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Posted: 20 years ago

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Mon 20 Jun 2005

MAGIC WORDS: Katie MacDonald, nine, swots up on her Harry Potter facts.
Picture: KENNY SMITH

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Harry Potter fan wins Evening News quiz to meet JK Rowling

JOANNA VALLELY

A WEEKEND of wizardry lies in store for a lucky Capital schoolgirl.

Harry Potter fan Katie MacDonald will hear the latest adventures of Harry Potter straight from the lips of his creator after winning an Evening News competition.

JK Rowling's special midnight reading is to be the highlight of a magical two days at Edinburgh Castle - which will be transformed into Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry - that Katie will attend.

Katie, nine, from Rankin Drive, Newington, was thrilled to have won the competition, which involved proving her knowledge of Harry and the Hogwarts gang by answering five questions.

"I am really looking forward to meeting JK Rowling and being at Edinburgh Castle," said Katie.

"My favourite character is Hermione because she's very stubborn and brainy and good at spells."

Stepmum Debbie MacDonald broke the good news when Katie got back from school on Friday.

Debbie said: "Katie loves everything about Harry Potter and magic. She is really excited.

"We bought the paper especially to enter the competition and Katie has seen the three Harry Potter films and bought all the books."

Katie said the competition was hard, but Debbie encouraged her to enter and she spent ages looking up all the answers in the books and on the internet.

As a big Harry Potter fan herself, Debbie knew some of the answers, but she let Katie do her own research.

"Debbie told me I'd won when I got home from school and I was so excited I just ran over and jumped on her and she lifted me up in the air!" said Katie.

The primary five pupil at Bruntsfield Primary said she was looking forward to telling all her school friends about her upcoming treat today.

Seventy children from around the world are being given the chance to meet the Harry Potter author in the Capital.

On the stroke of midnight on July 15, JK Rowling will appear, as if by magic, in the Great Hall at the castle to launch the new instalment of the Harry Potter saga, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.

She will then read from the eagerly-awaited book and give each child a collectible signed copy.

On Saturday youngsters get the chance to read the new book at the castle before a banquet in the evening, while the grown-ups are entertained elsewhere.

And on Sunday, the children, aged between eight and 16, turn into cub reporters for a press conference with JK Rowling, when they will get the chance to put their own questions to the author.

Afterwards they retire to a media room to file their report.

Katie said she would take Debbie and her dad Gerry and one-year-old brother Sean to share the treat.

The penultimate book in the series, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince sees the wizard in his sixth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

At the end of the previous book, Minister for Magic Cornelius Fudge confirmed evil wizard Lord Voldemort was alive and well and ready to do new evil.

In the midst of the battle of good and evil, Harry Potter and his friends, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, try to get through the school year as Voldemort's power increases.

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Posted: 20 years ago

Set your Harry Potter clock

Counting the days until "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" is released? In keeping with the massive corporate control being exerted over the Potter franchise, publisher Scholastic can do the counting for you instead! Your very own countdown clock to the July 16 release can be downloaded to your desktop at: www.scholastic.com /harrypotter/funstuff/countdown/.

Still love the books at heart? Moved on to other things? Longtime fan? New convert? Planning any events for the Book VI release? We'd love to hear from you all. Send us your thoughts and plans at

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Posted: 20 years ago

Harry Potter Filming Returns To UK After Stars Safety Fears

June 20, 2005, 6:09:30

RADCLIFFE'S PARENTS MOVE LOCATION OF FIFTH POTTER FILM

The filming of HARRY POTTER AND THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX is returning to its original British location after the parents of HARRY POTTER actor DANIEL RADCLIFFE voiced safety fears over filming in the Czech Republic.

The fifth big screen installment appeared destined to have a Czech location after WARNER BROS executives announced earlier this year (05) they were dismantling movie sets at Leavesden studios in Hertfordshire, and rebuilding them in Prague to save production costs.

