwards, recording an episode of phrasing the bar about the mummy in the cinema. Until now, that has been butter dream, but we are actually doing that Friday, September 10th at 7pm. We had a presale for our Patreon supporters and sold a quarter of the

tickets in the first day, and it's allocated seating, so if you want to choose where you like to sit 10th at 7pm. We had a presale for our Patreon supporters and sold a quarter of the tickets in the first day. And it's allocated seating, so if you want to choose where you like to sit in the cinema, I would get on it soon. And you can get tickets at leedocinemas.com.au slash mummy, or click the link in the description of this episode. The mummy in a cinema and then phrasing the bar live in that same cinema. We hope to see you there Honestly, it is a dream come true Okay, that's it for me. Enjoyed this episode recorded live at the European beer cafe It's the last of the live ones we did in Melbourne

We'll be back with a studio episode next week And I think Jess will be back to talk to you at the end of this episode, but until then, enjoy love you. How we doing? Fuck yeah, love how I said Melbourne like I'm an international superstar. I live here. Hello, people I probably know personally, how are you? Great, thank you so much for coming out. Welcome to another episode of Do-Go-On. My name is Dave Wonicky. Could you please put those hands together at a welcome to the stage?

Matt Stewart and Jess Parker! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Fuck you. Hello, Melbourne! Yes! We did it!

We got out here once again. Can you believe it? Everyone comfortable out there? Matt was up. You were saying this from Row 2. again. Can you believe it? Everyone comfortable out there? Matt was a big help. You're saying this from row two. Talking about the poor assholes in the back, you didn't get a seat. Matt was bringing out extra seats. Did everyone get one? Oh well sucked in. Turn up sooner, fuck heads.

That was everyone but one person, Mr. Musical chairs you lost. There's just, there's two stores over there. I think that one. Oh. I've gone mean too early. Mean girl. This is the end of the festival. Can you believe it?

Oh no, but you're all done. You've done 22 stand-up shows this month. Yeah. Can you believe it? Oh no, you're all done. You've done 22 stand-up shows this month. Yeah. Well, I went to every single one. It was weird when they named the most outstanding show. They misspoke. And accidentally pronounced my name Geraldine Hickey.

And it was... That's where I still went up and accepted it. Maybe next year. Yeah. For the people who don't know, I'm not as good as her. All right. They know. Well, I mean, there's an award.

There is at least one award to help prove that. Which they misspoke my name for Two people leaving because they had tickets to Geraldine Hickey Enjoy, she's great. Couple of spare seats up here. I really hope they are in the wrong shot. That would make sense why we're so overcrowded is because those two people... It is warming here. You gonna take it off?

Oh, Jesus Christ. Which... Not this again. You're pants obviously. It. Which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, which, Fourth and final podcast that we're doing ever so for we did well did well Can pick give me a round of applause if you've ever heard the podcast before Thank you I know you have you I'm fantastic. Is anyone ever ever not heard the show? I could not ever ever if they don't ever spend any time not listening to the show

No, give me a round of applause if you've never heard do go on before Two people. Thank you so much. Was that the bar staff? LAUGHTER Because we have subjected you to many weeks of this shit. LAUGHTER Well, usually what we do is one of us awkwardly explains the show, but Matt, we don't have to do that tonight.

No, we'll day of a while back, you put the call out to people to record songs. You fucking did. Tell the explainer show. And this morning I remembered we haven't got through most of them. Put the call out, can we have a 60 style jingle that explains how the show works? Nearly none of them have been 60 style. But, to be honest, most of them have men gingles.

And a lot of them don't particularly well explain the show. But we've got another one. This one was sent in about six months ago hit it holio one two one two three four one of the stocks it's my gathering knowledge it's on the top it's chosen by you they wrote it for him and then asked us a question And the top is chosen by you They rarely pour in and ask us questions And that's dark to journey that we often grew When it's too good

That's what they say to you Too good After interrupting you Too good But we learn the sing until you go. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, James, we did, we did. We did very much. So does that explain the show to everyone out there? Great, all right, we can start the show. It's not really a sounding yes. It's a sounding yes.

It's a sounding yes. It's a sounding yes. I couldn't understand a word of it, but that's probably a foldback issue. It's a technical thing. Anyway, yeah. So we're taking a chance to report on a topic. It's Jess's turn to Do the report we love, J.P.

I wouldn't if I were you. No, everything's fine. And we always start with a question. Jess has definitely written that, right? Yeah, just before. So my question is, which children's book caused a worldwide frenzy? Sigmund Freud.

