Witches upset by broomstick style

[Belsawyer (E-mail)]

No: HPFGUIDX 22167

I thought people might find this interesting.

http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20010709/od/potter_dc_1.html
Monday July 9 7:57 AM ET

Witches Upset by Broomstick Style

LONDON (Reuters) - Hollywood studio Warner Bros has had a spell cast on it
for showing apprentice wizard Harry Potter (news - web sites) riding his
broomstick with the brush part at the back.
A high priest of British White Witches said broomsticks should be ridden the
other way round, and has wished for the film to do badly at the box office
until the studio admits it got it wrong.
``Warner Bros claims the film is an accurate portrayal of things that happen
in witchcraft, yet woodcuts from the 16th and 17th centuries show
broomsticks being ridden with the brush part in the front,'' said Kevin
Carlyon, who has his own coven in Sussex, southern England.
``It's a common mistake -- even the sixties TV series 'Bewitched' showed
broomsticks being ridden backwards, but this is not correct,'' he said.
The Harry Potter movie hasn't been released yet, but the trailer shows Harry
being taught to ride a broomstick.
Carlyon knows first hand the proper way to ride a broomstick -- he said he
had three, though all were grounded at the moment.
``The CAA (Britain's Civil Aviation Authority) won't give me permission to
fly,'' he said.