HP Sauce: The Story of J.K. Rowling

The woman behind the wizard

There are probably very few people in the known world who haven’t at least heard of Harry Potter. Most know the story of the geeky boy wizard who fought against abuse, bullying and a psycho nutter to protect his friends and loved-ones from He Who Must Not Be Named.

Harry Potter has been taken into the hearts of many for his bravery, kindness and willingness to put others before himself and for being an all-round sweety. Who amongst us Potterphiles have not dreamt about finding out that we are really closet witches or wizards, able to zap our enemies with a well-aimed curse, or going to school at Hogwarts rather than the local comp that looks like a concrete prison?

However, how many of us know the genius behind the tale? GeekGirl reveals all...

The Birth of a Star

J.K. Rowling, better known to her parents as Joanne Rowling, was born on 31 July 1965. (Anyone notice something special about that date?! Yes, that is Harry’s birthday too!)

Jo was born in a little village near Bristol, and then moved to Winterbourne with her parents and little sister Di when she was four. She loved her primary school there, and many believe that she based her popular character Albus Dumbledore on the headmaster of her first school, Alfred Dunn. There was also a family called Potter who lived down the street from her. She always loved the name Potter, but she has said on her website that she did not base Harry on this family.

What’s in a Name?

Joanne, (or ‘Jo’ as she prefers to be called) actually has no middle name – the K comes from Kathleen, the name of her favourite grandparent. Jo hated her surname when she was little, as people used to make jokes about it. Her name is actually pronounced ‘rolling’, which of course meant people used to call her Rowling Pin or Rowling Stone. Now, she is just Rowling in Money and Fame, so she sure showed them!

Jo recently remarried, and her legal name is actually Joanne Murray.

The Early Years

Jo had to move again when she was 11, to Tutshill in South Wales, and she hated her new school – we all know how that feels, don’t we? However, she met her best friend Sean at this school. He had a turquoise Ford Anglia, which was the inspiration for the magical car in “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets”. She has also claimed that Ron is based loosely on her friend Sean.

She spent most of her spare time writing before going to the University of Exeter to study French. After university, she worked at Amnesty International in London before moving up to Manchester. It was on a delayed train back to London that she first thought of Harry Potter. She began writing the story that night.

When Tragedy Strikes

In 1990, Jo’s mum sadly died from Multiple Sclerosis. She has said that the loss of her mum made her better able to write about Harry’s feelings about his dead parents as she understood what he would have been feeling.

The death of her mum upset Jo greatly, and she decided to make a fresh start in Portugal. It was here that she got married for the first time and her daughter Jessica was born. Unfortunately, the marriage didn’t work, and Jo came back to Edinburgh to live near her sister in 1994.

The Best Decision the Publisher Ever Made

It was now that Jo started writing Harry Potter in earnest, scribbling frantically in cafes whilst her daughter slept in a pushchair. She finally finished the book and sent it to a literary agent to be published. The first agent refused to read the book, but the second one (called Christopher) said he would take on the book.

It took a year for any publishers to be interested in publishing Harry Potter. However, in August 1996, Bloomsbury agreed to publish “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone”. Jo has said that she screamed so loudly when she was told that she scared her infant daughter!

Since then, the Harry Potter series- which runs to a whopping 4,195 pages- has been translated into 65 languages, has sold over 400 million copies and has won numerous awards. Jo has an estimated fortune of over 545 million pounds, making her the second richest female entertainer in the world, although she donates a lot of money to charity.

The Harry Potter franchise is worth over 7 billion pounds, and is loved by millions.

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