MAY 2017VIRGIN AUSTRALIA 075T WILL BE 20 years ago in June that Harry Potter
and the Philosopher’s Stone was first published,
luring readers into the fantastical world of the
bespectacled boy wizard and kickstarting JK
Rowling’s fairytale rise from cash-strapped writer
to billionaire author. Translated into 79 languages,
the novel — and its six sequels — have sold more
than 450 million copies and its movie adaptations
have grossed an estimated $8.5 billion at the box
oice. Muggles (mere mortals with no magical
powers) wishing to get their Harry Potter fix should
head to Britain, where the fictional stories played
out. As well as discovering the destinations that
inspired the author, you’ll find evocative filming locations and
spellbinding events marking the saga’s 20th anniversary.
London
The setting for the Ministry of Magic and Diagon Alley, London,
ofers copious ‘Potter spots’ on guided tours, or you can go
marauding yourself using a map from the Visit Britain website.
Some of London’s most nostalgia-inducing Potter spots date
from the first story, such as the snake-and-frog-filled Reptile
House at London Zoo, where Harry liberates a Burmese python
after learning he could speak Parseltongue (the language of
serpents). A five-minute walk from Monument tube station,
Leadenhall Market was the portal into Diagon Alley, where
Harry shopped for supplies prior to joining Hogwarts School of
Witchcraft and Wizardry. Don’t expect to find anywhere selling
Nimbus 2000 broomsticks — or even the Leaky Cauldron
wizarding pub. But this glass-covered arcade does house a neat
selection of boutiques, bars and restaurants.
Over in Soho, amble south along buzzing Charing Cross
Road — where bookshops teem with Harry Potter literature,
including special 20th birthday special editions — and you’ll
come across the Palace Theatre. The hottest venue in London’s
West End right now, this grand red-brick Victorian theatre is
showing Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, a story that JK Rowling
co-wrote especially for the stage (it picks things up 19 years
after the events of the seventh book, Harry Potter and the Deathly
Hallows). If you don’t have a magic wand, you’ll need patience —
and luck — to secure tickets for this acclaimed, perpetually sold-
out two-part play, which is running until at least 29 April 2018.
(Each Friday at 1pm, 40 tickets, known as ‘The Friday Forty’,
are released online for every performance the following week,
while returned tickets can also become available at short notice,
and re-sold on a first-come-first-served basis).
A stone’s throw from the Palace, you’ll find a plethora
of Potter-esque arts, prints and stationary in the House of
MinaLima. An exhibition and shop, it’s run by graphic designers
who worked on the Harry Potter flicks and the recent spin-of,
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.
In town between 20 October 2017 and 28 February 2018?
Don’t miss the British Library’s Harry Potter exhibition. It’ll
showcase a range of wizarding books, manuscripts and objects
— spanning everything from medieval descriptions of dragons
and griins, to the origins of the philosopher’s stone.
East of the library is the most revered
of all London Potter pilgrim sites: King’s
Cross railway station — the boarding
point for the Hogwarts Express. You can’t
actually catch the train here, nor is there
really a Platform 9¾, but you can queue
for a picture by a plaque of the platform
and visit a gift shop flush with Potter
goodies, including wands, satchels and
Hogwarts acceptance letters.Warner Bros Studio Tour London:
The Making of Harry Potter
From the nearby station of London
Euston, you can travel toThe Making of
Harry Potterattraction, which occupies the
studios where the films were produced.
Flaunting a jumble of original costumes,
props and sets, and revealing ‘secrets’
about the special efects and animatronics
of the film series, the tour immerses you
in the wizarding world. Pottering around,
with the film score no doubt galloping
through your head, you’ll see 4 Privet
Drive (where Harry grew up with the
ghastly Dursley family), and plenty of
familiar Hogwarts relics. You can tread
the stone floors of the Great Hall, poke
around the oice of headmaster Albus
Dumbledore, peek into Severus Snape’s
bottle-strewn potions class and visit the
common room where Harry socialised
with his mates, Hermione and Ron.
You can also hop aboard the train
used as the Hogwarts Express. Built in
1937, the steam locomotive was adapted
for the movies and, inside the carriage,
‘window’ screens show how a number
of the train scenes were created, such as
the escape of Harry’s first chocolate frog.
The studio tour’s newest permanent
display is the Forbidden Forest, which
invites muggles to venture deep into
the creepy tree-filled space that was
usually of-limits to Hogwarts students.
Wandering beneath the giant entwined
roots, you’ll encounter plenty of weird
and wondrous creatures, including
Buckbeak the Hippogrif (a half-horse,
half-eagle), and Aragog (a huge spider,
and one-time pet of Rubeus Hagrid).
The tour also allows you to ride
a broomstick (with the aid of green-
screen technology) and sample Harry
Potter-themed tipples and snacks such as
butterbeer — a non-alcoholic drink thatOPPOSITE PAGE,
CLOCKWISE
FROM TOP LEFT
Edinburgh’s Spoon
cafe; Loch Shiel
in the Scottish
Highlands; sample
red velvet cake
and tea at The
Elephant House;
the Palace Theatre
in London, home
to Harry Potter
and the Cursed
Child. PREVIOUS
PAGE, FROM
LEFT Glencoe’s icy
landscape; a view
of Edinburgh Castle
from the Old Town.DETAILS
LONDON
British Library 96
Euston Rd; http://www.
bl.uk. House of
MinaLima 26 Greek
St; http://www.minalima.
com. Leadenhall
Market Gracechurch
St; http://www.leadenhall
market.co.uk. Palace
Theatre Shaftesbury
Ave; http://www.harry
pottertheplay.com.
The Harry Potter
Shop King’s Cross
Station; http://www.harry
potterplatform934.
com. Visit Britain
http://www.visitbritain.
com. Warner Bros
Studio Tour London
Studio Tour Dr,
Leavesden; http://www.
wbstudiotour.co.uk.
ZSL London Zoo
Regent’s Park;
http://www.zsl.org.EDINBURGH
Balmoral Hotel
1 Princes St; http://www.
roccofortehotels.
com. The Elephant
House 21 George
IV Bdge; http://www.
elephanthouse.biz.
Spoon 6a Nicolson
St; http://www.spoon
edinburgh.co.uk.
SCOTTISH
HIGHLANDS
Clachaig Inn
Glencoe; http://www.
clachaig.com. The
Jacobite http://www.west
coastrailways.co.uk.