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grudging respect for the undoubted artistry of the hoaxers. In turn, the hoaxers depend on the croppies for the 'oxygen of publicity’, without which their creations would remain obscure and witnessed only by the combine harvester driver. References The ‘tabloid hoaxes' are revealed in Randles and Fuller. Meaden and Taylor fooled is from my own notes and Schnabel's account. The Doug and Dave story is told best in Macnish, particularly his own association with them. Wingfield and Kronig's articles on hoaxing appear in The Cerealogist Nos 7-9 and No. 13. Practice How do you evaluate the claims of Doug and Dave? Try examining pictures of formations and work out in detail how and if they could have been constructed using the techniques described in this chapter. How easy would this be at night? Take into account the circle-making competition. Brown supplemented his fieldwork with careful inspection of pictures and methods, such as counting the rings that were visible and applying some basic mathematical analysis, to arrive at figures for the plank width and average step length used. If you get the chance to examine a circle at first hand, look critically at its construction and such features as underlying pathways, post holes and its relationship to the tramlines. Check out the circlemakers' website. This will give you a flavour of the way the circlemaker thinks and operates.