He's trying to say someone else. He's trying to think of Dr. Seuss. Matt's version of Freudian slippers are accidentally saying segment Freud. Is it Dr. Seuss? No. Oh, um, May Gibbs. I don't think you're gonna know it, but keep going if you like. I'm almost out. Maygibs and Sigmund Freud.

Two great guesses. End of list. Or Ignod Blightens. Not Ignod Blightens. Don't think you would have known it. Have you heard of the masquerade Treasure Hunt? No. Anybody in here heard of it?

No, Golden Hair Treasure Hunt is another name for it. Golden books, I remember them. LAUGHTER Yeah, that's it, man. LAUGHTER I know nothing about this. Well, you're gonna. Because that's how this show works.

Thank you. Who do this for five years? I still need a theme song to explain it. of the theme songs. We can't explain it. Okay, so, okay. In the mid-70s, a publisher by the name of Tom Mashler, who'd previously been involved in publishing the work of many notable authors, including Ernest Hemingway, John Lennon, Ian McEwan, and Salmon Rushdie, he approached artists in author Kit Williams and challenged him to create a picture book and do something no one had ever done before.

A picture book. Really? This is the first picture book. That would cause a stir. Yeah. So this is before spot. Bloody hell. This guy's a wall back. Is this before Richard Scary? Yeah. Freaking hell.

Talk about. May I? Please do go on. So Kit was initially hesitant. He was concerned that he would put a lot of effort into his artwork and people would just flick through the pages and not really pay attention. So he set out to create a book titled Masquerade, Masquerade, that readers would carefully study rather than just flipping through the pages. He's like, if I'm going to spend all this time working on these very intricate pieces of art, you're going to look at him, you know, because he's bitter. He literally said, if I was to spend two years on 16 paintings for Masquerade, I wanted them to mean something. So he came up with a story

about a hair named Jack. Jack hair, this last name and he's... A single follicle. Interesting. I knew fucking writing this. I knew. I was like, I mean, I'm fucking here. All I meant to do is to say dumb things. And then I say it and you're like, oh, look, here he goes, I knew he would. I better be a support. I thought that was my whole job. You could try shouting the fuck up. Funny how hard that is. Jack here, a Jack here seeks to carry treasure from the moon to the sun.

This guy's taking it himself very seriously. Little too seriously. Upon reaching the sun, Jack finds that he's lost the treasure and the reader is then challenged to figure out where the treasure is. I said I like a pirate, but it has nothing to do with pirates. Just trying to make it interesting. Yar. He said, I recalled how, as a child,

I'd come across treasure hunts in which the puzzles were not exciting, nor the treasure worth finding. treasure hunts in which the puzzles were not exciting, nor the treasure, worth finding. So I decided to make a real treasure of gold buried in the ground and paint real puzzles to lead people to it. So that's what he did. Along with the book, he created an 18-carat gold pendant in the shape of a hair,

in set with Ruby, Mother of Pearl, and Moonstone. The pendant was valued at around 5,000 pounds. This is in the mid-70s, too. So he sealed the hair in a small ceramic casket, both to protect the prize from soil and to make it difficult to locate using a metal detector. So he's like, he's trying to make it really hard. Well, it's the same, though.

This is aimed at children. Yeah, but remember, don't want them getting out there with their metal detectors. LAUGHTER The kids these days. When I was out there with their metal detectors. I saw a fire treasure. I saw a lady last week, an adult lady.

So, and you were... I'm not a child lady. No, in a child lady. Oh, I'm not a trial lady. No, in a shot. Oh, I'm not a dog lady. In a children's playground with a metal detector, kids are playing all around her. She's just listening and she's got the shovel out. Just starts digging up the kids playground around her. What'd she find?

Probably nothing. You didn't stick around her. Yeah, I just, the hole was quite deep. Did she fill it in? Kids probably fell in there. That was the real treasure. She was building a trap. The real treasure is the kids we heard along the way.

It's actually a foolproof plan because the cops rock up. They're like, why are you digging this three three-foot deep hole at the bottom of the slide? She goes, oh I'm looking for treasure. Really? She's just a maiming children. Anyway. Anyway. So he's put this little rabbit in a little casket and- They're actually hairs on rabbit's side different. I'm gonna fuck it up.

One's a follicle. The casket had a little inscription that said, I'm the keeper of the jewel of masquerade, which lies, waiting, safe inside me for you or eternity. That's weird, isn't it? Yeah, a bit weird. So once everything's ready to go, kit and a witness. We need an old witness. So they chose TV presenter and author, Bambergaskeony. Was that the guy from the... Pfft.

From Jackass. From the Jackass going? From the Jackass going? Bloody hell. That's cool. Wow, bam. Thank you, Jackass. Thank you, bam.

