2000

What happened in 2000?
The year 2000 saw even more Pottermania, as Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire was published (July 8th in the UK and US), and fans eagerly awaited the release of the first movie.

Rating 2000 Title & highlights* Links Type
***** Feb 3 Scholastic online chat
Scholastic.com
  • Nearly Headless Nick's last name is De Mimsy-Porpington.
  • The happiest people don't become ghosts.
  • What Harry's parents did is important to the later plot.
  • Marcus Flint, Slytherin Quidditch captain, had to repeat a year at Hogwarts.
  • JKR: "Gnomes eat the roots of your plants, and make little heaps of earth, like moles do. They are also a bit of a giveaway that wizards live in a house."
  • The MOM does not find out which children are magic. Instead, there is a magic quill in Hogwarts that records the birth of a magical child, and McGonagall checks it every year and sends owls to those magical children who are turning 11.
  • Azkaban is in the North Sea.
text
Indonesian translation
chat
*** Feb J.K. Rowling: On Setting Priorities
Writer's Digest
text interview
??? Mar 27 Press Conference at the British Library ???  
*** Mar 27 Brace yourself, readers: Harry Potter will discover girls
Associated Press
  • Rowling will never tackle issues such as teenage pregnancy or hard drugs in Harry Potter.
text report
** Mar 28 Harry to potter around with girls
The Express
(UK)
text report
** Mar 28 Harry Potter's mum is in the building
Globe and Mail
(Toronto)
text report
**** May 4 J.K. Rowling Chat
AOL Live
text chat
*** May 21 From Mr Darcy to Harry Potter by way of Lolita
Sunday Herald (Glasgow); transcript of BBC Radio 4 show?
text statement
* June 25 Why Harry Potter doesn't cast a spell over me
The Observer
text commentary
*** June 27 HP's novel encounter
The Times
(London)
text eyewitness
**** June 30 J.K. Rowling, the interview
The Times
(London)
  • Dementors are a personification of depression.
text interview
* July 1 Harry Potter and the source of inspiration
Daily Telegraph
(London)
  • Aunt Marge was inspired by Rowling’s Grandmother, Frieda, who was illegitimate and born of Scottish parents. She was abandoned in a London nursing home and adopted.
text tabloid
**** July 6 Harry Potter and the Magic Key of J.K. Rowling
Associated Press
text interview
*** July 7 "Extra! Extra! Page One of the New 'Harry Potter
Time Magazine
text editorial
July 8, 2000: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire was published in the U.S. & U.K.; Jo embarks on a four-day tour of England
***** July 8 JK Rowling Talks about Book Four
CBBC Newsround
  • Fan theories: "children are reading them 12 times, or whatever it might be, and they really are starting to know the way my mind works."
  • Fan theories: "[m]ostly what's happened is that people have put together something I've said, something they like to think I said, something someone else said - which is completely false - and drawn completely the wrong conclusions."
  • Fan theories: "But no one yet has guessed what's going to happen or come anywhere close in fact."
  • Well I think it is often the case that the biggest bullies take what they know to be their own defects, as they see it, and they put them right on someone else and then they try and destroy the other and that's what Voldemort does.
  • In Book 4, Harry, Ron and Hermione have specific issues they need to work through. "For Harry that's facing up to his fame, really facing up to it for the first time because he's been put into this situation where he will, for the first time, really get the weight of outside interest. So that's scary." […] "Ron has to deal with his jealousy - he's made friends with the most famous boy in his year and that's not easy, it's not easy to be in that situation. And Hermione gets a political conscience."
  • Book Four is a very, very, VERY important book. It is literally the "central" book. It is the heart of the series and it is pivotal.
  • There was originally a Weasley cousin in book four, but he/she had to be pulled because of plot holes.
  • The series' plot is "quite intricate."
  • Hermione will lighten up after book 4.
  • "Now, can I ask you: are there any special wizarding powers in your world that depend on the wizard using their eyes to do something? Bit like..."
    "Why do you want to know this?"
    "I just vaguely wondered."
    "Why?"
    "Well because everyone always goes on about how Harry's got Lily Potter's eyes." "Aren't you smart? There is something, maybe, coming about that. I'm going to say no more, very clever."
  • "And I'm going to ask one other question which you'll say isn't clever at all. The significance of the place where Harry and his parents lived, the first name — Godric Gryffindor."
    "Very good, you're a bit good you are, aren't you?"
    "Thank you."
