J K ROWLING BIOGRAPHY AND HARRY POTTER INCLUDING FILM LOCATIONS, HARRY'S GUIDE TO VISITING CASTLES, LEARNING MAGIC, SPELLS, AND COMMENTARY

Contents J K Rowling Biography Film Locations Visiting Castles Learning about Magic Spells Hermione Commercialisation Viewpoints J K Rowling's own personal website is here: www.jkrowling.com

J K Rowling Biography The pictures and information in this section are based on an interview given by J K Rowling, to the BBC Arts program Omnibus.

Joanne Rowling was born in 1965 in Chipping Sodbury, Gloucestershire. From the age of 9, her family lived in this charming stone cottage in the village of Tutshill in Gloucestershire. Joanne's bedroom was the window at the far right.

Here Joanne is re-visiting her old home for the BBC. Joanne had very happy memories of this place. She started to write stories from an early age. One of her first stories was about a Rabbit, and which she also illustrated herself.
Joanne (far right) describes her early character as being slightly insecure and bossy, and very similar to Hermione in the Harry Potter books. Joanne modelled Hermione on herself.
This is the village church at Tutshill.
And this is Tutshill village school, which Joanne formerly attended, and which she is now re-visiting.

	Here Joanne is speaking to some of the pupils at the school today.
	After primary school, Joanne went to the local secondary school. Joanne is shown here with school friend Sean Harris, who was a good friend to her. Much of the character of Ron Weasley in the Harry Potter books is based on him. In the background of this picture is the Severn Bridge. Joanne and Sean often used to come here. About 20 miles upstream is the county town of Gloucester. Gloucester Cathedral was used as the set for Hogwarts in the Harry Potter film.
	Sean had a blue-and-white Ford Anglia car, in which Sean and Joanne used to drive around the countryside. Joanne had very happy memories of this car, and this was the exact model for the Weasley's car in The Chamber of Secrets. Joanne then went to Exeter University, and then briefly taught in Portugal, before returning to Britain.
	The idea for Harry Potter came to Joanne quite suddenly. She was making a train journey from Manchester to London. During that journey she visualised Harry very clearly. She had no writing materials with her. As she got off the train her mind was seething with ideas, and she was in a state of euphoria. As soon as she could, she began to write down those ideas, which subsequently became assembled into the books.
	Here Joanne is at Kings Cross station. Joanne thinks this is a very romantic place. Her parents had first met each other on a train out of Kings Cross. Joanne also explained that Platform 9 and three-quarters was actually modelled on platforms 9 and 10 at Euston Station, rather than Kings Cross.

Joanne got married, had a baby, and then separated. Here she re-visits the flat in Edinburgh where she lived during that time. This was an unhappy period in her life.

	This is Nicolson's Restaurant in Edinburgh which Joanne often used to visit.
	And this was her favourite table, in a corner, out of the way, where she did a lot of her early writing. It took about 5 years for Joanne to bring her first book to a state for publication.
	Joanne imagined Harry Potter's world in great detail. This is one page of notes with an alphabetic listing of characters. She described the process of writing her books, as one of editing and assembling this information. There is a mass of detailed background information about Harry's world in these notes that will not appear in the books.
	Joanne also made very competent drawings of characters and scenes as she imagined them. This drawing shows Hagrid and Professor Dumbledore about to deposit little Harry in Privet Drive.
	Christopher Little, Joanne's agent, explained how difficult it had been for Joanne to get her first book published. The literary experts advising all the major publishers judged that Harry Potter would not be successful, and they all rejected it. Joanne described her feelings when she got a phone call, from Christopher Little, to say the book had been accepted by Bloomsbury Press. That was one of the best moments of her life.

Arthur Levine, of Scholastic, the American publishers, bid $105,000 to secure the American publication rights.

Philip Pullman had some interesting remarks to make. He noted that many currently successful books for adults deal with subjects that are, actually, trite and trivial. And that it is children's works, like Joannes, that deal with issues of morality and life and death.

This is Joanne, with Ron, Harry and Hermione, at The Film premiere.
Joanne has already written the final chapter of the last (7th) book. The script is in this folder, which is now kept in a secure location.
On 26th December 2001, Joanne married Dr Neil Murray in a secret Boxing Day ceremony, at Joanne's new home at Killiechassie House, Aberfeldy. We hope this happy event won't have a detrimental effect on Joanne's concentration or her writing. In her BBC interview Joanne certainly gave the impression of being very single-minded about her writing. Publication of Joanne's fifth book, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, which had originally been scheduled for release in 2001, was postponed first until Summer 2002, and it now seems that the earliest publication date will be Autumn 2002.

