31 July: Harry Potter

Today is Harry Potter’s birthday (and also the birthday of his creator, JK Rowling). 10 things you might not know about Harry Potter and his friends:

1. Most people will know Harry’s parents are called James and Lily. Perhaps less well known are his paternal grandparents, who were called Fleamont and Euphemia. James was their only child. They lived to see him marry Lily, but died of dragon pox before Harry was born.

2. The Potter family is descended from the 12th-century wizard Linfred of Stinchcombe, "a locally well-beloved and eccentric man, whose nickname, 'the Potterer', became corrupted in time to 'Potter'".

3. The names of the characters in the book are often more significant than you might realise. Harry is a form of Henry, the name of several English kings, marking Harry as a leader. "Ronald" comes from the Old Norse Rögnvaldr, a title for a ruler's adviser. Hermione was a character in The Winter’s Tale which was chosen by the Grangers because it was a clever name. Dumbledore is an Old English word for "Bumble Bee." Rowling chose it because she always thought of Dumbledore humming to himself. The name Voldemort comes from French words that mean "flight of death." Ernie Prang and Stanley Shunpike – the conductor and driver of the Knight Bus – were named after J.K. Rowling’s grandfathers, Ernie Rowling and Stanley Volant.

4. Harry is described in the books as having perpetually untidy Black hair like his father, bright Green eyes like his mother, and a lightning bolt-shaped scar on his forehead. He is "small and skinny for his age" with "a thin face" and "knobbly knees", and he wears Windsor glasses. In the first book, his scar is described as "the only thing Harry liked about his own appearance". In the films, however, Harry does not have green eyes, because Daniel Radcliffe couldn’t get on with the green contact lenses.

5. Platform 9 ¾ at King’s Cross may not actually exist, but there is a sign for it at the station, because the station managers noticed huge numbers of people taking pictures of Platforms 9 and 10, so they decided to put the sign up.

6. The Hogwarts motto is in Latin and says “Draco dormiens nunquam titillandus” which means “Never tickle a sleeping Dragon”.

7. As of February 2023, Harry Potter books have sold more than 600 million copies worldwide, making them the best-selling book series in history, and have been translated into in 85 languages, including some with fewer than a million speakers such as Basque, Greenlandic, and Welsh, as well as the Classical languages Latin and Ancient Greek. Sadly, I could find no mention of a Klingon version.

8. The series has inspired scientific names of several organisms, including the Dinosaur Dracorex hogwartsia, the Spider Eriovixia gryffindori, the wasp Ampulex dementor, and the Crab Harryplax severus. The word "Muggle" entered the Oxford English Dictionary in 2003.

9. Harry had the ability to speak and understand "Parseltongue", a language associated with Dark Magic, because he harboured a piece of Voldemort's soul. He lost this ability when the part of Voldemort's soul inside him was destroyed at the end of The Deathly Hallows.

10. Horror writer Stephen King has said that he considers a villain from the Harry Potter series one of the creepiest fictional villains ever. He wrote: "The gently smiling Dolores Umbridge, with her girlish voice, toadlike face, and clutching, stubby fingers, is the greatest make-believe villain to come along since Hannibal Lecter."

Character Birthday

Destroyer, real name Desi Troyes, is a scientist from Innovia, Infinitus who was the scientific advisor to President Jack Ward. He led the project to find a solution to the threat of an asteroid strike on the planet and persuaded Ward that hitting any threatening asteroids with a nuclear bomb was the best solution and that the bomb should be tested on a remote island, Bird Island. Troyes had worked out that detonating the bomb there would set in motion a chain reaction of disasters that would bring Infinitus to its knees, and planned to rebuild the world with himself as ruler. However, the superhero Power Blaster diverted the bomb so that it detonated in the sky above the island. This averted Troyes’s planned disaster but opened a wormhole leading to Earth. Troyes was among many who were pulled through the wormhole, gaining powers in the process. Troyes joined up with some of the more villainous ones to form a group called the Desperadoes. Troyes began planning how he might repeat his plan on Earth. See the Raiders Trilogy.

Raiders Trilogy

Secrets and Skies

Jack Ward, President of Innovia, owes his life twice over to the enigmatic superhero, dubbed Power Blaster by the press. No-one knows who Power Blaster is or where he comes from - and he wants it to stay that way.

Scientist Desi Troyes has developed a nuclear bomb to counter the ever present threat of an asteroid hitting the planet. When Ward signs the order giving the go ahead for a nuclear test on the remote Bird Island, he has no inkling of Troyes' real agenda, and that he has signed the death warrants of millions of people.

Although the island should have been evacuated, there are people still there: some from the distant continent of Classica; protesters opposed to the bomb test; and Innovians who will not, or cannot, use their communication devices.

Power Blaster knows he must stop the bomb from hitting the island. He also knows it may be the last thing he ever does.

Meanwhile in Innovia, Ward and his staff gather to watch the broadcast of the test. Nobody, not even Troyes himself, has any idea what is about to happen.

Available from Amazon or Amazon Kindle

Over the Rainbow

'We're not in Trinity anymore,' says Leonard Marx, quoting a line from an old Innovian  movie. The moon is different; the planes flying overhead are different. Nobody has any idea where they are or if it's possible to get home. 

In this strange new world, people from the highly technical Innovia and the less advanced Classica must co-operate in order to survive. In addition, travel through the inter-dimensional wormhole has given some people unusual and unexpected powers.

Innovia mourns the loss of its superhero, Power Blaster, last seen carrying a nuclear bomb to the upper atmosphere away from the inhabited Bird Island. They don't believe he could possibly have survived.  Power Blaster has survived, but is close to death and stranded in the new dimension. He is nursed back to health by a Classican woman, Elena. She has no idea who he is, only that she is falling in love with the handsome stranger.  

Shanna sets out to discover what happened to Nathan Tate, who didn't return from his hiking holiday, not knowing her life is about to be turned inside out and upside down. 

Meanwhile, Desi Troyes, the man responsible for the catastrophe, is at large on the new world, plotting how he can transfer his plans for world domination to the planet he now finds himself on - Earth. 

Available from Amazon and Amazon Kindle

Closing the Circle

A stable wormhole has been established between Earth and Infinitus. Power Blaster and his friends can finally go home.

Desi Troyes is still at large on Earth - Power Blaster has vowed to bring him to justice. His wedding to Shanna is under threat as the Desperadoes launch an attempt to rescue their leader. Someone from Power Blaster's past plays an unexpected and significant role in capturing Troyes.

The return home brings its own challenges. Not everyone can return to the life they left behind, and for some, there is unfinished business to be dealt with before they can start anew.

Ben Cole in particular cannot resume his old life as a surgeon because technology no longer works around him. He plans a new life in Classica, away from technology. Shanna hears that there could be a way to reverse his condition and sets out to find it, putting herself in great danger. She doesn't know that she is about to uncover the secret of Power Blaster's mysterious past.

Available from:

Amazon (Paperback)

Amazon Kindle