Wow. They secretly buried the hair in its little casket in Amphill Park about an hour north of London. Probably saying that wrong. Amphill Park, home of the Liverpool? No. Arsenal. Arsenal? No.

Oh, there's no sport. There's so many people in this room. No, no, no, it's that. Okay. Now what did you say? Amphill. Amphill. Oh what did you say? Anthil. Anthil. That is a...

Amphil. I wasn't just thinking of Anfield. I was hearing Anfield. So now I have to find... You don't have a microphone. Oh! Good day, now, good one. I didn't know.

He felt instant regret, and it was only because you were looking at him. Because I don't want this. I saw what happened when you said something. That's right. I'm shitting myself as well. Honestly, we'll get through this report together, everyone. I really threw you under the bus there. No, whatever you said, Jess was gonna fuck you.

So, say that... Ah, fuck you up, fuck you up. Fuck you up. What an important bit of that sentence left out. You're gonna regret this. I will fuck you. Oh, fuck you up. So it's an hour north of London. No way near Liverpool, no way near.

But is Anfield is Liverpool though? Yeah. Great. Do you like how I turn on the crowd? And they're all going, we all know that's in Liverpool, but that's a different thing. They didn't believe that. I was so glad you're in the front row.

The jock of the crowd. So I buried it. Great, the bare-it at the Bar Marge era is bare-it at fantastic. Great work. He did like, dact himself up. It was very cool. Butter rock it up the joint. The joint.

Just coin it there, man. He. He just vomits on the box. They love vomiting those guys. They love it. The vomit at the drop of a hat. A hat. They love it. They love it. They love it. Fan. His TV show you're so open with what's he gonna do next and he goes, whenever the fuck I want. And I want to vomit on everything. Pretty sure he's been to rehab about nine times now, so did not work out well for him. Please do go on. So, now that it's buried, Kit publicly announced that he's soon to be published book contained clues

to find a real life treasure. He said that the clues in the book were enough for any person to be able to find the precise location within a few inches, he said. It's a big fan of units of measurements, humour. Honestly, a few inches. That's quite a big amount of... That's quite, that's quite, quite sensible.

Can we narrow it down a bit? Couldn't even imagine anything that big. The only... It's calm. The only extra information he provided was that the hair was buried on public property that could be easily accessed. And not wanting to exclude people outside of the UK, Kit announced that he would accept and honor the first correct answer sent to him by post. So if somebody can't go to that park to dig it up,

but if they get it right, they win. Immediately upon release, the book was a worldwide hit, selling tens of thousands of copies within the first few days. An airline even sold transatlantic masquerade tickets, which came with a free spade on arrival. For the dog. Is that something I don't know about a pet? I've heard that said, you spade your dogs. You do not do it. You do not do it with a shovel.

Is it nearly anything? No. Yeah, it was something nearly something. Nearly a winch is a winch. So pretty far. In total, the book sold around 2 million copies worldwide. It's huge. What followed was honestly quite a bit of destruction of public property. That lady I saw in South Gara is still looking. She's going. She's like, you're too out there.

Oh, in South Gara. Now I understand what she's taking around. Kids will drop their gold foblets and stuff. You know, kids will drop their gold foblets. I don't realize your time. I don't realize your time. I don't realize your time. I don't realize your time. I don't realize your time. I don't realize your time.

I don't realize your time. I don't realize your time. I don't realize your time. I don't realize your time. I don't realize your time. I don't realize your time. I don't realize your time. I don't realize your time. I don't realize your time. I don't realize your time. Gold Foblets. What's a Foblet look like? Oh, I've never seen them in my dreams. Beautiful, elegant, fantastic, and I thought well answered. So people just started digging up public and private property, usually just based on a hunch. One spot, which is called Heirs Field Beacon, became such a popular dig site that Kit had

to pay for his sign saying that the hair was not buried there. People are like, it's got hair in it. Locations from the painting in the book were searched and dug up too, but to no success. A couple of years might by, no one had successfully located the treasure. Kit Williams, though, was probably regretting his choices as he was receiving more than 200 letters a day from all over the world and had to read through all of them in case someone had accurately cracked the code and pinpointed the location. So he's got to add a bare minimum, like speed read it, you know?

He's got to like skim. Yeah, that's a nightmare. Yeah, it's not good. And he said, I was unprepared. It really got out of hand very quickly. It became sort of a cult. And because of that, people read much more into it than I'd put there, he said. People felt I'd included their dead grandfather that sort of thing. It never stops he said. What is that mean? Just that people are reading way too much into it and it's like my confirmation bias thing. You know you can make anything you think work. I don't know. But they thought the treasure was their dead grandfather? The real treasure is the grandfathers we had a long way. Oh are people digging up their grandfathers?