But Daniel's parents, ALAN RADCLIFFE and MARCIA GRESHAM, told producers they were concerned at letting their son - who turns 15 next month - spending long periods of time in a city increasingly famous for its wild nightlife and growing sex industry.

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Posted: 20 years ago

Potter fans theorize about who dies in upcoming book By Jane Jackson, jacksonj@qconline.com

Johannes Bus Service, Inc.

Everybody on the bus

Since author J.K. Rowling confirmed a character will die in her sixth book, "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince," fans are gazing into their crystal balls, guessing who will cast their final spell. On July 16, thousands of children and adults worldwide will flood bookstores to grab the eagerly anticipated book. But until then, local fans are brewing their own theories. Web reports from England said a lot of online bets were placed for Hogwarts professor Albus Dumbledore after two thieves stole a copy of the new book in April. But any of the characters from Harry's love interest, Cho Chang, to Hogwarts caretaker and animal lover Rubeus Hagrid could meet their fate. "Book six does exactly what I wanted it to do, and even if nobody else likes it (and some won't), I know it will remain one of my favourites of the series," Ms. Rowling said on her official Web site. "I don't think it's going to be the three main characters because that would ruin the story," said 15-year-old Stephanie Upchurch. Serving on a mission trip with Indiana-based Fall Creek Wesleyan Church in the Quad-Cities, the huge fan from McCordsville, Ind., owns the movies and multiple copies of the books. She felt Hagrid could get the ax. "Maybe he'll have a new creature to take care of and something might happen to him," Miss Upchurch said. But Tyler Oesterreich, 14, of Indianapolis, Ind., believed Cho will go. "She's important to Harry, and he's lost a lot of important things ... (like) Sirius Black and his parents," Mr. Oesterreich said. "Maybe Voldemort will kidnap her." Yet could red-haired scaredy-cat Ron Weasley be eliminated? Tanisha Blanch, 8, thought so. Swimming at Fejevary Pool with her family in Davenport, the tiny Rock Island fan believes "he's not brave like Hermione." And at Borders in Davenport, Bobbie Cotton, 33, also predicted Ron will die. The Davenport mother of two believes Ron will somehow die while trying to save Harry. "I think it will be something that brings Ron and his whole family into the big light ... and make him and his family infamous," Mrs. Cotton said. Reserving his copy, Coalton Godwin, 10, said "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban," and "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" are his favorite books. But searching for clues to who will be killed in the next book has left him baffled. "She didn't give any clues in the fifth book, so I really don't know," the Silvis resident said. Instead of searching his crystal ball, Davenport parent J.R. Meier will just have to wait with the rest of the world. He loves listening to the "Harry Potter" books on tapes or on CDs.

"I have no idea who's going to die," Mr. Meier, 36, said. "I'm just looking forward to the new book."

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Posted: 20 years ago

'Harry Potter' programs to be offered

Harry Potter" programs will be offered at the east Columbia library to celebrate the new book, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Participants can see Potter movies, then read the books.

The movies are rated PG -- parental guidance suggested. Children to age 12 must be accompanied by an adult. Each movie is about 2 1/2 hours. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone will be shown at 6:30 p.m. July 12; Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, at 6:30 p.m. July 13; and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, at 6:30 p.m. July 14. Tickets, which are required, are available at the children's desk a half-hour before the program begins. Registration for the movie nights begins July 5.

"Muggles Midnight Madness," a program of wizard crafts, a magician, costume parade, movies and other attractions for children ages 9 and older with an adult will be held from 9 p.m. to 12:30 p.m. July 15. Registration, which begins June 29, is required.

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Posted: 20 years ago

Jack Thompson teaming with Harry Potter?

Posted on Mon, 20-Jun-2005

According to The Sunday Herald Sun, vet great Jack Thompson - last seen on a hovering device in "Star Wars Episode II : Attack of the Clones", much to the dismay of his fanclub - is in talks to join the cast of "December Boys", starring opposite Daniel Radcliffe.

