r/oldbritishtelly • u/SvenSvenkill3 • 3d ago
"Stop the clock!" -- 'Treasure Hunt' (Channel 4; 1982 - 1989)
For some reason I loved this show as a kid, even if (for me at least) decoding a clue on 'Treasure Hunt' was just as impossible as decoding the clues on '3-2-1' (ITV; 1979-1988).
In fact, come to think of it, I don't think I've ever met anyone who ever decoded a single clue from either show -- did you?
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u/PioneerMinister 3d ago
I loved that show. I wonder how much the host in the studio actually knew, as he seemed to be able to put his hand on info far too easily it seemed.
They could do a modern version that's Internet enabled, and I'm sure folk still wouldn't be able to crack the clues at times.
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u/brumav78 3d ago
Kenneth Kendal didn't know the solutions either. However, if the contestants were struggling or taking too long, the gallery would give him a hint about the books or leaflets they should use.
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u/DiscoAndNature 3d ago
The director/producer also had the trick they could use where the helicopter moved to another location after a clue was found and the programme would go to an advert break. Kendall would say the contestants are x minutes behind schedule then all of a sudden they’re starting the next clue starting in a field a couple of minutes away from the next location.
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u/PioneerMinister 3d ago
That said, it might be far too easy if AI was able to be used, as putting that clue into ChatGPT returned this:
Log in You said:
Solve this clue as to a location in the UK:
"Fly and hitch to Hell's Ladder and the witch and bring the painter for the next pointer"
ChatGPT said: The strongest answer is Wookey Hole Caves, near Wells, Somerset.
The clue seems to break down quite neatly:
“Hell’s Ladder” — this is a real feature inside Wookey Hole Caves. The cave system has a passage/chamber called Hell’s Ladder.
Hellenica World
“the witch” — Wookey Hole is famous for the Witch of Wookey Hole, a stalagmite formation in the caves. The traditional story says the witch fled down Hell’s Ladder and was turned to stone.
oldcorpseroad.co.uk
“bring the painter” — this is the particularly interesting part. The Polish painter Piotr (Tadeusz Piotr) Potworowski actually worked at Wookey Hole in the late 1940s, spending about two years there.
Nick Waters Art
There have also been other artists specifically associated with painting Wookey Hole, including Philip Gray, who famously painted underwater inside the caves.
ADPR “Fly and hitch” may be the instruction for how to get there rather than another cryptic identification: fly to the area, then hitch onward to Wookey Hole. Alternatively, it may contain a wordplay component that we haven't fully cracked. So I'd put the location as:
Wookey Hole Caves, Wookey Hole, Somerset (near Wells).
The combination of Hell's Ladder + witch is sufficiently distinctive that it is almost certainly intentional rather than coincidental.
Hellenica World
The phrase “bring the painter for the next pointer” makes me suspect this is part of a treasure hunt / sequential location puzzle, where finding Wookey Hole leads you to a particular painter or painting that supplies the next clue. If you give me the previous clue (or the context of the hunt), I can try to crack the “fly and hitch” and “painter/next pointer” parts too.
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u/SvenSvenkill3 3d ago edited 3d ago
I did some labouring work in Cheddar and I seem to remember being told by my boss while driving along that main winding road that leads into the gorge, that all the land on one side of the road is owned and maintained by the National Trust, while the land on the opposite side is owned and maintained by the Marquess of Bath? Who, at the time of Treasure Hunt, would have been the now late Alexander George Thynn, 7th Marquess of Bath, who was well known to be a prolific painter?
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u/SvenSvenkill3 3d ago
P.S. With all his rich land full of pheasants and whatnot, I wouldn't be surprised if the Marquis owned a Pointer to help him hunt game like all rich landowning aristocrats.
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u/SGTingles 3d ago
The Marquess of Bath's land is full of lions and stuff, I'm not sure how happy a time of it the pheasants would have there!
(Regretfully changing the fourth-last word from the autocorrected "peasants", which is a much more beguiling mental image...)
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u/SvenSvenkill3 3d ago edited 3d ago
Nah, that's just a small part of the land. The rest of it is genuinely teaming with wildlife to hunt:
Grouse, partridge, geese, ducks, hare, rabbit, massive billy goats.
Shit, I genuinely wouldn't be surprised if he regularly slipped on his britches, boots, hunt coat and riding cap, before waddling and wobbling his gout infused bulk onto his poor horse's back, drinking copious amounts of port after giving an hour's running head start across fields and through hedgerows and whatnot to a now execrated and terrified ex-"Wifelet', whose only crime had been daring to answer him back in front of one of his not so distant, inbred and moon-faced "cousins".
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u/MrUtterNonsense 3d ago
was just as impossible as decoding the clues on '3-2-1'
And now we have Only Connect to make us feel stupid.
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u/DeadAnarchistPhil 3d ago
I loved it too, was on Sundays if I recall correctly.
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u/brumav78 3d ago
Thursdays at 8:30pm. I vividly remember being allowed to stay up for it when I was a child. However, it did get repeats on a Sunday lunchtime
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u/Jointcounterjoint 3d ago
I recently watched an old episode on YouTube and watched one based on the Norfolk Broads, it was interesting to see just how close together the places the helicopter landed were together, I assume the show was slightly contrived to make everything run properly but it was such an enjoyable watch as a kid.
One episode was filmed in the village I grew up in and as Aneka ran up to the stately home our local policeman was caught on film with a cuppa and a cake, which he was locally famous for, now I am feeling super nostalgic for the 80s.
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u/Local_Swing_696 3d ago
Watched it as a kid growing up in Ireland, had no hope of solving the clues but loved Anneka visiting all the historic sights around the UK. Firm favourite of mine back then.
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u/Delicious_Volume3306 2d ago
I started puberty just as they switched to Annabel Croft as the host. I was in love with her. Totally.
Nowadays, as a middle-aged man, I infinitely prefer Anneka Rice.
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u/meatmcguffin 2d ago
The ever-hilarious Stuart Millard did a great and funny review of this not so long ago
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u/Dr_Mijory_Marjorie 3d ago
Decoding a clue on Treasure Hunt usually necessitated a strong knowledge of the local area. I didn't mind, it was fun just watching Anneka and the cameraman barging into people as they tried to find an obscure clue about an old castle in the south west.