M40 Junction 4

The rebus just shows a motorway junction sign [REB2].

“Never allow gradually the traffic to smother with noise and fog the flowering of the spirit” is a line from the Stephen Spender poem I Think Continually of Those Who Were Truly Great [J41]. Spender was one of the themes of the 2003 hunt.

From the list of cars you need to obtain the relevant manufacturer’s names for each model, i.e. Maserati, Edsel, Reliant, Renault, Yugo, Citroen, Hillman, Rolls Royce, Isuzu, Suzuki, Toyota, Marcos, Aston Martin and Skoda. The initial letters of these spell MERRY CHRISTMAS [J42]. A similar code was used in the 2003 Hunt. Tradition demands that this message appears somewhere.

The little sports car with a “G” logo is undoubtedly a Ginetta – vehicles which featured a lot in the 2003 Hunt.

The mysterious picture is a view of the Lloyds Building in London, slightly doctored and turned sideways. It was designed by RICHARD ROGERS, who was another of the themes of the 2003 Hunt [J43]. The word FOX in Morse Code can just be seen in the top left [J44].

The front of the cigarette card shows the actor James Fox [J45]. The number 4 has no real significance except that we are at Junction 4 on the M40. The full text on the back of the card could eventually be deduced to read as follows:

James Fox, brother of Edward, usually plays a reluctant member of the middle class or aristocracy. As the Soviet spy Anthony Blunt in the BBC play “A Question of Attribution” he was a model of patrician disdain. His capacity to portray sensitive, victimised characters was exploited by Arthur Penn in “The Chase”. Penn was better known for films like “Bonnie and Clyde” and “Alice’s Restaurant”. “The Chase” was based on a play by Lillian Hellman, who also wrote “The Little Foxes”.  In the film, Fox played the son of a rich oil baron, Jason ‘Jake’ Rogers.

Notice the further references to chases and foxes. But the last word is what is needed – ROGERS (not to be confused with Richard of that ilk) [J46].

The line “bare like nude giant girls” is from a Stephen Spender poem on the subject of pylons [J47].

The parapet shows the formula for XYLENE [J48]. Other elements of the graffiti are irrelevant, except maybe for the “X20X” one which shows the rough structure of this Hunt –  that there are two ‘treasures’ separated by twenty stages.

Passwords and Directions

(a) ROGERS to reach the M40 Junction 5
(b) ROGERS to reach Marlow
(c) XYLENE to return to West Wycombe.