Jo in Glasgow (longish - 'cos we enjoyed it)

[Pam Scruton]

No: HPFGUIDX 6494

This morning found around a thousand people (all ages, all sexes) 
waiting in the pouring rain to get into Ms Rowling's  Glasgow reading 
(for the Maggie's Cancer  Caring Centre).  We all had tickets but as 
the seats were unreserved it was first come, first to get a good 
seat.  My husband (not yet an HP reader) was astounded to find that 
although we arrived well before the doors were due to open there were 
already a couple of hundred people there.  It was a very cheerful 
crowd though, despite getting progressively wetter!

An unexpected bonus was the appearance of three snakes, an iguana 
(didn't realise they had such long tails), a couple of rats and a 
barn owl all with their keepers from Glasgow Zoo to talk about some 
of the creatures in Harry Potter and their Muggle equivalents.

Then Jo read some of Goblet of Fire (she's got a great Mad-Eye Moody 
voice), having first told us which page number she was starting on 
and then waiting for the book and page rustling to die down as people 
(mostly children) found the place to follow her reading.  After that 
she took questions from the audience.  She was absolutely delighted 
to find a pair of 'Weasley twins' - a pair of red-haired twin boys, 8 
years old.  

I don't think she told us anything that hasn't been said before. She 
likes to be called Jo and people all over the world usually do call 
her Jo when asked, with the exception of the USA where, apparently, 
they persist in addressing her as JK!  

I was interested to hear that the two Comic Relief books are now 
finished and will be out as scheduled in March.  When she said that 
book 5 would be Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix she was 
surprised at the audience reaction - clearly she thought that most 
people had heard about that already.  Phoenix  will be shorter than 
Goblet but longer than Azkhaban and she hasn't finished writing it 
yet.  I knew that she had had problems writing Goblet but was very 
surprised to learn that she had written and re-written Chapter 9 no 
less than thirteen times and almost gave up but was afraid she might 
get lynched if she did.    

In response to a specific Goblet question she first ascertained if 
there was ANYONE in the hall who had NOT read the book and finding 
that there were a few she would not answer the question in public but 
promised to answer it if the questioner (little girl of about 9) came 
to see her at the book signing afterwards.  

Jo thinks that Durmstrang is in northern Scandanavia - the very north 
of Sweden or Norway and that Beauxbatons is somewhere near Cannes in 
the south of France.  She says she doesn't know for certain because, 
of course, the exact whereabouts of these schools is a closely-
guarded secret to which she is not privy!  She confirmed that she may 
well kill off more characters but probably not the Dursleys because 
it is too much fun torturing them!  She said that Harry wasn't based 
on anyone in particular but came totally out of her head.  She said 
that Gilderoy Lockheart, on the other hand,  was based on a real 
person - with very few changes - but she wouldn't tell us on whom and 
she said the real-life character was too dim ever to realise that he 
was the inspiration for Gilderoy.   

She was asked about the film and she confirmed the November 2001 
release date and said that the only reason she had sold the film 
rights was so that she could watch a Quidditch match.  She said that 
she had seen some of the film but didn't express any sort of opinion 
about it - in fact my heart rather sank when she paused reflectively 
and said, "We shall see."  Somehow I felt that if she had thought the 
film came at all close to her view of the HP world she would have 
been a lot more enthusiastic. 

At the end members of the audience were invited up onto the stage, 
row by row, to have their books signed (one book per person, no 
dedications - much to the chagrin of a few people who seemed to have 
brought rucksacks full of books to be signed).  

It was a most enjoyable morning - we will all quite happily stand in 
the rain waiting to hear Jo Rowling any time!

Pam