Frankie Taylor

he Harry Potter books have been translated into more than sixty-five languages – including the ‘dead’ language of Latin

In the books, Hermione is described as having huge front teeth and frizzy hair. Most people would agree this isn’t a particularly accurate description of Emma Watson!

Plenty of fan-favourite scenes didn’t make it into the film, but perhaps the one that seemed to disappoint the most was where Luna Lovegood is commentator for a Quidditch match, and rather than talking about the game starts pointing out interestingly shaped clouds – amongst other hilarious things! Most fans thought Evanna Lynch did a great job of portraying Luna, and reckoned that scene would have been an absolute blast!

The very first Harry Potter book was the UK version of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone and was published by Bloomsbury on the 30th June, 1997. If you happen to own a first-edition copy, count yourself very lucky – they sell for more than $50,000 these days!

you think of other great film wizards, one of the first that probably comes to mind is that of Gandalf in the Lord of the Rings series. Gandalf was played by Sir Ian McKellen, who was actually offered Dumbledore’s role after Harris died. Yet he turned it down for two reasons. Firstly, he felt it was too similar to his other famous fantasy outing (and actors generally hate being typecast). Secondly, he refused to step into a role previously played by Harris because he’d called McKellen a “dreadful actor” not long before his death. Ouch!

During his time at the school, he was pretty much a perfect student... but not always. He once set the curtains of his dormitory on fire ‘by accident’ (he claimed) – saying rather suspiciously that he hadn’t liked them anyway!