Grandpas got the treasure. He doesn't have the treasure he has the truth. Tell me, grandfather. Hello. They're losing their mind. You'll find the Treasury down on the infield line. Grandad. All right, speaking of as well, let's talk about the code for a second because it was elaborate. He, it was a lie. The book contained 16 painted illustrations. Each one had a border which contained words or phrases in it. Gives me, like, looking at pictures, it gave me Graham-based vibes. I was just thinking Graham-based the 11th Air was.

Yeah. So this guy was even before Graham-based. Yeah. That kind of thing, you know how there was like words or numbers around the outside. Beautiful artwork. There's peacocks, elephants, lions, tigers, bears. Oh my. So Dave, you're the intellectual here.

But I mean by comparison. Not based on endoschool. So, um. Okay. And we're literally all here doing the same job. No. Yeah, good idea. I'm hoping you do your economics class I'm home. I'm home. I'm home.

I'm home. I'm home. I'm home. I'm home. I'm home. I'm home. I'm home. I'm home.

I'm home. I'm home. I'm home. I'm home. I'm home. I'm home. I'm home. I'm home.

I'm home. I'm home. I'm home. I'm home. I'm home. I'm home. I'm home. I'm home. But we're doing it together. Dave, see if you can understand, or Matt, I guess. As if. See if you can understand, this is from Wikipedia, and this is how it explains how the code works. In each painting, a line must be drawn from each depicted creature's left eye through the longest digit on its left and out to one of the letters in the page border.

Then from the left eye through the longest digit of 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. Your right or my right? This is done only for eyes and digits that are visible in the painting. The letters indicated by these lines can be made to form words. So, soon you know that makes sense? Yes, I've got it. It's in Anfield. Dig it up. Basically, you have to go left eye, left hand, right eye, right hand, left eye, left foot,

right eye, right foot. Draw lines? We're paying twist, yeah. Left hand red. And then you get like, do you get coordinates or you get words? So, you follow that line to the border and whatever letter it points to, you then use that letter to form a word. Okay. To then, it makes a whole big code. Obviously, we all think, we all think to do that you know straight away you'd be like all right well I'm gonna draw a line all over it and figure out the coordinates. So following this method reveals 15 words or short phrases which together form a

19 word message. That message is... Wait, how many words form a 19-word message? 15 words or short phrases it says, that's done. Okay, yeah, right. 19-word message. Okay, here we go. Catherine's long finger over shadows. Earth-beried yellow amulet midday points the hour in light of equinox look you. Oh, yeah. Come on, guys, use your heads. Right. Oh I will know where it is. Easy peasy. My dead grandfather's name is Catherine.

If you take the first letter of each of these words it spells out close by Amphill. Oh, wow. There's so many levels, and this is aimed to what, four and five or else? Did a single child read this picture book? God no. No. But a lot of adults did. Wow. That's, that's, it's art, man.

If you managed to crack all those clues, they would tell you that the treasurer is buried in Amphel Park in Bedfordshire near the park's cross-shaped monument of Catherine of the wife of his brother. Little bit weird. The brother died, but you know. Still, you know. There were less people back there. You'd have less choice. You know. That's why they're all got the same names. So let's see how there's many options. He just married. He's brother's wife anyway. You never touch. How's it about this already? How's it about to... I hate this already. I was about to make the mistake of quoting Billy Brownless and I thought better of it. Yeah.

I've noticed during this run of my show, people don't always get when I'm being ironic. You're looking at us saying that people don't always appreciate your Billy Brownless quotes. You live your life by. He famously said, you never touch a man's wallet or a man's wife. Set that out loud in public. Anyway. Bit of fun.

I mean, don't touch people, you know? Like in a weird way. Don't go up to anyone and go like, you know? Is that what you do to wallets? Are you tongueing wallets? That's what the weird thing was to me that he equated his wife with what I believe to be an inanimate object.

The wallet. Because obviously the wallet's worth more. All right. Loss a few of you there. Even with that R&E warning I did moments ago. A couple of edit requests for this week's episode. No. Yeah, request you edit out the R&E warning.

Leave it there. This episode is brought to you by Progressive. Most of you aren't just listening right now. You're driving, cleaning, and even exercising. But what if you could be saving money by switching to Progressive? Drivers who save by switching save nearly $750 on average, and auto customers qualify for an average of 7 discounts. Multitask right now. Quote today at Progressive.com Progressive casualty and trans company and affiliates National Average 12 Month Savings of $744 by New Customer Surveyed who saved with progressive between June 2022 and May 2023.