    "I'm impressed. My editor didn't notice, I said to her haven't you noticed any connection between where Harry's parents were born, not born, where they lived, and one of the Hogwarts houses and she's sitting there going erm... I'm not being rude about Emma she's a brilliant editor, the best I've ever [had]. But no she didn't pick that up either. You're a bit good you are."
text interview
**** July 8 Bloomsbury Press Video Interview, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire launch
Bloomsbury Press
  • Rowling knew obsessive people would enjoy the books.
  • Rowling hints that snake folklore may provide clues to book 7.
text
video
interview
**** July 8 Harry, Jessica and me
Guardian Unlimited
(UK)
  • No magic power can resurrect a truly dead person.
text interview
**** July 8

The hype surrounding the fourth Harry Potter book belies the fact that Joanne Rowling had some of her blackest moments writing it - and that the pressure was self-imposed; a kind of magic
The Herald
(Glasgow)

  • Death is not reversible, even in the Wizarding World, though in Book 7 "you'll see just how close you can get to the dead."
  • Snape is a compendium of all the bullying teachers she ever encountered.
  • Jo had to remove a chess scene from Book 1 that featured Ron winning by using "a particularly violent bishop."
text interview
** July 8 'Harry' Hoopla Engulfs the Nation
CNN Saturday Morning News
text report
** July 8 J.K. Rowling Embarks on Harry Potter Publicity Tour
CNN News
text report
*** July 8 Tough Times Ahead For Harry Potter
CBS News
text interview
*** July 8 Harry Potter 'madness' stuns author Rowling
Reuters News
text interview
**** July 8 World Exclusive Interview with J K Rowling
South West News Service
(UK)
  • American wizards have their own wizarding school; they cannot attend Hogwarts because it just serves Britain and Ireland.
  • Muggles can't see Hogwarts; they "see a ruin with a sign saying it's unsafe. . .they mustn't enter."
  • Hagrid can legally do magic again since he became a teacher, but he will always be a bit inept.
  • Wizards need money because "there is legislation about what you can conjure and what you can't. Something that you conjure out of thin air will not last."
  • "The five years I spent on HP and the Philosopher's Stone were spent constructing The Rules. I had to lay down all my parameters. The most important thing to decide when you're creating a fantasy world is what the characters CAN'T do."
  • Book 4 is so long because she realized partway through writing it that there was "a big hole in the middle of the plot and I had to go back and unpick and redo." She won't tell us what the flaw was.
  • Harry is particularly talented in Defence against the Dark Arts, the one area (well, besides Quidditch) where he is better than Hermione.
  • JKR does not believe in witchcraft.
  • Hogwarts teachers do not stay at Hogwarts over the holidays. Only Filch stays.
text interview
** July 9 Britain goes wild about Harry the fourth Telegraph.co.uk text report
** July 9 English crowds give author star treatment at launching
Chicago Sun-Times
text report
** July 9 Fear Stalks the Hogwarts Express
Mail on Sunday (UK)
text report
** July 9 All Aboard the Publicity Train
Washington Post
text report
** July 9 Harry Potter and the 'utter madness' of hype
Scotland on Sunday
text report
** July 10 Magical mystery lure of a wizard writer
Birmingham Post
(UK)
text report
*** July 10 Harry's on fire again, casting a spell his creator can no longer ignore
Daily Telegraph
(London)
text interview
*** July 10 All Abord the Potter Express
New York Times
text interview
*** July 10 The Return of Harry Potter!
Newsweek (U.S.)
text interview
*** July 10 Publishing Wizardry: A look at the magical power of a children's book
Jim Lehrer NewsHour (PBS)
text panel discussion
* July 11 I almost lost the plot over Harry hit No. 4
The Mirror
(UK)
text tabloid
* July 11 JK's Vanishing Act
Scottish Daily Record
text tabloid
*** July 11 All Aboard the Hogwarts Express
The Scotsman
text interview
* July 11 Can 35 Million Book Buyers Be Wrong? Yes.
Wall Street Journal
text commentary
** July 11 They're Just Wild About 'Harry' (Potter, That Is)
Time Magazine
text letters
***** July 13 J.K. Rowling Interview
CBCNewsWorld: Hot Type
(Canada)
  • Dumbledore is the "epitome of goodness."
  • People love Ron, for example. Kids think you're going to knock off Ron because he's the best friend.
    JKR: "Kids do, exactly, because they're sharp and they've seen so many films where the hero's best friend gets it. So they think I'm going to make it personal by killing Ron. But maybe that's a double bluff…" (Laughs)
  • JKR: Harry was very well protected until the end of book four, which is the end of an era for him.
