More information than you ever really needed about Gilderoy Lockhart.

[Goddlefrood]

No: HPFGUIDX 168463

> Goddlefrood earlier:

> Gilderoy has had his day.

Goddlefrood, having spent an evening with Mr. Lockhart:

All the passgaes quoted in this post are genuine. I kid you
not. They may come as a surprise when compared to Lockhart's
character in canon, but here they are, particularly for the
brave at heart ;-)

I wrote a small piece about Gilderoy quite some time ago, if 
in any way interested, that is here:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/145529

Although I would not advise it unless you've read this post in 
full and still want more ;-).

There is a large amount of information about Gilderoy Lockhart, 
an extensive trawl turned up several Lockharts who have been or 
are psychiatrists, but that may not be relevant.

Gilderoy as a character was, IMO, more for amusement's sake 
than anything else (a sentiment apparently shared by JKR as
those daring enough to read this will find out). I deem it 
unlikely he'll have any role to play in DH other than perhaps 
a passing mention relative to his continued stay in St. 
Mungo's.

----------------------

The names of the lily livered one:

As is my wont I'll start with a bit about his name, and my 
favourite starting point, which may be thought apt in this
instance, even by JKR herself, is thinkbabynames :-). Here
is the entry on Gilderoy:

"The boy's name Gilderoy \gi-lde-roy, gil-deroy\ is a variant 
of Gilroy."

Thus Gilroy:

The boy's name Gilroy \gi(l)-roy\ is pronounced GIL-roy. It 
is of Irish and Gaelic origin, and its meaning is "son of the 
red-head".

A secret Weasley perhaps? Unlikely, at least they're somewhat
competent at some things other than memory charms ;-)

JKR has said Gilderoy was from a Scottish highwayman and that
Lockhart was a name from a war memorial. Let her tell the
story, this from "Harry Potter - Harry and me," by Lindsay 
Fraser, The Scotsman, November 2002:

"The characters came first and then I had to find names to 
fit them. Gilderoy Lockhart is a good example. I knew his 
name had to have an impressive ring to it. I was looking 
through the Dictionary of Phrase and Fable - a great source 
for names - and came across Gilderoy, a handsome Scottish 
highwayman. Exactly what I wanted. And then I found Lockhart 
on a war memorial to the First World War. The two together 
said everything I wanted about the character."

Available in full here:

http://www.accio-quote.org/articles/2002/1102-fraser-scotsman.html

This is of interest too because it tells us a little about
JKR's writing process, for those intrigued by such things.

She stated these matters again, with some expansion in 
"Living with Harry Potter" Stephen Fry, BBC Radio4, 10th 
December 2005:

"JKR: Um ... I don't really trawl books. They tend to be 
things I've collected or stumbled across in general reading. 
The exception was Gilderoy - Gilderoy Lockhart. The name 
Lockhart, well, I know it's quite a well-known Scottish 
surname ...

SF: Yeah. 

JKR: ... I found on a war memorial. I was looking for quite 
a glamorous, dashing sort of surname, and Lockhart caught my 
eye on this war memorial, and that was it. Couldn't find a 
Christian name. And I was leafing through the Dictionary of 
Phrase and Fable one night. I was consciously looking for 
stuff, generally, that would be useful and I saw Gilderoy, 
who was actually a highway man, and a very good-looking 
rogue.

SF: Really? 

JKR: And Gilderoy Lockhart, it just sounded perfect. 

SF: It is a perfect, perfect ...

JKR: Impressive, and yet, in the middle, quite hollow, of 
course. 

SF: Indeed, as we know, he was. 

JKR: As we know."

http://www.accio-quote.org/articles/2005/1205-bbc-fry.html

This highwayman "Gilderoy" (in inverted commas as it turned
out not to be his real name) was tracked a little :-|. I 
found out a few things about him, and even came across a 
site where the tune of the ballad about him will play, 
although I really do not think it would be a tune that 
would please for too long, although a listen may be of 
interest :-). First a potted history of the ballad that
gave rise to the continued folklore of "Gilderoy":

'The oldest source of the tune is apparently Scotland. It 
was originally called "Gilderoy," named for an infamous 
Irish highwayman who raided Scotland in the 13th century. 
Robert Burns, the national poet of Scotland, also used the 
melody for From Thee Eliza. Besides "Kolob" the tune has 
been used for several other English and American hymns 
and carols.'