Potential savings will vary. Discounts not available in all safe and situations. Are you working way too hard for way too little? There's never been a better time to consider a career in IT. You could enjoy a recession-resistant career in a rewarding field, with plenty of growth opportunities and often flexible work environments. Go to mycomputercareer.edu and take the free career evaluation. You could start your new career in months, not years. Take classes online or on campus, and financial aid is available to qualified students,

including the GI Bill. Now is the time, mycomputercareer.edu. A Kia SUV is capable of taking you far. But when you use it locally to help your community, you go even further. Whether that's carrying cargo, bringing your team with you, ready, or navigating your terrain.

Power up your capability with the right Kia SUV. Do more with the Kia Sportage, Kia Telluride, Kia Sorento, or Kia Salto's. Kia. Movement that inspires. Call 800-333-4-Kia for details. Always drive safely. for details. I'll be straight safely. So yeah, obviously, if you've cracked all those

incredibly easy clues, you'd know that it's near Catherine of Ergon's monument, 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. Fucking hell. Obviously, I'm in being embarrassed I've had to explain this to you guys. That park is fucked.

People are just getting in there with a bulldozer. Just ripping it up. I genuinely can picture you as a child. Goggles on. Pants upon the calculator out. You would have, I reckon, would have known it was. And then in his down time reading this. Once you've finished your parents' taxes, That's a bond the calculator out. You would have, or I could have known it would have been. And then in his down time reading this one.

Once you finish it, parents, taxes, then you move on. Oh, it looks like you're in the red again, Dad. Sorry about that. We're going to need to work on a budget young man. So on the 21st of December 1980, almost 18 months after the book was published, the Sunday Times published an additional clue to the puzzle, a drawing created by the author, Kit Williams. The drawing needed to be cut out, folded in half, and then you needed to shine a light through it, and then it could be read in a mirror. Obviously it's the first

thing you do. The message read, to do my work I appointed four men from 20, the tallest and the fattest and the righteous follow the sinister. Now again, sorry to pander to you guys you all obviously know exactly what that means yes, we do and it's like you All right, there it is What does that mean? That code admitted. It means the four men from 20 refers to four fingers and toes out of 20 digits. The tallest and the fattest relates to using the longest digits. The righteous follow the sinister provides a clue to decoding of the letter order so left eyes through left fingers at first then right just right. Surely the I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know.

I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know.

I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know.

I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. message like the the times are famously the fattest on the hand. What are you talking about? This is tedious but I won't stop fucking thinking about it. I think they're about the same. They all look the same. Show us. Show us. Show us. Show us. Is everyone having a go out there or? They literally are.

Now, my question is, is this backwards code through the mirror stuff? Is that the author has authorised it or the times have worked it out and then they're trying to tease me? No, no, he did that drawing. Oh, right, right. Because no one's done it. No one's got it. It's been 18 months, nobody's got it.

But still, even with that incredibly helpful clue, no one found the treasure. Until March of 1982, Kit Williams received a letter and in that letter was a crudely drawn map, which he recognized to be the location of the buried treasure. Someone had cracked the code! Ooh! Was it Matt?

Did it miss? It was? Was it Matt? Yeah. Are you fucking kidding me? Wait, I sent him a picture of Tracing Around Wife. He's still singing around Wife. Is that it?

Crudely drawn. Crud Is that it? Curiously drawn. Curiously drawn. What's hard? Because I was using my wrong hand. Looks quite a lot like a dick in bowls, actually. Quite a decently sourced one, is it? LAUGHTER Yeah, if you ask me, but...

Nobody asked. Kit called the person who'd sent him the letter, and that was a man named Ken Thomas. Kit said the man had correctly identified the location and that Ken should go dig it up. But in talking to Ken, Kit got the feeling that Ken actually had no idea what he was talking about. He said, I instantly realized that Thompson knew

where the hair was, but not had a solve the puzzle He hadn't worked out the clues. It was almost like it was a lucky guess Not unless like that many people guessing it's like the monkeys writing their story thing He had enough people guessing where a treasure is someone's gonna luck on to it, right? The monkeys like the monkeys? Like the monkeys. For the blirst of time, blirst of time. Blirst of time.

Yes. Thousand monkeys riding on a thousand computers for a thousand years, they'll ride a thousand copies of Shakespeare's blirst of times. Beautiful. It's a... Is that right? Oh, someone's groaning real hard, Dave. Can you correct me?

