Today is the 31st of July, which means today is officially Harry Potter’s birthday.
Now, we know how many Potter superfans there are out there, and we know many of them will be celebrating too.
So to commemorate the boy wizard’s birthday, here are 5 fun Harry Potter facts you may not know…
1. In the movies, Harry was nearly played by Haley Joel Osment
The first movie was originally going to be directed by Steven Spielberg, and he wanted Sixth Sense actor Haley Joel Osment to star as Harry.
When Speilberg left and the new director, Chris Columbus, came in, over 300 young actors were tested for their role as Harry. Then, after 7 months of auditions, Daniel Radcliffe’s parents were persuaded to let him try out and he ultimately got the top role.
2. Why Harry’s eyes aren’t green in the movies…
Yes, in the book Harry’s eyes are described as ‘bright green’, but in the film, they’re the actor’s natural blue color. This was because Radcliffe, who played Harry, had a bad reaction to wearing contacts.
The decision to leave out the contacts may have been a good one for Radcliffe, but he didn’t get away with it that easy - because he was also allergic to the glasses and they made him break out in acne!
3. J.K. Rowling first wrote the Hogwarts house names on an airplane barf bag!
Inspiration can strike at truly strange times. One of these times was when Rowling was on a flight when she suddenly came up with the 4 house names at Hogwarts.
Being on a plane before the time of smartphones, Rowling had no choice but to write her ideas down on the back of a vomit bag that was nearby (unused, we hope!).
4. The ‘Dementors’ were inspired by feelings of real-life depression
After her mother died in 1990, J.K. Rowling suffered from depression. She used this difficult experience to come up with the concept of Dementors and the effect they could have.
The idea of a creature that feeds on human emotion was Rowling’s way of describing the feeling of depression for someone who has never experienced it. While many think of depression as just ‘sadness’, Rowling wanted to demonstrate it was much different from that.
5. Harry actually turns 42 today!
Now, it’s fair to say that the boy wizard from Surrey, England, has grown to become one of the most well-known and beloved fictional characters in the world.
But he has been around a while now, and he actually turns 42 this year. Interestingly, J.K. Rowling shares her birthday with Harry too.
We think there’s no better time than now to celebrate our love of all things Potter.
So why not open up that first page of The Philosopher’s Stone once again or start a binge-watch of all the movies to get in the spirit of things!
Check out our magical trinks at the Hoard.
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