That extracted from:

http://www.fiddle-sticks.com/Liner_Nauvoo.htm

"Gilderoy" was then an Irish highwayman known for his
crimes around Scotland, and a romantic figure apparently.
Here's some more:

'Gilderoy, Rob Roy and Johnnie Armstrong, - all are 
branches of the same family; romantic in sentiment, 
generous in feeing, daring in enterprise, and courageous
in combat; wild in excess, lawless in conduct, ingenious
in plan, and triumphant in execution; protecting poverty
though persecuted by power, and abounding in marvelous
strategems and hair-breadth escapes, it is not to be
wondered that their exploits have ever been favourites
with the millions.'

>From Richardson Minor, 2 [London, Richardson (1829)], as
quoted in Dicken's Villains by Juliet John, p. 56, some 
of which is available online here:

http://books.google.com/books?id=7Y-O1R6VCGgC&pg=PA56&lpg=PA56&dq=gilderoy+highwayman&source=web&ots=jFr0Zgs-hM&sig=-SPeUTvh-OBzhhAG5uHknPFd9LM#PPP1,M1

The above tells me, and I'll confirm this shortly that
the Irish Gilderoy (actually it transpires Gilruadh) and
the 17th century Gilderoy are two different highwaymen :-)
Both are remembered in legend and ballad. The ballad I 
referred to earlier is available here:

http://www.contemplator.com/scotland/gilderoy.html

Sing along if you will ;-). This Gilderoy's real name was
Patrick McGregour, and a lot of what you may or may not
want to know about him is available within the above link.

Here's a further link about highwayman that may interest,
although Gilderoy is linked in it (to the ballad above as
it happens) no further history is given:

http://www.contemplator.com/history/highwaymn.html

Another song now, this time a short folk one about the
death of Gilderoy the Highwayman (very romantic this):

"Of Gilderoy sae fraid they were 
They bound him mickle strong,

Till Edenburrow they led him thair

And on a gallows hong;

They hong him high abone the rest."

Extracted from:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Representations_of_highwaymen_in_popular_culture

Note the cunning use of hong to rhyme with strong. All
very much polar opposite to our Lockhart, as I doubt if
he'll hang himself.

Just in case anyone is beginning to get the idea that a
highwayman's life is for them ;-), here's a final warning
over what that may bring (not just betrayal :->):

http://www.worldwideschool.org/library/books/lit/historical/ABookofScoundrels/chap10.html

This is a good extract and compares the later Gilderoy to
other, better highwaymen.

There are rather too many Lockharts in many and varied 
fields to go into in too much detail ("hoorah", I hear 
you cry). Well, sadly the specific war memorial from 
which JKR took the name could not be located by me,
but that was probably a relief for all of us ;-)

-----------------------------------------

Further matters from Interviews and elsewhere:

JKR's thoughts on Gilderoy (from Extra Stuff at her 
website):

"Gilderoy Lockhart

I have only once set out to depict somebody I have met 
and, unlikely though it might seem, the result was Gilderoy 
Lockhart. I assure you that the person on whom Gilderoy was 
modelled was even more objectionable than his fictional 
counterpart. He used to tell whopping great fibs about 
his past life, all of them designed to demonstrate what 
a wonderful, brave and brilliant person he was. Perhaps 
he didn't really believe he was all that great and wanted 
to compensate, but I'm afraid I never dug that deep.

You might think it was mean of me to depict him as Gilderoy, 
but you can rest assured he will never, ever guess. He's 
probably out there now telling everybody that he inspired 
the character of Albus Dumbledore. Or that he wrote the 
books and lets me take the credit out of kindness."

This too from the Rubbish Bin:

"Gilderoy Lockhart is based on JKR's first husband

No, he most certainly is not. I have always been honest 
about the fact that Gilderoy Lockhart WAS inspired by a 
real man (see the 'Extras' section). For obvious reasons 
I am not going to identify the person in question - 
however irritating he was, he does not deserve that - 
but I can state categorically that I never married him. 
I do not lie about the inspiration for characters 
(although at times like these, I wonder why I don't 
refuse to answer these questions at all!)"

The first of these should be qualified somewhat in that
while Gilderoy was based on someone else as the character
grew he developed a character of his own, as can be 
gleaned from this from "Magic, Mystery, and Mayhem: An 
Interview with J.K. Rowling," Amazon.com, spring 1999:

"Professor ... and Gilderoy Lockhart both started as 
exaggerated versions of people I've met, but became 
rather different once I got them on the page. Hermione 
is a bit like me when I was 11, though much cleverer."

