(no subject)
I had to do this for a silly thing we do at our weekly staff meetings. The idea is to share knowledge we've picked up over time with our co-workers. Me, I think if you're bagging something you know others might find useful just so you have something to say at the meeting, you're not helping anyone. As such, my "knowledge sharing" is never work related. I'm just a rebel that way.
Anyway, I figured what with Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban opening this Friday in the US and all, this would be topical and stuff. And I figured I'd also share it with y'all, even though the true HP fanatics probably know this already. Still, it's a journal update, so leave me alone.
Harry Potter and the Things You May Not Know
J.K. Rowling's full name is Joanna Kathleen Rowling. She prefers 'Jo.'
The book's original publisher, Bloomsbury, used Rowling's initials for the book covers because they thought boys wouldn't want to buy or read a book written by a woman.
Bloomsbury creates two covers for the book: one for kids and one for adults.
Rowling and Bloomsbury buried a time capsule containing children's predictions for the last book under King's Crossing Station in London.
Rowling came up with Harry Potter while on a train from Manchester to King's Crossing, but she had to wait to write her ideas down because she didn't have a working pen.
Rowling first recorded the names of the four Hogwart's houses on the back of an airplane vomit bag.
Before her success with Harry Potter, Rowling suffered from clinical depression. The Dementors from "The Prisoner of Azkaban" were inspired by her experience with the illness.
Rowling wrote most of the first book in Nicolson's, an Edinburgh café, because her apartment was too cold.
Before she sold her first first book, Rowling was so poor she had to type two copies of the manuscript because she couldn't afford to photocopy the original.
Thanks to the success of the Harry Potter machine, J.K. Rowling ranks at number four on Forbes' 2004 list of wealthiest celebrities, and is 552nd overall on Forbes' 2004 list of the wealthiest people in the world.
Bloomsbury paid the equivalent of only $4,000 for the first Harry Potter book. Two years later, the American publisher, Scholastic Press, paid $105,000 for the same book.
But it paid off. Since acquiring the rights to the Harry Potter books, Scholastic Press' stock has risen by 50 percent.
The British version of the first book is called "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone." It was renamed when it was published in the US.
Grossing over $968 million, "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" is the third-highest grossing movie of all time, behind "Titanic" at number one and "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" at number two. Together, the two HP movies have grossed $1,834,900,000.
Steven Spielberg wanted to direct "The Sorcerer's Stone," but backed out when Rowling wouldn't let him cast Haley Joel Osment as Harry. (Rowling wanted a British actor.)
The studio wanted to change Hermione's name to Bailey and add Quidditch cheerleaders and a girlfriend for Harry in the first movie. Rowling refused.
Nancy Stouffer, author of "The Legend of Rah and the Muggles," sued Rowling for alleged plagiarism. Stouffer lost.
J.K. Rowling had writer's block and other difficulties with "Chamber of Secrets" and "Goblet of Fire", making them her two favorites. But she says "The Prisoner of Azkaban" was the most fun to write.
The earliest drafts of "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" had Harry rescued by Hermione's father after Voldemort kills James and Lily.
"Goblet of Fire" is the fifth-best selling children's hardcover book of all time.
The five Potter books together have sold 250 million copies worldwide in 55 languages, including Latin and Ancient Greek.
Ron's cousin Malfada, a first-year member of Slytherin House, was edited out of "Goblet of Fire." The reporter, Rita Skeeter, picked up her role.
"Goblet of Fire" was originally published with the ghost of James Potter emerging from Voldermort's wand before Lily Potter. It should have been the other way around; Voldemort killed James before Lily. This was corrected in later editions of the book.
Rowling created Hermione Granger as a caricature of herself at the age of eleven.
In the early planning stages, Hermione's last name was "Puckle."
Ron's full name is Ronald Bilius Weasley.
Ron wasn't intentionally based on anyone, but he turned out to be like a friend of Rawling's named Sean.
Sean is also the owner of the car which inspired the flying Ford Anglia in "Chamber of Secrets."
Ron's last name was always "Weasley"; the only one of the three main characters who's last name didn't change. (I never did find out what Harry's original last name was.)
Harry's full name is Harry James Potter.
Harry's birthday is July 31st, the which is also J.K. Rowling's birthday.
Rowling took the name "Potter" from a family who lived four doors down from her when she was a young girl in Winterbourne, South Gloucestershire.
Ginny Weasley's name is short for "Ginevra."
Professor Gilderoy Lockhart is the only other character Rowling intentionally based on a real person, but she won't say who it is. Rowling said she is sure the person in question will never figure it out though.
Argus Filch is named after the watchman in Greek mythology who had eyes all over his body.
Hedwig is named after a saint (http://www.catholic-forum.com/saints/sainth03.htm).
