Bowler/Classes/Ford Anglia

[Neil Ward]

No: HPFGUIDX 8040

BOWLER HATS

Kassie asked:

<<<Not to sound like a stupid american, but this has been driving me crazy.  
What does a bowler hat look like?  can someone describe it to me?>>>

Dee suggested:

<<<Ok....Neil, folks, correct me if I'm wrong, but I always pictured a bowler as the hat that Mr. Banks wears in the Mary Poppins, the one the Bankers "pop".>>>

I think a bowler hat (bowler) is similar to an American Derby; it's a short, hard, felt hat (usually black) with a rounded dome and an even brim which turns up slightly at the edges.  The hat Dee described is a top hat, opera hat or stovepipe, if IIR-Mary Poppins-C.  

Contrary to popular belief, bowlers aren't worn by *every* British businessman.  An American friend of mine told me that when he first moved to London he expected all the businessmen to be wearing bowler hats, carrying rolled umbrellas and sporting military moustaches.  He was quite disappointed when they weren't.  


HOGWARTS' CLASSES

Firstly, the Wizarding Economics class is, naturally enough, called ECOGNOMICS.  I imagine that it's taught by Griphook on release from Gringott's.

***

I suggested: <LINGOMANCY ­ the study of spellcasting languages;> and Dave H said: "It seems to [me] this would be a part of Ancient Runes".

I thought Runes were stones marked with glyphs, that were used for divining, rather like Tarot Cards?  

I'll add that Lingomancy would be paired with MAGICAL TONGUES - the study of such languages as Mermish, Elvish and Gobbledegook.

***

Dave also asked:

<<<A quick OT question: What is Sex Ed. like in the UK?  Over here
in the States you need a note from your parents to take it, and at that
they only discuss STD.  (The rest they assume you learn for yourself
behind the bike sheds.)>>>

I'm not sure if there is something specific on the curriculum these days: there really ought to be.  In my day (we're going back some years now), at primary level - about age 8 -  we had a "meet a real live baby" session, which was meant to focus discussion on matters sexual.  As it happened, I'd already met the baby and its mother, since they were my own brother and Mummy.  This didn't stop me piping up with the question: "Can someone be a man and a woman at the same time?" to which the teacher replied: "Yes, but it's very rare."  At secondary level, it was a combination of drawing the gonads of gentlemen and ladies in Biology lessons and discussing human sexuality with a 'trendy singing vicar' in Divinity (religious instruction).  Behind the bike sheds was certainly the best place to learn about sex and drugs and rock'n'roll.


FORD ANGLIA

We're fairly sure that the Weasleys' car is a nippy 1960s Ford Anglia (a 105E) and not the earlier design, which was popular in the 40s and 50s.  The 105E is depicted on the cover of CoS (UK edition) and JKR arrived in one when she launched GoF at King's Cross Station this year.   It is a tiny car, which is important to the humour in references to the magically roomy seats and capacious boot.  In reality, four people squeezed into a Muggle version would feel a bit like four gorillas in a shoebox.

Neil (105E - also with a roomy seat, but on a diet)
_____________________________________

Flying-Ford-Anglia

"Ron, full of turkey and cake and with nothing 
mysterious to bother him, fell asleep almost 
as soon as he'd drawn the curtains of his
four-poster."

[Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone]



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