Because that was close. Yeah, someone's groaning real hard, Dave. Can you correct me? Because that was close. Yeah, that's close enough. There's someone about a thousand monkeys riding on a thousand type riders for a thousand. Eventually, they'll type it out. Yeah. They'll type the works and shakes for you. Or the map to this thing. So your guess early is that it's a monkey Is she listening a thousand monkeys

In fairness, that's always your first I'll stop you're out there Thinking a thousand monkeys Glenn Ridge He used to sell the century and What's up, you're right there. I'm thinking of a thousand monkeys on this one. Glen Ridge. He used to sell the century, and that act out there, I was. I buzzed in on 9,94, sale of the century. He wasn't far into the question.

I said, I'll hold you there, Glen Ridge. A thousand monkeys. The question was, who was the fool back in the IFL team of the sentials? Of course, Steven Savani, but it was too late. I'd already locked in a thousand monkeys. I'm going to go have a piss. See you soon. Alright, what are you reckon we get through some of the story now?

They paid money for it. Thank you so much by the way. Nonetheless. So this guy's called up and said, I found it. And then he gets to talk in Japanese like, I mean, you have, but you don't know anything. But so nonetheless, Ken Thomas was awarded the prize, which was a big deal in international media.

Ken, however, shunned the publicity. This is from the BBC. It says he was filmed with Williams as he freed the hair from the wax case. All right. But later insisted on covering his face with a scarf and would only be interviewed from behind a screen. He refused to exhibit his treasure. He was like, I don't like the spotlight. I get that, you know, I'm shy, so. Yeah, yeah, for sure.

You never let anyone know where you are every week for four weeks in a row. You never do that. You never let anywhere. Anyone know where you are every week for four weeks in a row? You never do that. I would never do that. We are. We are. We are. We are.

We are. We are. We are. We are. We are. We are. We are. Oh my god.

We're all wondering. I reckon you didn't ever go. We were all wondering. You just went out there, waited for the appropriate amount of time. So you could come back on and get that applause. What I really needed was a break from talking. I could see how Jess was looking at me. No, I'm on the edge of running our friendship.

I don't know. I want to stop talking. That's nice. That's for the first time in a while when I've called at a friendship and Jess hasn't said... Colleagues! We're getting closer. To get you, I've just been in the story. The guy's found the treasure, but now he doesn't want to be seen with the treasure. The guy who found it. I want the attention. Oh, this is sounding a bit monopoly-hawesome.

He's doing an interview from behind a screen. And a bit wizard of Aussie. Oh my. He's got a very booming voice. Well, you're right. I mean, fans of the book grew very suspicious of Ken Thomas. And later, Kit Williams as well. With many claiming it had been rigged and they'd been cheated of the chance to win. They're like, this guy's suss!

And now you're suss! Everyone's suss! That does sound, that sounds a bit suss, right? You're thinking it is more you know. You're thinking it's Kit Richards pretending to be Ken Brockman? Or whoever they are. So close. Do you think in its kit ritchards pretending to be Kent Brockman? Oh, whoever there. So close. Couple of substitutions there. But I think we understand what he means. Um...

All right, no, I don't think... I don't think it's that sus. Only because the author said... It sounded like he didn't have a clue what he was talking about. Oh well, if it was his mate he wouldn't have said that. Yeah, yeah. Right? Yeah, that's true.

It was a private conversation. Yeah, he wouldn't have said. He would have been like, yeah, he explains all the code to me. And I was like, oh, brother. He sounds like a drunk. Yeah. So soon after Thomas was, oh no, oh no, soon after. Oh boy.

You could use that Thomas not Brockman. Sorry, yeah. Soon after Brockman was formally awarded the prize, Kit Williams received a correct solution to the puzzle, sent in by physics teachers Mike Barker and John Russo. They had accurately deciphered the clues, but it failed to find the treasure when they went to dig it up. Some believed they did actually dig it up,

but failed to see it, and Ken Thomas swooped in and managed to find it in the piles of dirt that the physics teachers had left behind. But the prize had been awarded to Ken Thomas and that was the end of that. Oh was it? Well played audience. You guys are really over, was the end. No, like seriously guys, so we gotta exit out the back. Thank you for coming. No, so six years later the Sunday Times printed a story, accusing the winner of the masquerade contest of being a fraud. Ken Thomas was revealed to be a pseudonym of a man called Dougald Thompson.

Dougald. Dougald. Okay. Guys, there is a man named Dougald listening to this right now crying because you just laughed at his name. It's just a name. He's used to it. I mean, I'm a fucking savage. He just has it. I think his name is actually just doogled and what's happened is the society has been doogled by this man. I think that's what's happened. See, I didn't have to say anything then because they said what? So I've turned his name Dougal into a verb. And what does it mean? Well it means that he's stolen the treasure which is now why everyone says, oh you've been Dougal.

