Keeping up with Muggle events (Was: What to do with the Quidditch team? )

[Martin Smith]

No: HPFGUIDX 32622

Merry new year to you all, I'm back after some two weeks' absence (and
having turned a year older in the process)!


>On Wed, 2 Jan 2002, Aja wrote:

>My money's on Dean Thomas for the new Keeper thanks to the fact that he's
>already such a die-hard soccer fan; I'm sure JKR wouldn't have emphasized
>his sports love as one of the only things we're shown about his
>personality if he weren't bound to be an athlete in the wizard world as
>well.

Which raises a totally different question: How does Dean keep up with the
recent events of his beloved football team (??West Ham??)? Being a hardcore
football fan, and a brit, I reckon he grew up glued to the telly (when not
actually being at the stadium to watch the games live) whenever the Hammers
played. Now, locked up in a TV-less castle in Scotland, surely he suffers
from abstinence in his
must-watch-every-match-and-keep-track-and-statistics-of-every-event-in-premi
er-league obsession. If his Muggle parents owl him the sports section every
day it could help a little, but I know I wouldn't think that's enough if I
couldn't follow my beloved IFK Gteborg (UEFA Cup champions 1982 and 1987)
at least on the telly. Poor kid!
But, alas, Dean Thomas is most likely not the only Hogwarts student with
interests in the events in the Muggleverse (sports and others). Plenty of
Muggleborn witches and wizards roam the castle, and how do they keep up? Do
Hermiones parents owl her "Dentist's Digest" every month?
Do Dean Thomas and his kins sneak out to the closest Muggle village to watch
the football on the pub's big-screen every week? How does Seamus recieve
news on the ever-concerning Ireland-Britain difficulties?
We know that they can't have TV-sets at Hogwarts (what with the eclecicity
jamming the magic or the other way around), neither does the local paper-boy
rides his bike to the Unplottable boarding school (what with it being
Unplottable and all).
Friends, I bid you welcome to speculate on how Muggle-borns, half-bloods and
most likely some Muggle-interested purebloods keep themselves up to date on
Muggleverse news while spending most of their time at Hogwarts. The
discussion is opened!

/Martin (Heja Blaavitt, heja Blaavitt, nu ska vi mot toppen gaa! Heja
Blaavitt, heja Blaavitt, vaarat kaera IFK!)