JKR on Desert Island Discs (II)

[Neil Ward]

No: HPFGUIDX 5141

Okay, here are a few bits and bobs from the "Desert Island Discs" interview
with JKR...

***

JKR's friends from Exeter University think it's hilarious that she was given
an honorary degree.  One of them suggested that an engraved ashtray in the
University bar would have been more appropriate.

She mentions children writing to her from overseas, asking thing like "Why
hasn't Marcus Flint left the school?".  In that case she replied "He is so
stupid he had to do another year.either that or I made a mistake.  But I
prefer answer (a)".  

She plays the guitar very badly and admires Johnny Marr's playing (referring
to The Smiths' track she chose).

As a child she was a daydreamer with a rich fantasy life - "freckly, squat,
with thick national health glasses, a bit of a know it all".  She read
"anything" and nothing was banned in her house, so she read a lot of adult
novels at a very young age. However, there was no classical music in her
parents' house.

She thinks she that she may have reflected some of her own childhood in
writing about Harry because home was "a difficult place to be".  Her mother
was very ill with a severe form of multiple sclerosis.  She died at 45 (when
JKR was about six months into writing PS) and never knew of her daughter's
success.  

The name Dumbledore came straight out of Thomas Hardy's "The Mayor of
Casterbridge" - an old word meaning a bumblebee (which we'd heard before).

The word parselmouth, she thinks, is slang word for someone with a malformed
mouth, now disused.  She has always collected and stored weird words.

She finds it funny that two groups are really supportive of what she's
doing: those who believe passionately in the boarding school system and
practising witches. She thinks it's very strange to have united these two
groups, but doesn't agree with either of their points of view.  She
commented that people in book signing queues come up to her and whisper
secretively, "I'm trying the spells".

She admits that, in all the fuss over GoF, being in public eye was not an
enjoyable experience.  When she was poised to write about Rita Skeeter, she
thought "they will think this is my response".  She claims it wasn't and
that the character was originally called Bridget and appeared in an early
draft of "Philosopher's Stone".  She had her in the Leaky Cauldron scene,
rushing towards Harry trying to get an interview.  Eventually, though, she
decided that Rita Skeeter would be much better placed in the middle of the
series.

That's about it.  Anything new in there? 

Neil

PS: I have a tape of the full programme (45 minutes).


            Flying-Ford-Anglia

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   "Then, dented, scratched and steaming, 
   the car rumbled off into the darkness, 
   its rear lights blazing angrily"

 [Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets]

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