A worthy home for Harry Potter

Wand on top, movies, books, special books

If you are like me, your Harry Potter collection is getting a little bit out of hand. Even if you limit yourself to the original seven novels (and eight movies), even if you refuse to purchase each new edition of the books as they are released, your probably are starting to amass quite a pile of Harry Potter related stuff.

What do you do?

Naturally, you choose a book shelf some where in your house and put all of your HP books there. You might even put your DVDs or Blu Rays there. But it doesn't seem enough, does it?

Are you really showing your allegiance to Harry and the wondrous Rowling World by shelving her books beside your copies of The Hunger Games? No way.

Feeling that I was doing a disservice to my Harry Potter passion and realizing that I wasn't showing my collection to advantage, I decided to commission a carpenter friend Robb to build me a custom-made, carefully measured Harry Potter book shelf.

It's oak, stained dark to look like the wood from which the Nimbus 2000's handle is made, and it has beautifully carved accents: the glasses and lightning scar at the top, the HP on the sides and even the Nimbus 2000 logo hidden on the right of the bottom shelf.

I just got the final product yesterday and, as you can see by the photos, it is spectacular.

Note the HP carved on the sides

My official HP wand holds the place of honour, on the top shelf, just below the inscribed glasses and lightning scar. On the second shelf, you'll find the Blu Ray movies and all of the Jim Dale audio books on CD. Below that, the books themselves: seven novels in English (plus a second copy of The Deathly Hallows that I literally read to pieces), the seven novels in Menard's wonderful French translations, and finally the ancillary canonical books from Rowling herself, accompanied by a couple of other odd Potter-related works.

The bottom shelf is still a work in progress. On the left, a limited special edition hard cover copy of The Philosopher's Stone that I picked up at the Studio Tour in England. In the centre, the first of the illustrated versions of the Harry Potter novels (the shelf is scaled for this book -- I can only trust that the next six will be the same dimensions) and finally my studio tour guide book. I plan to add my hand-knit Gryffindor scarf (thanks Lynn) to the bottom shelf as well, at least until the other illustrated books join the collection.

I have to admit, I'm arguing with myself as to whether or not I should add my copy of The Cursed Child to the shelf. It was such an awful piece of work, it wasn't written by J.K. herself and I don't consider it canonical so I probably won't honour it by placing it here.

That leaves the question: do I add the script for Fantastic Beasts when it comes out? It was written by Rowling so it should probably be considered both canonical and worthy of inclusion on my shelf. But I'll have to think about that.

To be honest, I'm not even sure the film versions deserve to be there but many HP fans might consider their exclusion to be nothing short of heretical.

Sharing the excitement of the Studio Tour

The Gates of Hogwarts

As I said in my last post, my 50th Birthday visit to the Harry Potter Studio Tour was made even more exciting and enjoyable by the fact that a birthday party of young people adopted me and allowed me to share in their excitement.

This is a photo of me at the Hogwarts Gates with several of these happy young people -- published with permission. Note the fabulous robes on two of them and the big smiles on the faces of all of us.

Every once in a while during the tour, I'd run into them again and they'd shout "hello" and wish me "Happy Birthday" and they would point with excitement at the nearest display and asked "Did you see...?"

They told me that they had all been on the tour at least once before. One of the girls said she already owns at least 12 wands (!!!!) so I was very happy when the Studio permitted us all a sneak preview of the Hogwarts Express display. At least the kids got the chance to see something new!

Harry Potter Studio Tour - An indescribable experience

Me with our friend Pollie, outside the Studio

As a wonderful surprise, my partner took me to England for a ten-day visit in honour of my 50th birthday. As an even more wonderful surprise, she booked tickets for the Warner Brothers Harry Potter Studio Tour in Watford Junction, north of London, on the actual day of my birthday.

To say that this tour was "magical" would be a terrible pun but very true. To say that it was "amazing" would be the understatement of the year. The Warner Brothers Harry Potter Studio Tour was quite probably the best major attraction I have ever visited. It offers an incredible amount to see and do and it is designed and presented in a remarkably visitor-friendly way.

Dementors lurk

If you don't believe me, as my partner Patti and our friend Pollie, who joined us for the tour, neither of whom are Harry Potter fans of any description. They loved the entire experience, even though I turned what is supposed to be a three-hour tour into a six-hour exploration of as many of the displays and presentations as I could take in before I became completely overwhelmed.

And that's one of the beauties of this tour: the first half hour is scripted, with staff leading you through a brief video and your entrance into the Hogwarts Great Hall, but after that you are left to your own devices, to wander the exhibits at your own speed, to spend as much time as you like examining the set for the Burrow, or Dumbledore's Office or Malfoy Manor, or watching the many explanatory videos or trying out the amazing interactive opportunities (spell casting lesson anyone?). You are not "guided" through at a particular speed so you can take your time. And, if you opt to rent a digital tour guide, you can listen to the interviews with directors and crew members, watch the videos, take it all in at your own pace.

My favourite set, the Headmaster's Office

Remember, this is a tour of the studios in which the Harry Potter films were made. You visit the actual sets that were used in the movies; you see the actual costumes and the actual models that were transformed, through the magic of film-making, into the many creatures that come to life on screen. There is so much detail there that a massive Harry Potter fan like me can become completely overwhelmed with just a single display (my favourite was Dumbledore's Office, I think).

You don't have to be a fan to enjoy it, though. Patti and Pollie loved the entire thing, learning as much about film making as about Harry Potter himself.

Because it was my birthday, I received a special badge and, as a result, was wished a "Happy Birthday" by the friendly staff throughout the tour. This also mean that I was befriended by a wonderful group of girls who were there for a birthday party. Two of them were sporting Hogwarts robes for the tour and one admitted to me later that she already owns 12 wands (!!!!). We kept encountering these young women all over the studio and their enthusiasm and excitement served to add to the thrill of my visit.

I don't plan to post all 400 photos (and 60-minutes of video) that I took on the tour in this one blog entry but I will finish with a final, very special shot. Our visit to the Studio Tour had been booked over a year ago so it was quite ironic (and slightly disappointing) when we found out, the day before we attended, that the Hogwarts Express display was about to open... four days after our visit.

Our sneak peek at the Hogwarts Express display!

Imagine how excited we were when we found out that the Studio had decided to hold a "soft opening" of the display on the very day of our visit, for just a half hour or so, to test it out with real visitors. So we got to see it, before just about any other member of the public had the chance. Awesome!!!