Inventor of Door Knockers Won a No-Bell Prize Quiz

Answer: a lion's head

Symbolizing authority, the well-known lion's head door knocker has been a distinctive feature of the iconic black front door at 10 Downing Street for centuries. The lion has a large ring in its mouth which is what people use as the knocker. Originally cast iron black, the current knocker is a brass version that is painted black to match the original's historic appearance.

Answer: Jerusalem

In Jerusalem's Old City (Jerusalem's historic core, a .35 square mile walled area) the iron door knocker is located on the ancient main wooden doors of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. It is used each evening, in a daily ritual to signal the closing of this holy Christian site. The Muslim doorkeeper uses it to knock three times, in half-hour increments, as part of a centuries-old tradition.

Answer: Dublin

The Georgian door knockers of Dublin have become iconic symbols of the city. The architectural movement featured terraced townhouses and there were strict uniformity rules, (sounds like a co-op!) but some residents rebelled by painting their doors bright colors, particularly reds, blues, and greens. They would as a finishing touch add ornate brass door knockers as status symbols for the more affluent. The doors and their knockers, which commonly had designs of lion heads, urns, rings, brass hands, eagles, or Celtic knots have become a tourist attraction.

Answer: Florence

During the Renaissance, merchants and aristocratic families of wealth in Florence commissioned elaborate door knockers as status symbols, artistic statements, and also as talismans using symbols to ward off evil. Common designs featured lions, satyrs, dolphins, devils, mascarons (intricate faces that were sometimes grotesqueries) and hands (often feminine with lace cuffs to symbolize hospitality). These door knockers (battenti or picchiotti in Italian) date back to the 1400s-1600s.

Answer: Hand of Fatima

These hand-shaped door knockers are decorative and functional and are commonly made of brass, iron, or wood, showing a hand emerging from a decorative cuff, and offering spiritual protection. Some versions include an eye in the palm, reinforcing the protective meaning. The name refers to the daughter of the Prophet Muhammad, Fatima Zahra, and represents faith, prayer, and divine protection.

Answer: Horse racing

It sounds almost logical and certainly makes for intriguing storytelling, but "dead ringer" is *not* etymologically associated with the legend that in the 18th century, to prevent people from being buried prematurely, a string was tied to the wrist of the presumed deceased, running up through the coffin and attached to a bell above ground. So, if the person woke up, they could "ring the bell," to signal, "Hey I'm actually not quite dead" thus becoming a "dead ringer." Okay, so there's no evidence supporting that urban legend.

The truth is that "dead ringer" came from American horse racing in the late 19th century, in which a "ringer" was a horse illegally substituted for another horse of lesser quality. This better, faster, horse was even disguised to resemble the slower, long-shot horse. Those in on the scam would then place bets on the "slow horse" which was really now a fast horse (unbeknownst to everyone else) and the bettors would make a lot of money by picking their "ringer". And "dead" just simply meant "absolute," "exact", a usage commonly seen in other phrases such as "dead shot" (an expert marksman) or "dead heat" (an exact tie).

Answer: The Durham Sanctuary Knocker

The Durham Sanctuary Knocker, cast in bronze in 1155 AD, was located on the door of Durham Cathedral, and is described as being a ferocious lion or wyvern with a ring grasped by its jaws. It is interpreted by some to be the lion of Judah, a symbol of Christ's power and judgment. By grasping this knocker, a person, even a violent criminal, was granted the "Right to Sanctuary." Anyone would be legally protected from secular forces if they remained within the cathedral for 37 days. During that period, fugitives often chose to "abjure the realm," meaning they would confess their crime, forfeit their property to the Crown, and swear to leave England permanently and never return, upon which they were given safe passage to a port and exiled. Another option was for the fugitive to mount a defense and face trial.

Answer: Hestia

This was an example of apotropaic magic, the use of powerful, threatening, even evil images to ward off evil. The most common motif in both ancient Pompeii and modern times was a female face, the head of the Gorgon, most often the serpentine-haired Medusa. In Greek mythology, just looking at Medusa was so terrifying it would turn onlookers to stone. Her Gorgon sister Stheno killed more men than her two others sisters combined - she had sharp fangs, scaly head, snakes around her serpentine tongue and bronze hands. The other sister, Euryale, has a loud, piercing, lamenting, terrifying scream, along with fangs, glaring eyes, snaky tongue, the whole deal, etc.

But Hestia was quite the opposite in attitude - she was the Greek goddess of the hearth. She represented the sanctity of the home, and, opposed to frightening anyone away, she welcomed those who entered.

Answer: Like a hammer

Doctor's Knockers were shaped like hammers or mallets, designed to create a loud, urgent, insistent bang audible even at night. The brass or iron hammer-shaped knockers were mounted horizontally against metal plates on medical homes, and were quick to identify as doctor residences as opposed to the more common lions or urns of other knockers.

Answer: Young Frankenstein

It's one of "Young Frankenstein's" most famous gags involving Dr. Frederick Frankenstein (Gene Wilder), his assistant Inga (Teri Garr), and the servant Igor (Marty Feldman) as they arrive at the Transylvanian castle.

The humor relies on the double entendre, and risqué humor. According to the DVD commentary, director Mel Brooks often had to stick a handkerchief in his mouth while filming to keep from ruining takes with his own laughter. The giant door knockers in "Young Frankenstein" were a direct spoof of the film "Son of Frankenstein" (1939), where the castle had very oversized, ornate door knockers. In "Son of Frankenstein" the knockers create a thunderous sound prompting Baroness Elsa von Frankenstein to complain that it "gets on her nerves" and makes her "jump out of my skin," to which Inspector Krogh explains that the knockers were once a "call to arms" in dangerous times. This became another example of Mel Brooks 'comedic approach to taking something genuinely existing from the original horror film genre and tweaking it to reveal an absurdity.