"Harry Potter" himself, Radcliffe, arrives down under within the month to check out where he'll be plonking his frame for the next few months.

Based on the novel of the same title by Michael Noonan, the film revolves around four young orphan boys in 1960s Australia. Having all but given up hope of ever being adopted, the tight-knit friends are on a seaside holiday one summer when they find themselves competing for a place in the home and family they all long for.

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Posted: 20 years ago

Meanwhile: Harry Potter and the gilded book launch

By Alex Beam The Boston Globe
BOSTON
SATURDAY, JUNE 18, 2005

BOSTON The July 15 midnight launch of J.K. Rowling's sixth novel, "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince," will be the largest book introduction in U.S. history. By comparison, when Alfred A. Knopf brought out Bill Clinton's autobiography last year, it was a certified Big Deal, with a first printing of 1.5 million books. Earlier this year, Doubleday printed 2.8 million copies of John Grisham's novel "The Broker."

But in the land of Hogwarts, those numbers are as small as Professor Gilderoy Lockhart's harp-wielding dwarves. For Rowling's last novel, published in 2003, Scholastic printed 6.8 million copies, and it wasn't nearly enough. That print run reached 9.3 million, the largest in U.S. history, the publisher says. For "Half-Blood Prince," the company plans to have 10.8 million copies ready for Harry's American fans alone.

This is now the third mega-launch of a Harry Potter novel, with its own intriguing subplots:

I: Pooped Potter Party People

For the 2000 release of "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire," many bookstores held "Rocky Horror Picture Show"-type parties for little fans who peered over the sales counters dressed as their favorite Rowling characters. Now the once-spontaneous parties are practically de rigueur. The Barnes & Noble bookstore at the Prudential Center in Boston was hoping to show the Harry Potter movies inside the Huntington Avenue arcade - no go - but it still plans to lay on extra security for its Friday night Potter launch party, which will probably attract 1,500 customers.

Leo Landry, manager of the Children's Book Shop in Brookline, Massachusetts, remembers the "Goblet" launch five years ago. "That was a blast, because it was so unexpected. Now it's become a little more painful, because there is all this party shopping. We hear some other store is really pulling out the stops, and we say, 'Well, we have chocolate frogs."'

II. The Little Guy Shall Be Crushed

Independent stores like Landry's are at a huge disadvantage in Potter-mania. The big chains offer a 40 percent discount on the $30 book. Online, walmart.com is offering 44 percent off. Amazon.com, whose free shipping policies have had a predatory effect on rivals in the past, is again offering what looks like a loss leader to stifle competition. If you pre-order "Prince" before July 11 on Amazon, the company guarantees arrival on Saturday, July 16, at standard shipping rates. Neither Barnes & Noble's Web site nor Wal-Mart is matching this guarantee. Scholastic and Amazon declined to discuss the details of their shipping plans.

III. This Book Sells Itself

You won't hear J.K. Rowling complaining about her grueling book tour, because there isn't going to be one. She has chosen two U.S. media outlets for interviews, Time magazine and NBC's "Today" show, and plans to speak with the operators of two Web sites, www. mugglenet.com and www.the-leaky-cauldron.org. According to The Times of London, "the increasingly reclusive" Rowling, who owns homes in London and Edinburgh, hasn't spoken to a British journalist in two years.

IV. Will the Loons Come Out?

Essential to any Harry Potter launch is the inevitable counter-crusade from publicity-mongering Christians condemning Rowling's celebration of witchcraft. I asked Richard Abanes, who was promoting a book called "Harry Potter and the Bible: The Menace Behind the Magick" when I wrote about him in 2001, if he had anything planned for the release of "Prince." Unfortunately, Abanes remembered my column of four years ago, an outing he called "one of the most biased, prejudicial, ignorant, irreverent, inflammatory and misleading pieces of journalism I have ever read."

