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The Daily Prophet |
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April 2002
Harry Potter and Lord Of The Rings nominated for sci-fi awards
The Play What I Wrote star voices Harry Potter character Ananova: West End star Toby Jones will be providing the voice of Dobby the House Elf in the new Harry Potter film. Jones was recently named Best Supporting Actor at the Olivier Awards for his performance in The Play What I Wrote. The play was directed by Kenneth Branagh, who plays Gilderoy Lockhart in Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets. Jones' agent told Ananova the character of Dobby will be a "created creature." Harry Potter And The Chamber of Secrets is due to be released in the UK in November. Thursday 25th April 2002 JK Looks Pretty OK THE magic beauty potions JK Rowling is so fond of appear to be working a treat. When she turned up at a charity fundraiser for Maggie's Centre in Glasgow, the Harry Potter author looked stunning. The generous writer bid £20,000 for several lots in the auction to raise cash for a third Scots cancer care centre. Despite her incredible success, Rowling has always lacked confidence in her appearance, say her friends. She is a regular visitor to expensive beauty spas and follows strict detoxification regimes. All that effort has clearly paid off - she looks every bit her £226million fortune. Comedy favourite Elaine C. Smith was also at Glasgow's Hilton event, compered by Chris Gorman. Edinburgh already has a Maggie's - named after founder Maggie Keswick Jencks - and another is under way in Dundee. Tuesday 23rd April 2002 Potter link to poisoned schoolkids? Twenty-three schoolchildren in Russia are in hospital after being poisoned, and there are fears it could be be linked to the Harry Potter books. The local police in the Siberian city of Novosibirsk think that some older children have been stealing copper sulphate from chemistry lessons to make potions. They fear that the younger children are being fed the chemicals in an initiation-type ceremony. The children in hospital are said to be are out of danger. A Russian reporter who had access to the school said the children had been inventing potions and ceremonies. One of the pupils, Sergey Ivanov, said he had been told about initiation, "we went to the classroom and tried it," he said. Many children admitted they would try a "magic potion" if it was offered to them. The Harry Potter books are hugely popular in Russia, where the fourth book Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire has just gone on sale. For the opening event in Moscow the Russian Deputy Culture Minister, Natalya Dementyeva, got into the spirit of things and dressed up as Professor McGonagall! Monday 22th April 2002 Potter DVD Extras BBC: You have read the books, seen the film and played the game. But now you want more. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone comes out on DVD and video on 11 May and CBBC Newsround Online has seen it! So what's it like? It has loads of interactive stuff on it and the graphics are far more realistic than the game. Besides the interviews and being able to watch the film as many times as you want, you can actually be a first year Hogwarts student. And if you've been sorted into a house on the official website, the DVD will remember that. You can wander around Diagon Alley where you can withdraw your galleons, knuts and sickles from Gringotts. Then you can take your cash to Ollivander's to try out some wands or into Eeylops Owl Emporium to pick your post-bearing pet. You can also have a good nose around the Gryffindor common room, sniff around Hagrid's whiffy hut, and sneak up to Harry and Ron's bedroom where you can click on loads of other things. Game-like It's quite game-like because as you click through the various options, you have to collect clues. They are important and will let you access the seven deleted scenes. A few adults we spoke to afterwards were a bit disappointed with it. They wanted more interviews and audition out-takes. But we reckon true Potter fans will go wild for it. Anyone who loves Potter imagines themselves actually at Hogwarts as a student. With the DVD, that's exactly what you get and it should feed your imagination well into autumn when, with any luck, the next installment comes out! Thursday 18th April 2002 Potter Tale Running Late HARRY Potter fans despaired yesterday as it was announced the next book would not be released in July as expected. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix may not now be out until the autumn. Author JK Rowling is still hard at work charting Harry's adventures in his fifth year at Hogwarts. A spokeswoman for publishers Bloomsbury said: "Until she delivers the manuscript, we won't announce a publication date." Wednesday 17th April 2002 Emma says Chitty Chitty Bang Bang is ‘magic’ New stage musical Chitty Chitty Bang Bang has got the thumbs up from Harry Potter star Emma Watson. Emma, who plays Hermione, was among the celebrity audience at the world premiere at the London Palladium. And she spoke exclusively to Newsround Online after the show. "It was absolutely fabulous," she said. "There was lots of magic. It was very cool." Emma really liked the costumes and the details in the set design - and all the glitter that falls from the ceiling during the show. Among the celebs were James Bond actor Pierce Brosnan and Oscar winner Halle Berry. The first night audience loved it too, and gave the show a huge standing ovation. Evil Child Catcher Chitty Chitty Bang Bang tells the story of a magical car made by an inventor called Caractacus Potts. It also features an evil character called the Child Catcher! "There was a great atmosphere, everyone clapped along to the songs," said Emma. She said she'd like to be in musicals as she loves singing and dancing. But Emma admitted she was baffled by the special effects in Chitty Chitty Bang! Bang. "I've absolutely no idea how they managed to fly the car on stage!" she said. Talking of flying cars, Emma's currently filming Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. But you'll have to wait till November before you can see Harry and Ron take to the air in the Weasley's old Ford Anglia Wednesday 17th April 2002 UK cinema enjoys ticket sales boom Cinema ticket sales in the UK are expected to increase by five per cent this year. The boom is largely down to the success of the Harry Potter and the Lord Of The Rings films. The Cinema Advertising Association predicts ticket sales will reach 164 million in 2002. That's five per cent more than last year's 156 million. According to www.screendaily.com, the outlook for the UK's box office looks especially good this year because of the number of sequels being released. They include Harry Potter And The Chamber of Secrets; Lord Of The Rings: The Two Towers; Star Wars Episode 2: Attack Of The Clones and the new James Bond film, Die Another Day. Wednesday 17th April 2002 Louis Potter, the Big New Impression TALK about a mixed impression - here's comic Alistair McGowan posing as Louis Theroux dressed as Harry Potte |