Silver

Two large stone lions guard the Council House steps and their names are Agamemnon (left) and Menelaus (right).

In Greek mythology Agamemnon was King of Mycanae, good at spear-throwing and hero of the Trojan War; Menelaus was his brother and King of Sparta.

The lions are the work of Joseph Else who was born in Nottingham in 1874 and grew up to spend much of his professional life working in the city at Nottingham School of Art, which is now the Art & Design department at Nottingham Trent University.

Between 1927 and 1929, Else was put in charge of all carvings on the new design for Nottingham Council House, including the lions, the frieze on the arch of the building and 21 other figures all displaying arts and public services.

These lions have become a famous meeting point for many decades for thousands of Nottingham residents.The ‘Left Lion’ in particular has long since been adopted by locals as a meeting place.

The word silver comes from the Anglo-Saxon word seolfor. 

There is no word that rhymes with the English word silver.

It is a transition metal element, with symbol Ag, atomic number 47, and atomic weight of 107.8682.

After testing 23 methods of purifying water, NASA chose silver as the purifying agent on the first Space Shuttle programme.