Ah yeah yeah. That's where it comes from. I'm actually getting sick of having to break this down in a baby talk for you, Jess. It's about time you grew up, you're 30 years old. Apparently, apparently. You behave like a child. I mean, at least I can hold on for a whole hour. Well, that's actually the whole mature you get off. You've got to get your man into nappies. Yeah, so you're saying I'm immature because my blood is like an old man. You can have it one way or the other, but you can't have it both.

I have a very mature blood. So Ken Thomas, not a real person, he is doodled Thompson. His business partner was a man named John Gard, whose girlfriend was Veronica Robertson. Veronica Robertson was the ex-girlfriend of Kent Williams. What? Boo, yes. The Sunday Times alleged that while living with Williams, Veronica Robertson had learned the approximate physical location of the hair while remaining ignorant of the proper solution to the book's main puzzle.

So she's just like, I know where it is. I don't know any of the bloody tricks and little clues, but I know where it is. So they essentially guessed it was probably there. So we went out looking for it with metal detectors, which we know Kit had fought off. And that didn't work. So their search didn't really work.

So they sent Kit a crude sketch of the area. And he got back to them and said, yeah, that's the area. So the prize had gone to some dirty sheets. In those six years in between. Can you just for not for me, but for anyone here, for anyone here who missed it, could you break down exactly how they cheated? The author's ex-girlfriend is involved

in she knew where it was. Right, so the author didn't know, but the ex-girlfriend. The author who came up with it did know where it was. So he did the dirty on himself? No. These ex-girlfriends passed on some info. So that the money can come, wait, I don't understand. So the author is in on it or is not on it?

No, no, no. They said what I said? No. What did I say? No one knows what I said no, what did I say? No one knows what you said Fucking hell this might be the night But I make some changes Look I'm with you. I'm with you. I'm with you on this. Matt's gonna start wearing total neck. Fancy. Actually, I'm gonna change my voice as well.

Ooh, that's fun. I'm gonna start a startup. We support you, but not financially in your startup. So I am taking investors. I'm kidding. In those six years between winning. Another piss coming on. Another piss coming on.

In those six years between winning and this article coming out, Dougal Thompson had found it a software company called HairSoft. Bit on the nose. using the hair pendant as collateral to set up his business. The company developed a computer game called HairRaser, and offered the golden hair as a prize for completing the game and cracking the code.

So it was like its own little puzzle again. The game takes the form, takes the form of a series of graphics greens, depicted grass, sky, and trees with occasional text clues. The only interaction is pressing the cursor keys, you can go up, down, left or right, and sometimes the screen changes. A lot of the time it does not. the screen changes. A lot of the time it does not. Many believe it to be unsolvable with only meaningless text and graphics. There are no hints as to how the puzzle can be solved. People have looked into it a lot and they're like, this makes no sense. It's also broken up into two parts.

So players had to buy both hair razor prelude and hair razor finale in order to crack the code. The company said they release it in two parts to make it fun. And to enable competitors of all ages to participate, because people of all ages can't just buy one game. As definitely done to make money. They also claimed that an additional clue was revealed in Harrods by TV personality,

Anika Rice. This appears. From Jackass. Welcome to Jack Harris. I'm in Harrods. I'm going to set fire to this fur coat. Welcome to Jack Harris. I'm in Harris. I'm going to set fire to this fur coat.

Yeah. Oh, yeah, I've been to Harris one time. Very expensive. So yeah, they were like, ah, there was a clue. She revealed a clue, but this appearance in Harris wasn't publicized or recorded. So unless you just happened to be passing by at that exact moment, it was completely useless. So when was this game?

This was in the early 80s. Right, so this is like early days of video games, I'm guessing. Yeah, it sounds kind of like most video games back then. You can push up, down, left or right, not much happens. You're talking about it like in today's computer. Well, at least like with Pong, you could score points or something. This one just does absolutely nothing. Funnily enough, the game did not sell well,

and the company went into liquidation. And even funny, no one had managed to solve the puzzle. She's crazy. So the golden hair had gone unclaimed. So with the company and liquidation, the golden hair was solved in 1988. It sold for 31,900 pounds to an anonymous buyer. Its creator, Kit Williams, had gone there himself to bid,

but was outbid by about 25,000 pounds. So close. He's like, I'm got like 6K, I'm at 10, I'm a bye. So for over 20 years the whereabouts of the hair was unknown. But in 2009 BBC Radio 4 programmed the grandquerade, told the story of the creation and solution of the puzzle. And the present, Kit Williams was interviewed and it was the first time he'd spoken of the scandal in 20 years.