  • About S.P.E.W.: Hermione thinks helping people is easy, but "she blunders towards the very people she's trying to help." Jo and her sister went through a stage like this.
  • JKR: Voldemort "takes what he perceives to be a defect in himself, in other words the non-purity of his blood, and he projects it onto others [...] and attempts to exterminate in them what he hates in himself."
  • Dealing with death and facing up to death are "strong central themes" in the books.
text interview
*** July 13 Mother of all Muggles
Irish Times
text contains quotes
** July 15 JK Rowling given honorary degree at her alma mater
Daily Telegraph
(London)
text report
** July 17 Summer Books: Harry Potter Inc.
Maclean's
(Canada)
text review
** July 17 Harry's Is Back Again
Time (U.S.)
text review
** July 17 Why Harry's Hot
Newsweek
(U.S.)
text review
*** July 17 The Woman Who Invented Harry
Newsweek
(U.S.)
text interview
** July 19 WiGBPd About Harry
Australian Financial Review
text commentary
* July 19 Harry Potter and the mystery of J K's lost initial
Daily Telegraph
(London)
text tabloid
  July 20? interview, Radio 1's "God For a Day" ??? interview
*** July 21 Why 'Harry Potter' Did a Harry Houdini
Time Magazine (U.S.)
text editorial
* July 21 Writer gives hint of grim fate for Potter in last book
The Scotsman
text report
*** July 23 Wild About Harry
New York Times Book Review
text review by Stephen King
****   Telling Tales: An Interview with J.K. Rowling (book, published in U.S. as Conversations with J.K. Rowling)
  • The driver and the conductor of the Knight Bus ('Ernie' and 'Stanley') were named for Rowling's grandfathers. p.12
  • Graveyards "are a great source for names." p.15
  • One of the influences for Snape was a "scary" teacher she had when she was 9 years old (Tutshill, near Chepstow, South Wales). p.17
  • As a teacher, the "worst, shabbiest thing you can do" is to bully children (draws parallel to Snape). p.21
  • The characters she created the very first day were Harry, Ron, Nearly Headless Nick, Hagrid and Peeves, then she developed Hogwarts.p.37-8
  • JK envisioned Hogwarts as a "place of great order, but immense danger, with children who had skills with which they could overwhelm their teachers."p.38 Hogwarts
  • Initially there were only seven subjects to be studied at Hogwarts. p.39
  • Professor Lupin is a "damaged person, literally and metaphorically. [....] His being a werewolf is really a metaphor for people's reactions to illness and disability." p. 40
  • JK has worked out Sirius' childhood in detail. p.40
  • JK wrote Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire's 9th chapter 13 times. p.88
offsitebook biography
*** Aug 4
Aug 11
Rowling Thunder (parts 1 & 2)
Entertainment Weekly
(U.S.)
text interview
** Aug 14 Author's favourites are chosen for Potter film
Daily Telegraph
(London)
text report
** Sep 5 Media: Harry Potter and the Horrible Hackette; Which Interviewer Inspired the Venomous Portrait in J.K. Rowling's Latest Bestseller? Severin Carrell Rounds up the Likely suspects
The Independent
(London)
text commentary
**** Sep 7 Fire Storm
Entertainment Weekly
(U.S.)
  • JKR: "Bigotry is probably the thing I detest most. All forms of intolerance, the whole idea of "that which is different from me is necessary evil." I really like to explore the idea that difference is equal and good. But there's another idea that I like to explore, too. Oppressed groups are not, generally speaking, people who stand firmly together — no, sadly, they kind of subdivide among themselves and fight like hell. That's human nature, so that's what you see here. This world of wizards and witches, they're already ostracized, and then within themselves, they've formed a loathsome pecking order."
  • The Goblet of Fire was originally going to be called "The Doomspell Tournament" or "The Triwizard tournament." JKR chose ''Goblet of Fire'' "because it's got that kind of 'cup of destiny' feel about it, which is the theme of the book."
  • JKR characterizes Voldemort as "a raging psychopath, devoid of the normal human responses to other people's suffering and Wormtail as somone "who out of cowardice will stand in the shadow of the strongest person."
  • JKR: "What's very important for me is when Dumbledore says that you have to choose between what is right and what is easy. This is the setup for the next three books. All of them are going to have to choose, because what is easy is often not right."
