Source of Riddle's Diary Solved

[a_reader2003]

No: HPFGUIDX 87448

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Shaun Hately" <drednort at a...> 
wrote:
(snip)
> It's perfectly possible that Tom did receive the diary as a present 
> from somebody, possibly in the way you describe - but I'd find that 
> somewhat unsatisfying personally because it damages Harry's 
> deduction that Tom must have been Muggle-born (not that he was spot 
> on, on that - given that Tom had a witch mother, muggle father - 
> but still I like the idea of Harry making a semi-successful logical 
> deduction) given that he bough a diary in Vauxhall Road.
> 

Carolyn:

Steve, I agree with Shaun. Although it is attractive to a fully-paid 
up conspiracy theorist like me to speculate that Riddle was, in fact, 
possibly funded via the US military all those years ago (I sure 
wouldn't put it past the CIA..), the whole point of this long thread 
is to investigate the very specific mention of 'Vauxhall Road' on the 
back of that diary.

On the basis that JKR wastes very few words, and seldom mentions 
things twice without reason, we want to know what's so important 
about Vauxhall Rd. Despite the complexity of its many possible 
locations, none of those mentioned is a 'natural' for buying a diary. 
There are many more suitable, and more likely places to pick up a 
cheap diary, especially if Tom was on his way through London on his 
way to school during war time, eg one of the big railway stations.

It is also *really* peculiar to have the address of the newsagent 
printed on the back of the diary. The name of the printer, yes, 
that's normal, but *not* a newsagent. Very few newsagent's would be 
big enough to have own-brand diaries even now, let alone in 1943. I 
gather in the US edition that 'newsagent' has been changed 
to 'variety' or 'convenience' store or some such, but I'm personally 
having no truck with that. It may be a term that US readers find more 
familiar, but in the UK a newsagent means a very specific sort of 
shop, and JKR is British, so I am sticking with her word and what it 
means here.

As Geoff has pointed out, the only UK chain of newsagents big enough 
to possibly have an own-brand diary range in 1943 is WH Smith. 
However, this still makes no sense, as they would not print the 
address of just one of their shops on the back of the diary, what 
would appear there would be their company name, and possibly the 
printer's name and address.

Its a puzzle and an oddity. For some reason, I believe she wanted to 
draw our attention to a particular location in London, and did it in 
this slightly odd way, leaving a clue or two for those with enquiring 
minds. As to whether Tom bought the diary himself, or someone else 
bought it for him in Vauxhall Rd, I have no idea. Either is possible.

I would also like to point out in passing that I believe the Lexicon 
reference to the Stockwell orphanage should be amended as a result of 
all this research. As I pointed out some many posts ago, I found a 
note that all orphans were removed from the orphanage at the outbreak 
of war in 1939, a fact that Shaun has also subsequently confirmed 
from other sources.

This means that Tom Riddle was not living there in 1942/43 and gives 
him no official reason to be wandering around in the area at the 
time - and the diary was definitely dated on its front cover, it 
wasn't a blank, rolling diary, as some have suggested.

Further, I think that this fact lessens the chances that Riddle was 
ever at the orphanage. No one has been able to come up with a 
satisfactory reason why he should end up in a place which seems to be 
a long way from Little Hangleton (wherever that is). The only reason 
the orphanage idea has ever been linked with the diary is simply its 
geographical proximity to Vauxhall Rd. Granted, Riddle MAY have lived 
there before the war, but why ?

Carolyn