WKYU-TV Helps Discover The
Real World Of Harry Potter

June 16, 2003

Bowling Green, Ky. - The enchanted world of Harry Potter, the bespectacled boy-wizard, has taken the muggle world by storm. And now "Discovering The Real World Of Harry Potter" brings a real-life focus to the Potter phenomenon by uncovering the people, the legends, the myth, the magic and the real places that inspired the tale.

To celebrate the June 21 release of "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix," WKYU-PBS will air the documentary Sunday, June 22, at 7 p.m. and again Sunday, June 29, at 5 p.m.

Staff from WKYU-PBS will also be on hand for the festivities at the Bowling Green Barnes & Noble's Midnight Magic Party, beginning at 11 p.m. on June 20. When the book goes on sale at 12:01 a.m., Barbara Deeb will read aloud from the book to entertain customers as they wait in line to purchase their own copies.

In "Discovering The Real World Of Harry Potter," J. K. Rowling shares her feelings about being the author of the most popular children's books of this generation and discusses her inspiration. The film visits the locations Rowling transformed into Harry's world of witches, ghosts, wizards, potions and spells.

The journey begins in the village where J.K. Rowling grew up. On Nicholl's Lane, she met Ian Potter, a childhood friend with whom she played games of "witches and wizards" and who inspired the Potter name. Next, a trip beneath Platform 9 in King's

Cross Station reveals it to be the burial place of an ancient Queen. The film also investigates the origins of the Philosopher's Stone (Sorcerer's Stone in America) and tracks down the real ghost of the Grey Lady of Chillingham Castle on the border of England and Scotland.

In the oldest house in Paris, Jean Dubois, an 82-year-old disciple of alchemist Nicholas Flamel, tells of his journey in search of the true Philosopher's Stone. In Merlin's cave, Kevin Carlyon, a modern white witch from England, talks about the significance of owls in magic, how magical wands are made and how to fly a broomstick properly.

In Scotland, viewers discover the private boarding school Gordonstoun, a possible model for Hogwarts that boasts such alumni as Phillip Mountbatten, the Duke of Edinburgh and Prince Charles of Wales. The founding headmaster was renowned as a wizard who built a round courtyard in order to escape from the Devil. The school is divided into "houses" and, just as at Hogwarts, houses compete fiercely against each other in sports. The film shows medieval games that have strong similarities to "Quidditch" and explains the rules of Rowling's magical sport.

The quest to discover the true origins of Harry Potter draws on the history, customs and legends of ancient Egypt, Greece and Britain. There are similarities in the hero's journey undertaken by Harry Potter and those journeys taken by the gods, mortals, wizards and kings, such as King Arthur and Homer's Odysseus.

Using vivid location footage, interviews, dramatizations and cutting-edge computer graphics, this revealing documentary brings new dimensions to the history, alchemy and mythology behind the magic of Harry Potter.

WKYU-PBS, the Public Television Service of Western Kentucky University, can be seen on broadcast channel 24 and on cable television systems throughout Southcentral Kentucky.

HARRY POTTER'S SPECIAL PLACES AND THEIR REAL LIFE INSPIRATIONS

1. KING'S CROSS STATION, LONDON
The real-life burial place of Queen Boudicca and the departure place for Harry Potter as he begins his journey to Hogwarts on the "Hogwarts Express."

2. NICHOLL'S LANE, WINTERBOURNE
J.K. Rowling's childhood home that was the model of Harry's home on "Privet Drive."

3. THE SILVER VAULTS OF CHANCERY LANE
The spectacular underground home of some of the finest collections of silver in the world inspired "Gringott's Banks," the witches' bank run by goblins where Harry collects the fortune left for him by his parents.

4. ALNWICK CASTLE, NORTHUMBERLAND
Inspired the exterior appearance of Hogwarts School.

5. GOATHLAND STEAMRAIL STATION, YORKSHIRE
The real-life equivalent of "Hogsmeade Station" which is the arrival station for Hogwarts School.

6. GORDONSTOUN SCHOOL, ELGIN, SCOTLAND
Home to Sir Robert Gordon, a wizard, is a boarding school with similar features to Hogwarts including secret passageways.

7. CHILLINGHAM CASTLE, NORTHUMBERLAND
This real-life castle is said to be home to the Grey Lady, who appears in the Harry Potter books as a ghost of Hogwarts.

8. TINTAGEL, CORNWALL
The place where Merlin is said to have brought the orphaned Arthur to be reared before he became king. Also the location of Merlin's cave where it is said one can still hear Merlin's voice. The Arthurian legend features prominently in the Harry Potter books.

9. THE OLDEST HOUSE IN PARIS
It was built by the real Nicholas Flamel, who is believed to have created the real Philosopher's Stone, both in the Harry Potter books and in real life.

For more information, contact WKYU-PBS at (270) 745-2400. More WKU news is available on the World Wide Web at www.wku.edu. If you'd like to receive WKU news via e-mail, send a message to WKUNews@wku.edu.

-WKU-