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 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 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). Search 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 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 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 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 the dirt piles they had left