Extractable here:

http://www.accio-quote.org/articles/1999/0099-amazon-staff.htm

Of course Gilderoy does have some fans, and despite
possible appearances to the contrary I'm one of them :-)
Here is another of his fans in interview with JKR, from
Interview with J.K. Rowling by Lizo Mzimba, BBC 
Newsround, Autumn 2000:

"And Gilderoy Lockhart, one of my favourite characters.

Gilderoy, bless him, is still in Saint Mungo's hospital 
for magical ailments and injuries, 'cos his memory's 
just gone. So I'm making no promises about Gilderoy. 

Was he good fun to write, because he's the opposite of 
everything you wanted to be?

Fantastic fun to write. The best one ever. I loved 
writing Gilderoy, but I've got Rita now you see. I 
love writing Rita in the same way that I loved 
writing Gilderoy."

Available in full here:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/tv_film/newsid_1634000/1634400.stm

This is from long enough ago to have now been confirmed
by Lockhart's appearance in OotP at St. Mungo's. I'll
make a small bet that I'm right when I say Gilderoy 
will, if he is mentioned at all, be so in passing
and will remain an inmate of the Hospital throughout
DH, except possibly in the epilogue :-)

As the title of this post suggests I have some other
confirmatory sources for the above information, first
from Comic Relief live chat transcript, March 2001:

"Which character do you most enjoy writing for? 

Good question... 

Gilderoy Lockhart was loads of fun, but he was a bit 
of a one-joke character, and I think I did as much as 
I could with him."

Here:

http://www.accio-quote.org/articles/2001/0301-comicrelief-staff.htm

Done wit great style, naturally, but he's almost
certainly had his day. Another along similar lines
is this from an interview by Nigel Ballard, BBCi 
Bristol, 12 November, 2001:

"I, see, I find Rita, Rita is as much fun to write 
as Gilderoy Lockhart in book two, and that's like 
- Gilderoy Lockhart was this, erm, very pompous, 
self-publicised and awful man who came to teach at 
the school. Shameless self publicist, erm, tireless 
liar, erm, and he was immense - he was huge fun to 
write, and I regretted having to get rid of him at 
the end of book two, because I liked writing him 
so much. But he was... he was pretty much a one-joke 
character, and I think I ran it for all it was worth, 
and there wasn't much left in him. Rita is just as 
much fun to write, and that's a high compliment to 
her."

http://www.accio-quote.org/articles/2001/1101-bbcbristol-ballard.htm

Expect more from Rits, IOW, and I'll look forward to 
that as I predict Rita may explain why people's hair
might curl at stories concerning one Ludo Bagman :>

One unconfirmed source tells us that I am almost
certainly right to say Lockhart will not be back, 
that is this said to Chris outside the 2004 
Edinburgh Bookfair by JKR according to this
Chris (an 11 year old at the time fan):

"I asked JK Rowling would Professor Lockhart get 
out of St Mungos, get his memory back and be in 
any of the next books?, she said no to all of 
these questions.

I also asked when Harries parents were killed by 
Voldemort, Wormtail turned into a rat and pretended 
to be dead. How then did he give Voldermort his wand 
and robe back once he found him and helped give him 
back his body ?, she told me (after tapping her 
nose!) 'he hid them'."

The latter paragraph may be of interest to those who
wondered some time ago why Peter had Voldemort's 
wand :-). If these reported questions and answers
are true then they are also very suggestive (to me 
anyway) that Peter was at Godric's Hollow the night
the Potters were killed.

To wrap up now, having spent a little more than 30
seconds in Gilderoy's company I'll let JKR give her
view of whether he'd be someone of interest to be
left alone with on a desert island, from Edinburgh 
"cub reporter" press conference, ITV, 16 July 2005:

"What character would you hate most to be stuck on 
a desert island with?

JK Rowling: Oh my word. That is a good one.

Lockhart would get a little tedious after 30 
seconds."

Found in full here:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/newsid_4690000/newsid_4690800/4690885.stm

My time is now over, does anyone feel a need to know
more? Except for which house he was in, I could not
find a specific reference to that matter so I place
him firmly in Slytherin, even if someone points me
to actual canon to refute this allegation ;-). Oh, and
Lockhart as a name is not on the Black Family Tapestry
anywhere.


Goddlefrood, once more inclined to give a little date 
for you, this time 1750 in which the Department of 
Magical Games and Sports was established as well as a 
new Clause being added to the International Statute of 
Secrecy making each country in the WW responsible for 
hiding their own magical creatures. It also is the year 
in which, amongst several other things, Hannah Snell, a 
namesake of Hannah Abbott, came out as a woman having 
disguised herself as a man for some years to join the 
Royal Marines :-)