He never did any interviews until this time. During the interview, he said he wished he could see the hair just one more time. Wants to see it again. Hearing this, the granddaughter of its then current owner and anonymous purchaser based in the far east is all the information they go. OK. What year was this? This is the first time.

This is the first. The first. 2009. OK. It was a different time, guys. Oh, I'm raised. 2009. Yeah. OK. It was a different time, guys. Arrangeed, so the granddaughter arranged for Kit Williams to be reunited briefly with his work.

Briefly, they took it back. They got eight seconds. Yeah. That's all you got. But you have a look. All right. And this is what he said. I'd not remember it being as delicate as it is.

Then when I picked it up in the little bells jingled and it sparkled in a way that I'd forgotten as well. They could have given him anything. Yeah. Oh. Isn't that a bit of fun? But there was kind of no like, no resolution, even once they figured out that the people who had won had done it in a dodgy way, it was just kind of like, ah, there you go.

Does this work? They got away with it. Yeah. Is it, wouldn't be legal or anything like that? No, no, I mean, yeah, they. It's a private competition. Yeah. And so that's the anti-climactic end.

I still have not figured out what happened. So. I reckon go listen to this podcast. Yeah. But the author's ex-girlfriend, she just happened to know, and she then told the information of this other guy. Yeah. And then he claimed it.

They had a vague guess and the author was like, oh, you've solved it! Oh, duh, poor boss. Yeah, without actually solving any of the puzzle with you. Oh, that sucks. Which was the Farn, apparently. Which no one was ever going to do. No, I know one was ever going to do it. Well, I mean, those physics teachers did.

So actually, yeah. But they didn't get the prize. They didn't get it. They should have got the prize. They should have got it, yeah. This little trinket, which sounds like a piece of shit to be honest. I wanted to say it earlier, but you seem so proud of it.

Sounds like a piece of shit. I'm not proud and make it. It doesn't look like a piece of shit. I'm not proud of it, make it. It doesn't look like a piece of shit. I didn't want to say the adjusted, I want to break out. But it sounds like a piece of shit. Little fucking, it sounds like something you get on one of those. What are those little key chains with little things that people... Key chains.

Key chains. Pandora's box. Pandora's Box. Pandora. A charm bracelet. Is that what you're doing? A charm bracelet. He got there. Through yes.

I love that story. May 2. That was... May 3. May as well. Did you all love that story? Let's give it up for Jess Perkins and great report. Alright. Just a glimpse behind the curtain here, I knew what the topic was going to be tonight. So I have hidden a bracelet somewhere in this building.

The management has told me you have permission to tear this building apart. I mentioned it's worth 1 million pounds. Yeah, just that is not true to this in place. I was ready to tear this carpet up. Thank you so much for coming out. I want to go to bed. On this final Sunday night. Thanks for coming out.

We absolutely appreciate you being here. Give yourselves a round of applause. Absolutely. Yes, thank you. Thank you. And we've got to say a bunch of you out there have come every week for the last four weeks in total. So thank you so much to those people, especially appreciate you coming back. Um, let me, we're so surprised as you are. Honestly, no, thank you so much.

We'd like to give you a big round of applause to the European beer cafe. To Holyo on the sound, thank you so much. We've got Emma and Vinny here up the back filming this thing. Appreciate that. But that honestly is all she wrote. Paul, good things must come to us. So sorry. We have to go die now. What?

He signs the contract. That got Blake, sorry. We've had some fun here tonight, but thank you so much. We'll see you next time. Goodbye. Bye. Bye. Yeah! Bye! Well, that was our final live show from the Melbourne International Community Festival for 2021.

We want to say a big thank you to everybody who came out to see the shows. It was so good to be performing live in Melbourne again. It had been a couple of years, so it was really nice that people turned up and were so excited and so lovely. As you get here from my voice, I've been a bit sick and I've left this to the last possible second hoping that I would be well enough to do all the Patreon read and everything for this week's episode, but I am not. So we probably have to skip that this week. Unfortunately, I reckon that might be a first, though. I don't think we've ever just completely skipped it, but I won't get through much without having a coughing fit and nobody wants to hear that. Because even though you know logically, germs can't get to you through your speakers,

in this current climate, you don't want to hear somebody sick just talking at you for too long. So, we will be recording all together again for next week's episode so we will continue as normal with our Patreon reads, with the fact-quadal question, with all that fun stuff. But for now I would just say again thank you to everybody who came to the live shows. If you're someone who hates listening to the live shows but you did anyway, what a trooper you are. Thank you so much. As always you can contact us at Dugu OnPod at gmail.com or at Dugu OnPod on all the social media sites. You can suggest a topic at any time. There's a little link in the show notes and until next week I will say thank you and goodbye! LITERS! BYE!

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