Only the top 1% of Harry Potter fans can get all these questions right – how many do you know?
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ATTENTION Muggles, tomorrow it will be 25 years since Harry Potter cast his spell on our lives.
JK Rowling’s 1997 novel, Harry Potter And The Philosopher’s Stone, about the boy wizard and his adventures at Hogwarts, initially had just a tiny print run as publisher Bloomsbury was not expecting it to be a success.
JK went on to write six more books in the series, which together have sold more than 500million copies worldwide.
Add to that the eight films, a play, studio tour and theme park.
To mark the anniversary, try our magical quiz, answers below, learn fun facts about the debut book and see what else was going on in the UK when it was released.
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Questions
- Which character said,“Harry – yer a wizard”?
- What is the name of the wizarding bank in Diagon Alley?
- What is the book that is on the first year reading list and helps students identify magical creatures and their habitats?
- Who is the first Hogwarts student that Harry ever meets, inside Madam Malkin’s Robes For All Occasions?
- What was the name/model of the first broomstick owned by Harry Potter?
- What did Hagrid take from Gringotts’ Vault 713? This object can be used to harness eternal life.
- What date, time and from where does the Hogwarts Express leave?
- What is the Hogwarts school motto?
- Who is the house ghost for Gryffindor?
- What is the house symbol for Slytherin?
- What are Ravenclaw’s house colours?
- Who was the founder of Hufflepuff house?
- What is the name of the daily newspaper that has all the latest wizarding news?
- What subject does Professor McGonagall teach?
- Unscramble the anagram NOBLE VOLT LONGTIME to reveal the name of a Hogwarts student.
- Ron Weasley has five brothers and one sister. Can you name them all?
- What subject does Professor Quirrell teach?
- What are the names of the Hogwarts caretaker and his cat?
- On a Quidditch pitch, how many goal posts are there in total?
- Which spell can levitate objects? (Hint: This spell is used in charms class.)
- What are the four positions on a Quidditch team?
- What magical creature attacks Hermione in the toilets at Halloween?
- In Harry Potter And The Philosopher’s Stone, who reports the commentary for the Quidditch matches at Hogwarts?
- Unscramble the anagram RAVE SUSPENSE to reveal the name of a Hogwarts professor.
- What is the name of Harry Potter’s pet owl?
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Answers
- Rubeus Hagrid
- Gringotts Wizarding Bank
- Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them by Newt Scamander
- Draco Malfoy
- Nimbus 2000
- The Philosopher’s Stone
- September 1 at 11am, from Platform 9¾ at King’s Cross station
- Draco dormiens nunquam titillandus (Never tickle a sleeping dragon)
- Nearly Headless Nick
- A snake
- Blue and bronze
- Helga Hufflepuff
- The Daily Prophet
- Transfiguration
- Neville Longbottom
- Bill, Charlie, Percy, Fred, George and Ginny
- Defence Against The Dark Arts
- Filch and Mrs Norris
- Six
- Wingardium Leviosa
- Keeper, Chaser, Beater and Seeker
- A mountain troll
- Lee Jordan
- Severus Snape
- Hedwig.
Fantastic facts and where to find them
HERE we bring you some incredible facts about Harry Potter And The Philosopher’s Stone . . .
- The book, JK Rowling’s first, contains 77,674 words.
- There are 1,100,086 words in the entire Harry Potter series.
- Publisher Bloomsbury’s initial hardback print run of the book in 1997 was just 500 copies.
- The name Harry Potter appears 29 times in the main text of the debut novel, while his nemesis Voldemort appears more often with 38 mentions.
- Harry doesn’t say anything in the first chapter, The Boy Who Lived, as he is only a baby. His first word in the Philosopher’s Stone comes in the second chapter, The Vanishing Glass, and is “nearly”.
- The first teacher Harry meets at Hogwarts is Professor McGonagall when he enters Hogwarts School Of Witchcraft And Wizardry in chapter seven, The Sorting Hat.
- Harry and Ron meet for the first time on page 99 between platforms nine and ten at King’s Cross.
- Harry meets Hermione for the first time on page 112 as they travel on the Hogwarts Express.
- In foreign language editions of Harry Potter And The Philosopher’s Stone the four House names change. For example, Gryffindor becomes Grifondoro (Italian), Garuddwaar (Hindi), Nevelvir (Czech), Llereurol (Welsh).
- In early manuscript drafts Draco Malfoy’s surname was Smart, Spinks and Spungen.
- The name Voldemort comes from the French words meaning “flight of death”.
- JK Rowling said that chapter 12, The Mirror of Erised, is her favourite of the book and one of her most treasured from the entire series.
Other pivotal events in 1997
- The Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary on November 20.
- The new 50p coin was introduced on September 1.
- Titanic was the big movie of the year.
- Midsomer Murders and Teletubbies both aired for the first time on UK terrestrial television.
- MmmBop by US boyband Hanson was at No1 in the UK singles chart on the day the book was published.
- Dolly the Sheep, the first successfully cloned mammal, was born on July 5, 1996, but she was not announced to the world until seven months later.
- The Spice Girls took the UK Christmas No1 spot with Too Much.
- Diana, Princess of Wales died in a car crash in Paris on August 31, and a week-long period of mourning followed.
- The UK won the Eurovision Song Contest with Love Shine A Light by Katrina And The Waves – and we have failed to win it again since.
Harry Potter And The Philosopher’s Stone: 25th Anniversary Edition, by JK Rowling (Bloomsbury) is out now, £16.99.