#5: Waking People Up For a Living
During the Industrial Revolution, when alarm clocks were as rare as a hen’s teeth and as reliable as a chocolate teapot, industrious Brits and the Irish relied on a unique human solution. Enter the ‘knocker-uppers,’ the unsung heroes of the dawn. Their mission was to rouse sleepy souls from their slumber, ensuring no one missed their date with the daily grind.
Imagine a time before alarm clocks, when folks known as ‘Knocker-Uppers’ ruled the mornings. They would tap on windows with batons or bamboo sticks in hand to rouse people from slumber the old-fashioned way. These diligent risers were a common sight until the 1950s, but in some English neighborhoods, their knocking continued well into the early 1970s.