  • The idea of Harry saving Cedric's body came from the Hector-Patroclus-Achilles triangle in The Illiad.
text interview
  Sep 29 Potter author's content warning
BBC News
text  
  Fall eToys interview
eToys.com
  • 'Hedwig' was a saint, ‘Dumbledore' was an old English word for bumblebee and ‘Snape' is an English village.
text interview
  Fall Interview with J.K. Rowling
BBC Newsround
text interview
  Oct Chapter and Verse: J.K. Rowling has the future mapped out for Harry Potter
Houston Chronicle
text  
  Oct January Profile: J.K. Rowling
January Magazine
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  Oct 4 Press Release: One Parent Families website text  
  Oct 4 Potter creator supports lone parents
BBC News
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  Oct 16 About the Books
Scholastic.com
  • Voldemort being a relative of Harry's would be a bit "Star Wars"
  • JK's animagus form would be an Otter [this will become relevant in a later interview]
  • Witches and wizards don't have to go muggle school before Hogwarts.
  • Lily Potter's maiden name was Evans, and she was in Gryffindor (naturally).
  • Harry's middle name is James, after his Dad.
  • Is there something more to the cats appearing in the books than first meets the eye? (i.e. Mrs. Figg's cats, Crookshanks, Prof. McGonagall as a cat, etc.)
    JKR: Ooooo, another good question. Let's see what I can tell you without giving anything away....erm....no, can't do it, sorry.
  • The Dursleys explained away Dudley's pig tail by telling staff at a private hospital it was a wart that had grown out of control.
  • Lupin didn't turn into a Werewolf until exiting the Shrieking Shack because the moon wasn't up when he entered into it.
  • There are about a thousand students at Hogwarts.
  • Under her "gruff" exterior, Prof. McGonagall is an old softie, really.
  • McGonagall is 70, and Dumbledore is 150. Wizards have a longer life expectancy than muggles.
  • James Potter was a chaser on the Quidditch team.
text  
  Oct 18 Interview
Rosie O'Donnell Show
text interview
  Oct 19 America Online chat
AOL.com
  • Goblins manage to get muggle money back into circulation after muggles have changed it into wizard money at Gringotts. (They are like "fences" -- British and American slang).
  • JKR doesn't have a map of Hogwarts because "stuff just moves too much." But she does have a list of what floor everything is on.
  • James inherited plenty of money, so he didn't need a well-paid profession.
  • The animal one turns into as an animagi reflects your personality.
  • Hermione's birthday is 19th September.
  • Why did Dumbledore have a look of triumph in his eyes at the end of book four?
    JKR: "Good question…excellent, in fact, and like all the best questions I get asked, I can't answer it! Because it would give too much away. However, well-spotted. Have fun guessing…someone's bound to get it right!"
  • James inherited the invisibility cloak from his father.
  • Why did you make Quirrell the bad guy instead of Snape?
    JKR: "Because I know all about Snape, and he wasn't about to put on a turban."
  • Fleur's name means "flower of the court".
  • Will Harry Time travel again?
    JKR: "Not telling!"
text chat
  Oct 20 Barnes and Noble & Yahoo! chat with J.K. Rowling
Barnesandnoble.com
  • Susan Bones' grandparents were killed by Voldmort.
  • Riddle was lying when he said that Hagrid had raised werewolf cubs under his bed
  • Is it just me, or was something going on between Ron and Hermione during the last half of Book 4?
    JKR: "yes, something's 'going on'... but Ron doesn't realise it yet... typical boy."
  • Why does Professor Dumbledore allow Professor Snape to be so nasty to the students (especially to Harry, Hermione, and Neville)? Dumbledore believes there are all sorts of lessons in life... horrible teachers like Snape are one of them!
  • Hagrid was in Gryffindor.
  • Professor Flitwick is head of Ravenclaw house.
  • Did Harry ever use magic on Dudley in the real world? JKR: Not so far (hint).
text chat
  Oct 20 J.K. Rowling Discusses the Surprising Success of 'Harry Potter'
Larry King Live (CNN)
  • In Europe, people used to believe that if you cut the hand off a hanged man, it would make a perpetual torch that gave light only to the holder.
text interview
  Oct 20 Katie Couric interview of J.K. Rowling
NBC Today Show
text interview
  Oct 22 Rowling Confirms Next Harry Potter Title
Cinescape
text  
  Oct 22 Harry Potter: Need she say more?
The Oregonian
(U.S.)
  • There's stuff coming with the Dursleys that people might not expect.
text  
  Oct 23 Interview: J.K. Rowling
Canadian Broadcasting Co.
