Shropshire Gryffindor/Falling off broomsticks/Luplin-crystal ball/RitaSkeet

[Catlady (Rita Prince Winston)]

No: HPFGUIDX 54151

A second post because I couldn't fit enough in the title line of tht 
first post.

Maria Gromova wrote:

<< I have a distinct impression Godric Gryffindor was from Shropshire. 
>>

Where is Shropshire? All I know is that a poem I learned in high 
school was from A SHROPSHIRE LAD by A.E.Housman:

54.
With rue my heart is laden
  For golden friends I had,
For many a rose-lipt maiden
  And many a lightfoot lad.

By brooks too broad for leaping
  The lightfoot boys are laid;
The rose-lipt girls are sleeping
  In fields where roses fade.

Steve bboy_mn helpfully replied:

<< I discovered that Shorpshire is a county south of Liverpool and 
west of Birmingham, and borders Wales on the west. >>

Martin Soilleux-Cardwell helpfully replied:

<< Shropshire is a large county on the Welsh borders. Basically oval 
shaped with it's long axis aligned north-south, it runs along much of 
the upper eastern border of Wales, in the English west midlands. The 
River Severn, traditionally the ancient border between England and 
Wales (but not any more except in a few places) flows south through 
much of Shropshire's western section. >>

Pip!Squeak wrote:

<<It's quite difficult to work out which end of the country Godric 
Gryffindor came from. St. Godric is associated with County Durham 
(North East). On the other hand, Godric was a very common name in 
Cornwall and Devon in the 11th Century. >>

<< Incidentally, is he supposed to be 'Gryffindor' or 'Gryffin d'Or'? 
My CSE French (failed) would make this Godric of the Gold Gryffin. >>

So the Shropshire theory doesn't contradict my deeply-held baseless 
theory that Godric Gryffindor was secretly a Welshman originally 
named Gryffydd Glyndwr.

In my theory, Sais who couldn't pronounce nor even comprehend the 
name Gryffydd Glyndwr could see the gold gryphon logo on his surcoat 
and think he was trying to say: "Godric Gryffin d'Or". Especially if 
they were accustomed to "Godric" being a common name (logic suggests 
that that first Saxons a Welsh boy met would be those on the Welsh 
border). 

Altho' my friend puts the emphasis on the second syllable instead of 
the third, thus turning the I into a long I and the O into a schwa, 
thus pronounced Gryf FINDer, and claims he got the name by finding a 
gryffin.

As for the North East connection, in my theory Helga Hufflepuff came 
from there -- a Danelaw origin goes well with her personal name -- 
and in my theory, Godric (after his life of itchy-footed adventure) 
was living there, married to Helga (with wizarding lifespans being 
what they are, I imagine a it was a third marriage for both of them), 
when the need arose to found a school of Witchcraft and Wizardry. 

Greicy wrote:

<< Weird how Dumbledore and Snape try to save Harry from falling off 
a broom, but I recall Angelina and Wood falling off in SS/PS and no 
one trying to soften their fall. >>

I *think* that's movie contamination. The movie Quidditch games were 
full of violent fouls that Madam Hooch would have blown the whistle 
on and given the Gryffindors penalty shots.

Mysmacek wrote:

<< More probably, it was just the other way round - he panicked 
because her glass orb looked so much like a moon. Don't forget moon 
is what he fears most ;-) >>

I've always thought that the reason that Lupin fled from Trelawney's 
offer to tell his fortune was that he recognized that she was 
attempting to come on to him ... and that the reason that Trelawney 
most unusually came to Christmas dinner and immediately asked: "But 
where is dear Professor Lupin?" is that she came to dinner on purpose 
to pursue him. At least I have to give her credit for good taste in 
men, but she's probably three times his age...

Mr Harry Potter's Key Or Kenney wrote:

<< I believe that since Rita Skeeter was a character created 
exclusively for GOF >>

JKR said she wasn't. 
http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/tv_film/newsid_2353000/2353639.stm 
Q  : Is the character of Rita the depiction of your relations with 
the press? 

JKR: Well I'll tell you the truth but I doubt very much that 
anyone's going to want to hear this. I tried to put Rita first in 
Philosopher's Stone. When Harry walked into the Leaky Cauldron for 
the first time and everyone said - Oh Mr Potter you're back - I 
wanted to put a journalist in there - she wasn't called Rita then 
though but she was a woman. 

And then I thought, as I was sort of looking at the plot overall, and 
I thought that's not really where she sits best, she sits best in 
four when he's supposed to come to terms with his fame. 

So I pulled Rita out of book one and planned her entrance for book 
four and I was really looking forward to Rita coming in book four. 

The first time ever, as I sat down to write book four, my pen kind of 
metaphorically hesitated to go for Rita because I thought everyone 
will think that she's my response to what's happened to me. 

Well people can believe it or not but the fact is that Rita was 
planned all along. And did I enjoy her a little more for what's 
happened to me? Probably I did - I probably did, yes.