Filming Locations Many locations were used as sets for the filming of the Phiosopher's Stone. The Dursley's house was a house in Picket Post Close, Martins Heron, Bracknell, Berkshire. The name Dursley comes from the town of Dursley, which is near Joanne's old home. The scene where Harry catches the Hogwarts Express was filmed at Platform 4, Kings Cross Station. The steam train railway is the North Yorkshire Moors Railway. Hogsmeade Station is the station for the village of Goathland, North Yorkshire. Exterior shots of Hogwarts were filmed at Alnwick Castle, Northumberland (shown right). The name is pronounced "Anick", as in Anika. Interior scenes were filmed at Gloucester Cathedral, Lacock Abbey, Wiltshire (shown below), the Bodleian Library, Oxford, and in The Great Hall at Christ Church College, Oxford. Lacock Abbey, and below, inside Lacock Abbey. Pictures from the Treasure Hunt program.

Alnwick Castle, with the town of Alnwick in the background. Below, inside Alnwick Castle. Note the pictures on the walls. The castle is similar inside to Warwick Castle, shown in the section just below. These pictures are from the Treasure Hunt program.

Harry's Guide to Visiting Castles Harry and his friends love to go visiting castles. One of the reasons they like to come to these places, is not just to learn about history, but to experience the magical and romantic atmosphere which, even in the 21st century, can still be found and experienced here. Many of the children in England actually come to visit places like this as part of their school work. Aren't they lucky.

If you come to visit a castle like this you will recognise very many things that Joanne refers to in her books about Harry's adventures. The pictures in this section were all taken at Warwick Castle. Obviously there is the castle itself with its towers and dungeons, but there are many other things, which might not be so obvious to you. This is the Great Hall, which is very similar to Hogwarts. Joanne often refers to suits of armour at Hogwarts, and you can see them all here.

And just look at this real cauldron. It's huge. This one was actually used for preparing the food to feed this entire castle.
Look at all the paintings on these walls. These are just like the "fat lady" painting at Hogwarts, which concels the entrance to the Gryffindor common room. Do you think many of these paintings hide concealed rooms or secret passages?
	Joanne describes the 4-poster beds, with their red velvet trimings. Well, here's the real thing in one of the rooms here.

Joanne's Royal Appointments Here is a picture of Joanne, receiving an honour, The Order of British Empire, for her contributions to literature, or maybe it's for her services to Magic, I'm not quite sure which.

	Here is the Queen arriving at Bloomsbury Press, the publishers of Harry Potter, on a separate occasion, to see Joanne.

The Queen said that she didn't have too much time to read Joanne's books. What!!! What may we ask is there, that is more important for a Queen than to understand than the content of these books?

Learning About Magic Do schools such as Hogwarts, where people can be trained as wizards, actually exist in the real world today? Certainly they do. They have always existed, and presumably always will. But, just as in Harry's story, these schools would never be advertising themselves in the muggle world.
Harry's case is actually very unusual. Because very few people discover that they are magicians when they are children. It is far more likely for people to discover these talents when they are somewhat older. There are not many well-documented or reliable biographies of authentic magicians. One well known example would be Moses (himself a parselmouth), whose story is described in the Book of Exodus. No precise ages are given, but he must have been at least 18, maybe much older.
	A good starting point for people who want to know more about magic is just to read Joanne's books. But after you have read them, and particularly as you grow older, you might want to move on to some other things. The books of J R R Tolkien are along the same lines. Frodo has quite a lot in common with Harry, though the style of Tolkien's language is more majestic than Joanne's, and maybe the stories are a bit darker. There is a lot more about J R R Tolkien on my page J R R Tolkien.
	If you are looking for a book which looks like a magic book, then a very large and quite impressive looking volume is The Secret Teachings of All Ages: An Encyclopedic Outline of Masonic, Hermetic, Qabbalistic, and Rosicrucian Symbolical Philosophy by Manly P Hall. The hardback version is very expensive, but there is an inexpensive softback edition.
	A great teacher once said "the powers of instruction are of little use except where they are superfluous". Some people could spend a lifetime reading everything in Manly Hall's encyclopaedia, and still not understand it. While some others, who have not read a word of it, could, with just a hint or a suggestion, more or less figure out much of it for themselves. This little book, called Thinkers of The East is highly recommended by some people. It contains just a collection of short stories, about a page each, but some of them are quite thoughtful.
Idries Shah has also written many other books about Eastern mysticism. This particular illustration is from his book World Tales. It illustrates a version of the story of Cinderella, found among some of the Indians of North America. Harry Potter, with his little cell under the stairs, and his magical powers, is a Cinderella figure too.
	There are close connections between magic and religion. Books about religion are sometimes good sources of ideas about magic. This book is produced by Dorling Kindersley, and every page is packed with colour pictures and lots of interesting facts.

