Malta

Episode 2.10
8 March 1984




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Contestants John Humpston and work colleague Brian Taylor, local authority architects from Matlock.
Description of the Treasure A silver Maltese Cross brooch
Start Position Valletta – dockyard creek
Clue 1 Get to the point with a corposant link, look behind Abercrombie’s Curtain for relics of war, and see what Faith can do for you. 1
Leads to Valletta – on Gloster Gladiator aircraft in war museum
Clue 2 Under a hemispherical cover – the largest you can find – seek out the alien visitor that dropped in. 2, 3
Leads to Mosta dome – on WW2 bomb in sacristy
Clue 3 At a Roman capital, via a Greek gate, to a Norman House with an Adam alcove that is behind the times. 4
Leads to Mdina – under painting in Alcove Room in Norman House
Clue 4 Initially an HQ for early man: subsequently – beside a mushroom altar – take advice from a fat lady. 5, 6
Leads to Hagar Qim Temple – in small statue of a ‘fat lady’ in mushroom altar
Clue 5 Go luzzu style to spelean splendours in the shade of Peter’s flag. Ask for Filfla and jump to it!
Leads to Blue Grotto cave 7
Result The contestants ran out of time on the final clue


Notes
As usual, the cameraman was Graham Berry, but the video engineer was Serge Beaupere (instead of Frank Meyburgh) and the local helicopter was flown by Captain Joe Smith (instead of Keith Thompson).
1 Faith, Hope and Charity were three Gloster Gladiator aircraft.
2 There were serious communications difficulties on the way to Mosta. Kenneth commented, “I’m afraid she could be talking more or less Chinese”.
3 The helicopter lands on the outskirts of Mosta, and Annie and the crew get a lift to the dome on the back of a pickup truck. The bomb (‘alien visitor’) fell through the dome but failed to explode.
4 Annie enters the walled city of Mdina, the ancient capital of Malta, via the Greek Gate and runs through the maze of narrow streets to the Norman House.
5 Just outside Mdina, locals try to direct Annie to a nearby mushroom factory when she asks for directions.
6 On the way to Hagar Qim, the Maltese Jetranger makes a spectacular low-level dash just above the sea alongside dramatic cliffs.
7 Had she had time, Annie would have ridden around the coast in a ‘luzzu’ (a Maltese fishing boat) to the Blue Grotto caves, where she would have found a Maltese Cross brooch on a rock.