Dumbledore is an old English word for bumblebee.
Snape is the name of a village in Suffolk (http://www.snapevillage.org.uk/indexfr.html).
The Hogwarts motto, "Drace Dormiens Nunquam Titillandus," is Latin for "Never tickle a sleeping dragon".
The inscription on the Mirror of Erised read backwards says, "I show not your face but your hearts desire".
Voldemort is French, a phrase meaning "flight from death." Or possibly referring to stealing a dead body; there is some confusion here.
There is no Wizard University.
A school in McLean, Virginia has started its own Quidditch team.
There are seven hundred fouls in Quidditch, all of which happened in the first Quidditch world cup in 1473.
The approximate value of a Galleon is about five pounds ($7.30 US or 8.00 Euro). The exchange rate varies.
The opening chapter of book six is an update of one of the original chapters edited out of "The Sorcerer's Stone."
Rumors Squelched
According to J.K. Rowling;
-- Albus Dumbledore is not Harry's grandfather, or in any other way related to Harry.
-- Lord Voldemort is not Harry's real father, or in any other way related to Harry.
-- Lily Potter, Harry's mother, is, in fact, dead.
-- Lily Potter was not a Death Eater.
-- There is no plan to write a series of books about James and Lily Potter after the Harry Potter series is complete.
-- Crookshanks is not an animagus. However, he isn't just a cat either.
-- Neville Longbottom is not Peter Pettigrew's son.
-- Book six is not called "Harry Potter and the Green Flame Torch" or "Harry Potter and the Mountain of Fantasy" or "Harry Potter and the Fortress of Shadows" or "Harry Potter and the Forest of Shadows."
-- Harry will not become the Minister of Magic at the end of book seven.
Rumors Not Squelched
-- Rowling has already written the last paragraph of the last book.
-- The last word in the last paragraph of the of the last book is "scar."
Resources:
http://www.jkrowling.com/
http://www.harrypotter.ws/site/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Potter
http://www.infoplease.com/ipea/A0106194.html
http://www.localaffairs.com/lathemes/thharrypotter.htm
http://www.imdb.com/boxoffice/alltimegross?region=world-wide
http://www.forbes.com/maserati/billionaires2004/cx_jw_0226rowlingbill04.html
(The two I found the most useful were http://www.jkrowling.com/ and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Potter.)
My search also took me to one very sad, very scary site dedicated to Hermione run by a socially-challenged 37 year-old. I mean, do we really need manips of Emma Watson's head on J-Lo's body? I don't think so.
Anyway, I figured what with Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban opening this Friday in the US and all, this would be topical and stuff. And I figured I'd also share it with y'all, even though the true HP fanatics probably know this already. Still, it's a journal update, so leave me alone.
Harry Potter and the Things You May Not Know
J.K. Rowling's full name is Joanna Kathleen Rowling. She prefers 'Jo.'
The book's original publisher, Bloomsbury, used Rowling's initials for the book covers because they thought boys wouldn't want to buy or read a book written by a woman.
Bloomsbury creates two covers for the book: one for kids and one for adults.
Rowling and Bloomsbury buried a time capsule containing children's predictions for the last book under King's Crossing Station in London.
Rowling came up with Harry Potter while on a train from Manchester to King's Crossing, but she had to wait to write her ideas down because she didn't have a working pen.
Rowling first recorded the names of the four Hogwart's houses on the back of an airplane vomit bag.
Before her success with Harry Potter, Rowling suffered from clinical depression. The Dementors from "The Prisoner of Azkaban" were inspired by her experience with the illness.
Rowling wrote most of the first book in Nicolson's, an Edinburgh café, because her apartment was too cold.
Before she sold her first first book, Rowling was so poor she had to type two copies of the manuscript because she couldn't afford to photocopy the original.
Thanks to the success of the Harry Potter machine, J.K. Rowling ranks at number four on Forbes' 2004 list of wealthiest celebrities, and is 552nd overall on Forbes' 2004 list of the wealthiest people in the world.
Bloomsbury paid the equivalent of only $4,000 for the first Harry Potter book. Two years later, the American publisher, Scholastic Press, paid $105,000 for the same book.
But it paid off. Since acquiring the rights to the Harry Potter books, Scholastic Press' stock has risen by 50 percent.
The British version of the first book is called "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone." It was renamed when it was published in the US.
Grossing over $968 million, "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" is the third-highest grossing movie of all time, behind "Titanic" at number one and "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" at number two. Together, the two HP movies have grossed $1,834,900,000.
Steven Spielberg wanted to direct "The Sorcerer's Stone," but backed out when Rowling wouldn't let him cast Haley Joel Osment as Harry. (Rowling wanted a British actor.)