  • On the theme of tolerance in the books: "One way to learn tolerance is to take the time to really understand other people's motives. Yes, you're right. Harry is often given an erroneous first impression of someone and he has to learn to look beneath the surface. When you look beneath the surface he has sometimes found that he is being fooled by people. And on other occasions he has found very nice surprises."
text interview
  Oct 23 Out of adversity, Harry was born
Globe Review
(Toronto)
text  
  Oct 23
NEW!
Interview: J.K. Rowling
This Morning (CBC)
text  
  Oct 23 20,000 Fans making Rowling a bit nervous
National Post
(Toronto)
text  
  Oct 23 Harry's Creator: J.K. Rowling at Toronto press conference yesterday
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
text  
  Oct 23 'Terrified' of SkyDome date
Toronto Star
text  
  Oct 25 Harry Potter author fields questions from junior journalists in Vancouver
Canadian Press, October 25, 2000
full
  • Dementors don't breed, but grow like fungus where there is decay.
text interview
  Oct 25 A Conversation with J.K. Rowling; A Good Scare
Time Magazine
(U.S.)
  • Book 1 is purposefully fairly gentle, because Harry is very protected when he enters the world.
  • JKR on Voldemort and Cedric's death: "We really are talking about someone who is incredibly power hungry. Racist, really. And what do those kinds of people do? They treat human life so lightly. I wanted to be accurate in that sense. My editor was shocked by the way the character was killed, which was very dismissive. That was entirely deliberate."
  • JKR: "I do have a real problem with gratuitous violence."
  • JKR: "It's great to hear feedback from the kids. Mostly they are really worried about Ron. As if I'm going to kill Harry's best friend."
  • JKR: "What I find interesting is only once has anyone said to me, "Don't kill Hermione and that was after a reading when I said no one's ever worried about her.... They see her as someone who is not vulnerable, but I see her as someone who does have quite a lot of vulnerability in her personality."
text interview
  Oct 26 Teens play journalist with Rowling
Globe and Mail (Canada)
text  
  Oct 26 'You can lead a fool to a book but you can't make them think': Author has frank words for the religious right
Vancouver Sun
(British Columbia)
text  
  Oct 27 Harry Potter
Morning Edition (NPR)
text
audio
interview
  Nov 3 J.K. Rowling at the International Writers and Readers Festival
Cinescape
text  
  Nov 6 The Rowling Connection: How a young Toronto girl's story touched an author's heart
Maclean's (Canada)
  • Natalie McDonald is the only real person to be mentioned in the novels. (see interview for whole story).
text  
  Nov 12 Next Harry Potter slow in coming, but J.K. Rowling says she's already written the last chapter of the series' last book
Philadelphia Inquirer
text  
  Nov 16 Harry Pottermania in Vancouver
Cinescape
  • JKR: "Hermione gave me a lot of trouble!" laughed Rowling. "She was really misbehaving. She developed this big political conscience about the House elves. Well, she wanted to go her own way, and for two chapters, she just went wandering off. I just let her do it and then I scrapped two chapters and kept a few bits. That I liked. That's the most trouble anyone's ever given me, but it was fun so I gave her her head."
  • JKR: "You should keep an eye on Dudley. It's probably too late for Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon. I feel sorry for Dudley. I might joke about him, but I feel truly sorry for him because I see him as just as abused as Harry."
text  
  Nov 28 Harry Potter's creator denies her villains are anti-French
The Independent
(London)
text  
  Dec J.K. Rowling: The Wizard Behind Harry Potter
Reader's Digest
(U.S.)
  • JKR: "I love a good whodunnit and my passion is plot construction. Readers loved to be tricked, but not conned."
  • "The best twist ever in literature is in Jane Austen's Emma. To me she is the target of perfection at which we shoot in vain."
  • Harry's glasses are "the clue to his vulnerability."
text  
  Dec 6 Lone parents are poorer than OAPs, says JK Rowling
Daily Telegraph
(London)
text  
??? Dec 9 Maggie's Cancer Caring Centre reading in Glasgow ???
forum post
interview
***
Dec 25 The Magic Of Potter
Time (U.S.)
text report
*** Dec 25 Harry Is an Old Soul
Time (U.S.)
text  
Rating 2000 Title & highlights* Links Type

*Article highlights created by Deborah Skinner (aka 'Madam Scoop') and Lisa Bunker

Original page date 21 September 2006; last updated 29 July, 2007

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