Jack Goldstein - 101 Amazing Harry Potter Facts

Title Page

101 AMAZING

HARRY POTTER FACTS

by

Jack Goldstein

and

Frankie Taylor

Publisher Information

Published in 2012 by

Andrews UK Limited

www.andrewsuk.com

The rights of Jack Goldstein and Frankie Taylor to be identified as the Authors of this Work has been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1998

Copyright 2012 Jack Goldstein and Frankie Taylor

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser. Any person who does so may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

Disclaimer: All facts presented in this title were gained from common and reputable sources in print and on the internet. If any detail within this title is found to be incorrect, the author will be happy to publish a corrected version.

Introduction

Through JK Rowlings series of Harry Potter books and the eight films, we have been introduced to a fantastic and magical world that Im sure many of us would like to visit. But what is the story behind what we see and read, and what are some little-known facts about the books, the films, the actors and the characters? This book contains 101 amazing facts which you most likely didnt know!

We hope you enjoy reading this book as much as we enjoyed researching and writing it!

Read on to find out about the scrapped musical version of the series, how the first book was almost made into a CGI feature, and some interesting differences between the films and the books...

Daniel and Harry

1. Daniels full name is Daniel Jacob Radcliffe.
2. His father is a literary agent and his mother a casting agent.
3. Daniel has said he wasnt very good at school and found the work really difficult - although he did achieve three A grades!
4. Daniels parents didnt tell him about the role for Harry Potter because the contract required shooting all seven films in Los Angeles and California.
5. Along with most of the cast, during the last day of filming Daniel openly wept.
6. Harrys full name is Harry James Potter.
7. It was decided that Harry was to be an orphan because he needed to be free from the fear of disappointing his parents.
8. Harrys pain and longing for his parents became much stronger than in initial drafts after J.K Rowling lost her mother in December 1990.
9. Harrys Birthday is July 31 st .
10. Unlike many other characters in the stories, Harry is not based on a real-life person.

The Books

1. In The Goblet of Fire, there is a character called Natalie McDonald. A heart-warming story is behind her... Natalie was a real nine-year-old girl who was a huge Harry Potter fan. She had incurable leukaemia however, and knew she did not have long to live. Natalie wrote to JK Rowling to ask her what happened in the next book, but sadly by the time JK Rowling wrote back Natalie had died of her illness - so Rowling immortalised Natalie in the book.
2. JK Rowlings birthday is on the same day as Harrys.
3. There are more differences than you might think between the American and British versions of the books. Not only was Philosophers Stone changed to Sorcerers Stone, but English phrases such as sneakers, jumper and car park were changed to trainers, sweater and parking lot.
4. Joanna JK Rowling does not actually have a middle name - the K is taken from her grandmothers name, Kathleen.
5. The books have been translated into 67 languages - including Latin.
6. Rowling got a number of the medieval sounding words from Harry Potter (such as toadflax) from a famous real book written in the 1600s called Culpeppers Complete Herbal .
7. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is the fastest-selling book of all time - 11 million copies were shifted on the day it was released.
8. On the day The Prisoner of Azkaban was released, Bloomsbury (the publisher) asked stores not to put the book on sale until schools closed - in a bid to stop children playing truant to buy it!
9. A handwritten copy of JK Rowlings Tales of Beedle the Bard sold for 4 million dollars!
10. More than 450 million Harry Potter books have been sold in total.

Emma and Hermione

1. Emmas full name is Emma Charlotte Duerre Watson.
2. After eight auditions and having only previously acted in school plays, she was cast to play Hermione Granger at the tender age of nine.
3. Emma was nominated for five awards after her performance in The Philosophers Stone.
4. Emma starred in The Queens Handbag - a mini edition of Harry Potter to celebrate Queen Elizabeths II 80 th birthday.
5. In 2007, Emma - along with co-stars Daniel and Rupert - made imprints of their hands, feet and wands outside Graumans Chinese Theater in Hollywood.
6. Hermiones full name is Hermione Jean Granger.
7. J.K Rowling initially intended for her surname to be Puckle.
8. Hermiones Parents are both dentists, which makes her muggle-born.
9. J.K Rowling has said that Hermiones insecurities and fear of failure resemble herself at a young age.
10. The name Hermione is derived from Shakespeares The Winters Tale . J.K Rowling wanted to give the character an unusual name so fewer girls could be teased over it.

The Films

1. The Prisoner of Azkaban was the lowest grossing film of the Harry Potter series - however it still made more than the highest grossing Twilight film!
2. Steven Spielberg was approached to direct the first Harry Potter film - but he wanted to make it as a Pixar-style animated movie.
3. During filming, Daniel Radcliffe wore out almost 70 wands; he also went through 160 pairs of glasses.
4. The brooms in the films are actually made from lightweight aluminium.
5. Warwick Davis actually played two roles in the Harry Potter films - Professor Flitwick in the first four films, and Griphook in The Deathly Hallows.
6. The twins who play Fred and George (James and Oliver Phelps) arent actually redheads.
7. The films have taken a total of almost 8 BILLION dollars at cinemas worldwide.
8. The biggest grossing film was the last one - The Deathly Hallows part II . It took almost $1.4 billion at the box office.
9. The films were all shot at Leavesden Studios in England. Of course, there have also been many other locations used, such as Gloucester Cathedral for some outside scenes, and an Oxford University dining hall.
10. Despite the fact that the films often differ in some significant ways to the books, JK Rowling actually helped write the scripts of all of the films. Apart from the fifth movie, they were all scripted by Steve Kloves (Michael Goldenberg wrote Order of the Phoenix).

Rupert and Ron

1. Ruperts full name is Rupert Alexander Lloyd Grint.
2. Amazingly, he owns an ice cream truck!
3. Similar to his large family in Harry Potter, Rupert is the eldest of five children.
4. Rupert joined a local theatre school and was cast as a fish in Noahs Ark and a donkey in another play.
5. Like his co-star Emma Watson, Rupert had never acted professionally before Harry Potter.
6. Ronalds full name is Ronald Bilius Weasley.
7. Although not intended at the start, Ron is inspired by J.K Rowlings best friend.
8. Rons insecurities come from a number of factors, those being: he is not an excellent Quidditch player nor a noteworthy study, he was not the daughter his mother always dreamt of and often although not purposefully he is overshadowed by Harrys fame.
9. Before Ron begins his adult life working as an Auror in the Ministry and Magic, he joins Fred and George at Weasleys Wizard Wheezes, a shop which becomes a huge success.