Wait - he's not finished. "You labeled me a Christian educator, rather than what I am - i.e., a nationally recognized, best-selling, award-winning journalist who writes on cults, the occult and world religions, who has written several books on social-religious issues." Now that's part of the permanent record, and I won't make that mistake again.

(Alex Beam's column appears regularly in The Boston Globe.)

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Posted: 20 years ago

New Harry Potter gets overwhelming response

IANS[ SUNDAY, JUNE 19, 2005 09:05:34 AM]

Ask P M Sukumar of Penguin India how big is a new Harry Potter in the country and he talks of 100,000 books to be sold on the very first day.

"In the year of release, a new 'Harry Potter' is worth about 15 per cent of our annual business. Yes, it's huge."

That's why a month before "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" comes to the market, Sukumar is taking no chances - his distribution network is as well guarded as any.

"We are having armed guards not only at our warehouses but also at the warehouses of all our distributors. Last time, 50,000 Harry Potter books were sold on the first day. This time we are expecting 100,000 books. Each time a new Harry Potter releases, it just gets bigger and bigger."

Little wonder then that fans and booksellers are pulling up their socks for the big J K Rowling release, which is expected to outsell all previous Harry Potters.

"We are planning to host some magic shows and presentations with extracts from the book," said Sandip Dutt, CEO of BookCafe, which has 20 stores around the country, including six in Delhi. "We are also planning to offer some discounts and give away gifts to our customers," Dutt said.

At the Teksons bookstore, Subhash Arora said orders for the Rs.895 book were pouring in by the dozen. "We are giving a discount for pre-orders which is bringing the price down to Rs.700 and people are really queuing up to pick up copies," said Arora.

"There is a huge hype associated with this book. Readers are really excited."

Sushmita Narayan is one such reader. Narayan said that she and her 13-year-old daughter were some of the first people in the country to buy instantly when the earlier Harry Potters were released.

She is planning to do the same this time. "This is one area where my daughter and I agree completely," said Narayan. "We need our Harry Potters instantly."

One place they could try the morning of the release is Midlands where owner Mirza Afsar Baig says the shop would open at 6 a m on the day of the release.

"We want to open the shop really early because the demand is always overwhelming, people actually drive out early in the morning to get their hands on a new Harry Potter."

The magic of Harry Potter, said schoolteacher Arabinda Goswami, lies in the fact that the essential themes of the book are what people see all around them in the modern world.

"What are the books about? Magic and evil - aren't those the things we see around us all the time?" asked Goswami. "The reason the books are so successful is that they are so close to our lives."

Exactly why Fact and Fiction's Ajit Vikram Singh believes they need no special promotion. "How does one promote a Harry Potter? It's already so hugely hyped. Everyone loves it anyway, no extra promotion can add to anything."

Edited by Monaji - 20 years ago

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Posted: 20 years ago

Harry Potter star signs on for Aussie film

Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe has signed on to play an orphan in a new Australian film, December Boys.

The film, due to start shooting in South Australia in November, is a coming-of-age story about a group of four adolescent orphans competing to be adopted by a childless couple.

The film will be directed by Rod Hardy, whose credits include TV hits The X Files and The Practice.

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Posted: 20 years ago

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Barnes & Noble expects record Potter sales

Barnes & Noble, Inc. announced Monday that pre-orders for "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" have topped 750,000 copies, well ahead of the pace of the last Potter book, which came out two years ago.

"The Harry Potter series has shattered all records in publishing history, and the enormous amount of pre-orders to date confirm that the latest Harry Potter title will be the most popular yet," Barnes & Noble CEO Steve Riggio said in a statement. "In fact, we predict that our pre-orders will top one million."

The new Potter book, the sixth in J.K. Rowling's fantasy series, is scheduled to come out July 16 with a first printing of 10.8 million copies. "Half-Blood Prince" has topped the best seller lists of Barnes & Noble.com and Amazon.com, with only brief interruptions, since its release was announced last December.

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Harry Potter Filming Returns To UK After Stars Safety Fears

Meanwhile: Harry Potter and the gilded book launch

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