King's Cross (was Re: Assyria and Wizardly Geography)

[Liz Muir]

No: HPFGUIDX 99177

Rowen wrote:
> > c) JKR is geographically challenged <snip> (eg. 
> > mixing up King's Cross station with another station while 
> > writing).  

> Geoff replied:
> I'm interested in your comments on King's Cross and how JKR has 
mixed 
> up the station with another.
> 
> I know that in the film, they used exterior shots of St.Pancras 
which 
> is right next to KX but used the correct interior shots. I have one 
> or two suspicions in canon about the station - particularly about 
the 
> platform numbering - but would like to hear your ideas.

What I was referring to was an interview I once heard with JKR.  In 
the movies, and in real life, King's Cross station doesn't match up 
with the description in the books.  (I made a point of going there on 
my trip to England.)  IIRC, in the books, there is a wooden (or 
brick) barrier between the platforms 9 and 10.  In the actual 
station, the two platforms are the sidewalk on opposite sides of the 
central railway track, making it very difficult to find any barrier 
between them. :)

Apparently, when JKR was writing, she mixed the layout of the station 
with a different one.  I cannot yet find it in an exact quote by JKR, 
but here's a narrated version from quick quotes.
"She wrote platform 9 3/4 when she was in Manchester and wrongly 
visualised the platforms of Euston and Kings Cross." - http://www.the-
leaky-cauldron.org/quickquotes/articles/2001/1201-bbc-staff.htm

I'll keep searching for that quote.  I swear I heard her say it 
somewhere.  Either way, the incorrect layout is apparent if you visit 
the actual station. :D

Rowen