The studio wanted to change Hermione's name to Bailey and add Quidditch cheerleaders and a girlfriend for Harry in the first movie. Rowling refused.
Nancy Stouffer, author of "The Legend of Rah and the Muggles," sued Rowling for alleged plagiarism. Stouffer lost.
J.K. Rowling had writer's block and other difficulties with "Chamber of Secrets" and "Goblet of Fire", making them her two favorites. But she says "The Prisoner of Azkaban" was the most fun to write.
The earliest drafts of "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" had Harry rescued by Hermione's father after Voldemort kills James and Lily.
"Goblet of Fire" is the fifth-best selling children's hardcover book of all time.
The five Potter books together have sold 250 million copies worldwide in 55 languages, including Latin and Ancient Greek.
Ron's cousin Malfada, a first-year member of Slytherin House, was edited out of "Goblet of Fire." The reporter, Rita Skeeter, picked up her role.
"Goblet of Fire" was originally published with the ghost of James Potter emerging from Voldermort's wand before Lily Potter. It should have been the other way around; Voldemort killed James before Lily. This was corrected in later editions of the book.
Rowling created Hermione Granger as a caricature of herself at the age of eleven.
In the early planning stages, Hermione's last name was "Puckle."
Ron's full name is Ronald Bilius Weasley.
Ron wasn't intentionally based on anyone, but he turned out to be like a friend of Rawling's named Sean.
Sean is also the owner of the car which inspired the flying Ford Anglia in "Chamber of Secrets."
Ron's last name was always "Weasley"; the only one of the three main characters who's last name didn't change. (I never did find out what Harry's original last name was.)
Harry's full name is Harry James Potter.
Harry's birthday is July 31st, the which is also J.K. Rowling's birthday.
Rowling took the name "Potter" from a family who lived four doors down from her when she was a young girl in Winterbourne, South Gloucestershire.
Ginny Weasley's name is short for "Ginevra."
Professor Gilderoy Lockhart is the only other character Rowling intentionally based on a real person, but she won't say who it is. Rowling said she is sure the person in question will never figure it out though.
Argus Filch is named after the watchman in Greek mythology who had eyes all over his body.
Hedwig is named after a saint (http://www.catholic-forum.com/saints/sainth03.htm).
Dumbledore is an old English word for bumblebee.
Snape is the name of a village in Suffolk (http://www.snapevillage.org.uk/indexfr.html).
The Hogwarts motto, "Drace Dormiens Nunquam Titillandus," is Latin for "Never tickle a sleeping dragon".
The inscription on the Mirror of Erised read backwards says, "I show not your face but your hearts desire".
Voldemort is French, a phrase meaning "flight from death." Or possibly referring to stealing a dead body; there is some confusion here.
There is no Wizard University.
A school in McLean, Virginia has started its own Quidditch team.
There are seven hundred fouls in Quidditch, all of which happened in the first Quidditch world cup in 1473.
The approximate value of a Galleon is about five pounds ($7.30 US or 8.00 Euro). The exchange rate varies.
The opening chapter of book six is an update of one of the original chapters edited out of "The Sorcerer's Stone."
Rumors Squelched
According to J.K. Rowling;
-- Albus Dumbledore is not Harry's grandfather, or in any other way related to Harry.
-- Lord Voldemort is not Harry's real father, or in any other way related to Harry.
-- Lily Potter, Harry's mother, is, in fact, dead.
-- Lily Potter was not a Death Eater.
-- There is no plan to write a series of books about James and Lily Potter after the Harry Potter series is complete.
-- Crookshanks is not an animagus. However, he isn't just a cat either.
-- Neville Longbottom is not Peter Pettigrew's son.
-- Book six is not called "Harry Potter and the Green Flame Torch" or "Harry Potter and the Mountain of Fantasy" or "Harry Potter and the Fortress of Shadows" or "Harry Potter and the Forest of Shadows."
-- Harry will not become the Minister of Magic at the end of book seven.
Rumors Not Squelched
-- Rowling has already written the last paragraph of the last book.
-- The last word in the last paragraph of the of the last book is "scar."
Resources:
http://www.jkrowling.com/
http://www.harrypotter.ws/site/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Potter
http://www.infoplease.com/ipea/A0106194.html
http://www.localaffairs.com/lathemes/thharrypotter.htm
http://www.imdb.com/boxoffice/alltimegross?region=world-wide
http://www.forbes.com/maserati/billionaires2004/cx_jw_0226rowlingbill04.html
(The two I found the most useful were http://www.jkrowling.com/ and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Potter.)
My search also took me to one very sad, very scary site dedicated to Hermione run by a socially-challenged 37 year-old. I mean, do we really need manips of Emma Watson's head on J-Lo's body? I don't think so.