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#20 Whose Letterbox? NE3 Spider-Man! Letterbox Hybrid

Hidden : 10/4/2022
Difficulty:
2.5 out of 5
Terrain:
1.5 out of 5

Size: Size:   micro (micro)

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Geocache Description:


This cache is a Letterbox Hybrid geocache. It is one of a series highlighting interesting individuals from a variety of fields who once lived behind the featured letterboxes. Many thanks to tundra70 for allowing me to contribute to this new series.

The final cache is not at the published co-ordinates but you will need to visit them to get some information that will help in taking you to the final location.

 

Okay, Spiderman didn't live here, probably didn't even visit, in fact between you and me, he isn't actually a real person! But, surprisingly there is a strong connection between him and the perfectly ordinary terraced house at the posted co-ordinates in South Gosforth! surprise 

Joan Boocock was born at Gosforth on the 5th February 1922. When she was baptised at nearby St Nicholas', Gosforth Parish Church on the 9th March, in the same year, her place of residence appears in the church's baptism register as 5 Field Street, South Gosforth. So who was Joan Boocock and what is her connection to the Marvel Comics superhero?

Joan was the daughter of Norman Dunton Boocock and his wife Hannah Clayton. When they married at St Nicholas Church, South Gosforth, in 1920, Hannah's address was given as 5 Field Street which was where the couple lived and where Joan was probably born in 1922. She was certainly living there at the time of her baptism. Years later, Joan was quoted in a newspaper article saying that she was born in Gosforth and brought up there and at Fawdon.

After WWII she moved to the United States after marrying an American serviceman but they separated soon after. In America she worked as a hat model in New York where she met and married Stan Lee. Stan Lee is probably best known for Marvel Comics and the superhero characters he created including Spider-Man, the X-Men, Iron Man, the Hulk, Doctor Strange, the Fantastic Four, and many more. 

Joan's voice was used in several Marvel Comic animated films making her debut in 1994 in Fantastic Four and later as Madame Web in the Spider-Man series. She made her last film cameo in the 2016 film X-Men: Apocalypse.

Joan and Stan were married for almost seventy years and had two daughters. Joan died in 2017 in Los Angeles and Stan died the following year.

 

To calculate the final co-ordinates:

From the posted co-ordinates, walk about 18 paces in a south westerly direction to the corner of the back lane. Turn right and about 10 paces down the lane you will come to a street light on the right with a vertical string of numbers and a letter. Ignoring the letter, note the numbers ABWCDE. Walk another 18 paces down the lane and you will come to a telegraph pole on the left. Again, ignore the letters but note the numbers DPXYZ. 

Checksum for A to E plus X to Z = 39

The cache is to be found at a distance of (A+C)(X+Y)(E-A) . (X-E)(Z-C) meters on a bearing of (X-A-C) (B+A) . (D-A-C)(D-Y) degrees. It is a few minutes walk away from the posted co-ordinates.

The cache does contain a small stamp which isn't a trade item. Please leave in the cache.

 

Additional Hints (Decrypt)

Zntargvp, gbc prager.

Decryption Key

A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M
-------------------------
N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z

(letter above equals below, and vice versa)