h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

The Knocker-up was employed by the mill owners in Lancashire cotton towns in Victorian times. His job was to walk round the town at something like 4 o'clock in the morning and knock on the workers' bedroom windows to rouse them. Perhaps they didn't have alarm clocks in those days. Mill workers were also awakened by the sound of thousands of clogs clattering through the streets on the way to the mills.

The question remains though - Who knocked-up the knocker-up?

I should have mentioned that the Knocker-up was equipped with a long stick that could reach an upstairs bedroom window of a terraced house. He tapped on the glass.

Well, probably he ensured he remained sober and went to bed sufficiently early that he akened naturally sufficiently early.

awakened