How dim is Harry? (longish)

[Geoff Bannister]

No: HPFGUIDX 98571

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Wanda Sherratt" 
<wsherratt3338 at r...> wrote:

Wanda:
> If you discovered that 
> your grandfather was actually, oh, Winston Churchill, I doubt you'd 
> find such insurmountable problems in finding out SOME information 
> about him.  Harry is FAMOUS, and so were his parents, if only by 
> association.  Maybe no single person would give him an 
> authoritative, complete picture, but if he did no more than ask 
each 
> person to tell him THEIR version of the events, he'd probably be 
> able to piece together most of it, and have a decent idea of what 
> points needed more examination.

Geoff:
Depends on how you define "famous". Harry is famous but, as I tried 
to bring out in my post, what does the average member of Wizarding 
society /know/ about him other than he is the only known survivor of 
an attack by Voldemort? Why were James and Lily famous?

I could, by way of exmaple, name UK politicians who were famous in 
recent years - Michael Heseltine, David Steel, John Smith, High 
Gaitskell, Rab Butler  - just to list a handful. Getting more 
information about their private lives and upbringing - certainly in 
some of these cases - would not be the easiest of tasks, especially 
if faced with the facilities similar to that of the Hogwarts library, 
more geared to educational research than biographical.