Klang FAQs

Q: Why a new dragon after all these years?
A: March 2000, in the 'Billy Bluelight', two close friends were bemoaning the fact that because of refurbishment work the famous Snap Dragons in Norwich Castle Museum would not be accessible for either the Millenium in the Christian Calendar or the Year of the Metal Dragon in the Chinese Calendar. "It's very poor timing," they thought, "we really should have MORE Dragons this year, not less! Somebody should make a new one for the millennium!" And after all, you can't ask someone else to do something you're not prepared to do yourself...

Q: Where did Klang get his name?
A: The Snap Dragons clearly got their name from having a loud snapping jaw. Klang seemed like a good name for a dragon born in a metal year.

Q: Why "The Mighty" Klang?
A: He was first dubbed "The Mighty" by Simon Pipe, instigator of the Banbury Hobby Horse Festival - or possibly Sandy Glover, MC extraordinaire and webmaster of an excellent alternative site about the festival... Klang likes the name, so we keep it.

Q: Why St Margaret?
A: Like St George, St Margaret was represented in the old Norwich medieval processions, but as far as we know she didn't have her own dragon then, in spite of being a dragon-slayer in her own right. It seemed time to put the record straight. It must be pointed out that Margaret, like George, was demoted in 1969 and neither of them is any longer regarded as a saint, since no-one has conclusive proof of their existence.

Q: What makes Klang tick?
A: If you mean, what makes him move, the simple answer is saint-power. If you mean, what interests him (and his Entourage), recycling, among other things. All dragons are symbolic of renewal, and Klang more so than most. Take a good look at him and you'll see a lot of familiar components, and not just the CDs that form his scales. He has taken a great interest in the doings of Freecycle lately, including visiting a recycling centre - scarily, it's where all his bits might have ended up if we hadn't put him together!. Oddly enough, people who St Margaret traditionally champions, including people at a point of change in various kinds of danger, dovetail very neatly with those renewal aspects of the dragon that tried to eat her.

Dragon FAQs

Q: What is a dragon?
A: According to Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, The Greek word drakon comes from a verb meaning "to see," to "look at," and more remotely "to watch" and "to flash." The animal called a dragon is a winged crocodile with a serpent's tail; whence the words serpent and dragon are sometimes interchangeable.

Q: What are dragons like?
A: By nature dragons are flashy, especially the metal ones (and those born in a fire year, come to that!) - they're full of their own self-importance, but that's because they know they ARE important! Because they're mythological, there's something terribly grand about them, but the downside is that (whisper it while looking over your shoulder) there's a question mark over whether they really exist... Have you ever seen a stage production of Peter Pan? There comes a point in the play when the audience is told that Tinkerbell will die unless they clap very loudly. To my certain knowledge, Tinkerbell has survived to this day. The same goes for dragons.

Q: What do they look like?
A: This seems to be a very subective matter. The description in Brewer's Dictionary doesn't conjure up a very recognisable image, not to me ata ny rate. Klang has grown up since he emerged. Almost every time he appears in public, there's a subtle change about him. In 2000, when he was still young an hadn't yet grown a long snout we heard a teenager say, "It doesn't look like a REAL Dragon!" So we replied, "You show me a photo of the last one you saw and we'll change it!" This year, on our stall at Martham Carnival, Nipper and Klang were both within earshot when someone asked two boys, "What do dragons look like?" Instantly, one pointed at Klang, the other at Nipper, and they said simultaneously, "THAT!"

Q: Why are people fascinated by dragons?
A: Probably in the same way that animals are fascinated by humans, for us there's something unfathomable about dragons. They really are embedded quite deeply into our psyche, whether they take on the form of nightmare or whether they embody our soaring dreams of mystery...