The works of Shakespeare include much about magic, and fate. Faith in the power of magic was much more common in those days than it is today. This picture shows Prospero, the Magician, from Shakespeare's play The Tempest. Shakespeare himself was a great wizard, and his plays are very interesting, though they are quite difficult to read. There is more about Shakespeare on my pages Shakespeare's Life and Shakespeare's Works.

Spells and The Power of Names The idea that spells and language are connected with magic is very ancient. It is found in Ancient Egypt. Some cultures, even today, believe in the magical power of words. This is found in some Jewish communities, and among some sacred beliefs in the Middle East and India. Some 20th century writers have believed in the magical power of language. A good example is J R R Tolkien, who was a Professor of Old English. One of the best books about J R R Tolkien is Professor T A Shippey's Road to Middle Earth. He says: Tolkien used language in an extremely peculiar, idiosyncratic and daring way... Tolkien had a private theory... He thought that people could feel history in words, could recognise language styles, could extract sense from sound alone... It was like him to think that there might be a "true language", one "isomorphic with reality"... Though the hobbits may not know the language they understand it; and when Tom Bombadil names something (as he does with the hobbits ponies) the name sticks - the animals respond to nothing else the rest of their lives. There is an ancient myth in this feature, that of the "true language"... It is this which seems to give Tom his power. Like Adam, "whatsoever he called every living creature, that was the name thereof"... Spells are one of the most important parts of magic, and one of the most potent spells involves the power in a person's own name. Everyone's name has a meaning and a history, and a use in magic. A number of Internet sites can help you to find the meaning of your own name. The ones listed below are the best that I've come across (if anyone knows any better sites, please E-mail me): Searchable Index of (Western) Forenames Mike Campbell's Index of (Western) Forenames Index of (Western) Surnames Index of Indian and Sanskrit names There are a few sites on the Internet which offer to research names, for a payment. I've come across the outputs from some of these, and unfortunately, all those I've seen have been completely useless. If you can't find the meaning of your name, free, from the sites above, then you won't find it by paying. Joanne chose the name Harry Potter because Potter was the name of a boy that she used to play with when she was a child. The name "Potter" does also have an interesting magical meaning. Just below are the results of some of my own researches into the origins of the name "Potter"... I wonder if you are learning any languages like Latin or Greek. Some muggles think there is not much use for such languages. How wrong they are! "Pot" comes initially from the Latin word potare, meaning "drink". Another very important language is Sanskrit. This is a language even more ancient than Latin and Greek. Many European words come from Sanskrit. The dictionary entry below shows many words which all come from a very ancient word "Poti": Sanskrit is a magical language. This shows you the actual Sanskrit symbol. It looks a bit like a magic charm doesn't it. In your physics class you may use words like "potential difference" and "potential energy". The word potential comes from this source. Have you heard of the word "omni-potent". It means having power over all things, and it comes from Harry Potter's name.

Hermione J K Rowling modelled the character of Hermione on herself. Hermione has a magical name too. The name Hermione is related to the word "hermetic", which means the study of the magical arts. Hermione's name is best known from Shakespeare's play The Winter's Tale. That is a complicated story, but she is a Queen, who is wronged by her husband. Through her strength of character, her patience, and fate, all eventually ends well. Another form of the name, Hermia, is one of the heroines in Shakespeare's magical story A Midsummer Night's Dream.

King Leontes and Queen Hermione in The Winters Tale

Harry Potter and Commercialism People have recently been asking about the commercialisation of Harry Potter. There have been some articles in the papers about how the films and merchandising have become "big business". Some Harry Potter fans are concerned about this. But there is no need for concern, if you understand what it's about. The key to the question, and the answer, can be found in the books themselves. The characters in the books are generally "goodies" or "badies". The goodies are people like Harry and the Weasleys. Generally those people are not "materially minded". Harry has virtually no possessions, and the Weasleys have to scrape to make ends meet. On the other hand, the "baddies" tend to be characters like Dudley Dursley (a spoilt child with materialistic parents), and people like Draco Malfoy. So, materialism does have a significant place in the books. Buying Harry Potter merchandise doesn't have anything to do with magic or becoming a wizard. Harry didn't need anything material to be a wizard: he was born one.

Viewpoints and Perspectives Christian fundamentalists burning Harry Potter books. In the Middle Ages, these wicked men used to burn people. There has been some criticism that the Harry Potter stories have a non-Christian viewpoint, and should be therefore be burned. What Joanne's books, and those of authors like J R R Tolkein, do is to open the minds of children, and of adults, to the ideas of magic, and possibly to ideas about the supernatural. The criticism from some quarters is interesting. They seem to say that supernatural forces are real, but that children should not know about them. Who should? Should adults know about these things? Children are subjected to strong pressures and conditioning at school which attempts to deny the existence of magic and the supernatural, particularly from science subjects. When most children leave school, the ideas that underly religion, and morality, have been beaten out of them.

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