Author: Daft Old Duffer
Daft Old Duffer: Arreton Hare Chat
Thursday, 6th August, 2009 at 12:04 pm, Isle of Wight
VentnorBlog would like to welcome back ‘Daft Old Duffer’ to our list of contributors and pleased to hear that once in a while he’ll be penning his thoughts to share with our readers.
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So we’re getting our Arreton hare back. I’m as pleased as you lot about that, but it has set me wondering -why were we so concerned? After all, it’s just a wooden animal, isn’t it?.
Hopefully you’ll all add your comments later. Meanwhile here’s what I think are the reasons:
It’s wood, it’s hand carved, it’s an animal. Yes I know, but bear with me a while longer.
What about non-wooden?
Suppose the little chap had not re-appeared but instead three volunteers had stepped up.
The first offering to make an exact replica in fibreglass. I think we’d have rejected that pretty smartly on the grounds that it was not a warm material, not a natural material – it didn’t speak to us.
The second explaining that his factory churned out machined replicas of animals in real living wood and exported them all over the world. And we could have one at cost price.
No thanks we would have said,no mass produced items. The Island goes for hand carved and individual.
A human in wood?
And the third offering his speciality, hand carved human figures.
Once again, I suggest the answer would be a refusal. It’s animals for us on this corner.
As a matter of fact human replicas are a bit spooky, a bit startling to passing traffic. Not friendly like a hare.
So it’s got to be an individually formed animal, preferably a hare, in proper wood. And I suggest it’s because such an item contains something, gives of something, that we humans almost subconsciously detect. An aura, an energy, a life force – call it what you will – that comes in part from what shelters in the timber itself and part from the artist/craftsman who fashions the piece.
Human energy
It’s the force that makes us prefer a painted portrait to a good photograph of the same subject – something the artist has put in from himself.
A force that makes us want to fondle a lion and cuddle a cheetah even though we know to them we are nothing but meat on the hoof.
An energy that makes us enjoy a stroll in a forest even though we know we might get lost and suffer from exposure.
But if I’m right, where does this life force, this mysterious attraction, come from? And if I’m talking rubbish, what’s your explanation?
Your answers please, not necessarily on a postcard.
Images: James Pickett
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Like this new type of article. You’re on to something.
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The Arreton Hare made us all smile when we drove past, a simple pleasure created by a great talent from something natural, that would otherwise have been left to rot. I smile (like many others) at the others dotted around the Island too. It was selfish of someone to take away something that gave pleasure to so many for just themselves… so that’s why I was concerned and I’m so glad he’s found and will be back with the Magpies soon!
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“bear with me” – surely you mean HARE with me?! :)
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I think it was wooden because it was carved from a tree stump, and a replacement made from anything else would have been rather pointless. Thankfully, the matter has been resolved by his (or possibly her) recovery, and I look forward to the hare restoration…
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..which has now happened! He’s back, with only a hareline join… :-)
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We have an interview with Paul Sivell to come – he heard the news through VB when the incident happened.
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Great news. I look forward to sitting in traffic at Arreton junction so I can see for myself!
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I was indeed stuck at the Arreton junction for ages today and saw it back in place. So good!
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masquerade – hare programme – repeat – Sat 24 Oct 2009 – 10:30 – BBC Radio 4.
The Grand Masquerade
Last broadcast on Tue, 14 Jul 2009, 11:30 on BBC Radio 4.
Next on:
Saturday, 10:30 on BBC Radio 4
Synopsis
Thirty years after the publication of Kit Williams’s groundbreaking picture puzzle book Masquerade in 1979, John O’Farrell reflects on the mayhem that followed as millions of readers became caught up in the search for a jewel-encrusted hare, buried somewhere in the British countryside.
Broadcasts
1.
Tue 14 Jul 2009
11:30
BBC Radio 4
2.
Sat 24 Oct 2009
10:30
BBC Radio 4
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00ljymy
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Oh yes, I remember that! Kind of like early geo-caching! Can’t remember who found it or where. Will try & listen.
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You must! I heard some of the programme the first time round, and the resolution was quite bizarre. Had to feel sorry for the person who nearly found it…
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I was given this book for Christmas as a child and because we spent a lot of time in Cheltenham, we were able to work out the riddles and pinpointed the location of the treasure. We never got around to taking a spade to where we thought the treasure was, so kicked ourselves when we heard that someone had found the treasure.
Moral of the story – don’t just talk about doing stuff – go do it!
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The Man Behind the Masquerade
Synopsis
In 1979, artist Kit Williams turned Britain into a giant treasure map, promising a golden hare, buried in the earth, to the first person who solved the riddle of his book Masquerade. The hysteria that followed the hunt drove Williams underground, where he has continued to create complex and beautiful art, which he refuses to publicly exhibit.
In his first interview in two decades, Kit lifts the lid on life before and after Masquerade. Did the hare deprive us of one of our most gifted painters?
BBC Four
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**warning**
contains plentiful female nudity.
i started to watch it in an internet café but had to desist in case other users became worried about the images on my screen.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00p5wpv/The_Man_Behind_the_Masquerade/
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One of those truly great documentaries the BBC sometimes comes up with
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