Loved the art, loved that there was some deeper meaning to be strained from it. I knew there were clues to find the mysterious golden pendant which was pictured on the back, but use to endlessly stare at the various numerical and literary indications vexing myself as to their meaning. Loved this book as a child, use to greedily leaf through the pages searching for what I thought was the rabbit or hare sequestered in its sketches. Williams, 63, was reunited with the hare – and Gascoigne – by the makers of a BBC4 documentary, The Man Behind the Masquerade, to be shown this autumn.Bereft as we are of HS Art, I'll have to shove this in here. I worked on paintings but I never put them on public show.' I felt I lost touch with myself for a little while. 'There was pressure on me to do all sorts of things and I just did not want to do that. 'I could not take the razzmatazz,' he said. Williams withdrew his artwork from public display after he grew uncomfortable with the huge public attention generated by the hunt, which at the height of his fame saw him appear on Terry Wogan's BBC1 chatshow. Williams had tried to buy it but was outbid, and it has remained unseen in private hands for more than 20 years. The hare was later bought by a mystery buyer for £31,900 at a Sotheby's auction in 1988. The riddle was finally solved by two Manchester teachers in 1982, but by then the amulet had been claimed by a searcher who, it emerged, was given the approximate location through a connection with Williams's former girlfriend. On arriving at the sun he discovers he has lost the treasure, and it is left to the reader to find it.

Williams's book used 15 detailed paintings to tell the story of Jack Hare, who is charged with carrying a treasure from the moon to the sun.

The hare's trail has been a complicated one since it was buried by Williams in Ampthill Park, Bedfordshire, one night in 1979 in a secret ceremony watched by a celebrity witness, Bamber Gascoigne. The bells jingled and it sparkled in a way I had forgotten.' I had not remembered it being as detailed. 'It is wonderful to see it after all these years,' said Williams. The makers of a BBC documentary traced the owner of the golden hare to Egypt after an appeal on Radio 4. Today Williams was back in the public eye, reunited with his handmade amulet for the first time in three decades.

Masquerade treasure hunt book