Entertainment and Showbiz! » JK Rowling

Daniel Radcliffe : Daniel Radcliffe pays tribute to murdered Harry Potter actor Rob Knox

ranjankul — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 17:05:19 +0000

Brit actor Daniel Radcliffe, 19, has written a heart-felt note to pay tribute to his murdered ‘Harry Potter’ co-star Rob Knox.

In the note to the mother of the 18-year-old knife victim, Radcliffe and the devastated cast and crew of ‘Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince’ penned down moving tributes to him.

The messages were written down in a copy of JK Rowling’s novel, on which the film was based, turning it into a treasured book of condolence for Rob’s mother Sally.

“Dear Rob, We are all proud to have known you and devastated to have lost you. It is terrible just to write this note. Rest in peace, Dan xxx,” the Sun quoted Radcliffe as having written in the message.

He ended the message with a quote that famed author DH Lawrence had sent to a friend in 1923.

“To everyone else who reads this remember ‘The dead don’t die. They look on and help’,” he wrote.

Actor Rupert Grint, who played Ron Weasley, also paid tribute to Knox.

“Rob, It was an honour to have known you and whenever I’m on the Southend strip I’ll be thinking of you. Rest in peace mate,” he wrote.

Knox’s mother Sally, 51, who was relieved that her son’s murderer Karl Bishop, was given four life sentences at the Old Bailey, was touched by the messages.

“I know that people will look at these and think it’s nice because he was so high profile. But to me I treasure it because it was just another example of the way Rob touched lives, another person who met him and liked him. That’s what makes me so proud,” she said. (ANI)

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J.K. Rowling : JK Rowling ‘fumes’ after pal puts gifts on eBay

ranjankul — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 17:07:46 +0000

J.K. Rowling is reportedly enraged that items gifted to a pal have been put for sale on eBay.

The ‘Harry Potter’ author was said to be livid that a 5,000-pound price tag had been placed on the gifts presented to a family friend before she hit the spotlight.

The items have been dubbed by owner Adrian Greenwood Rare Books as “a rare insight into Rowling’s creative processes”.

They include a signed sketch of a boy, a list baby names, which later featured in her books, such as the ‘Chamber of Secrets’, and a hand-drawn invitation to her daughter’s third birthday party in Edinburgh.

“These three items all come from a family friend of Rowling,” the Sun quoted Greenwood as saying.

“At least they were at the time when the items were given as gifts – but we gather Ms Rowling is not pleased that they have been resold,” Greenwood added. (ANI)

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JK Rowling : Scottish honour for JK Rowling

ranjankul — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 15:09:02 +0000

British author JK Rowling has agreed to have her handprints preserved for posterity in Scotland’s capital Edinburgh, where she is said to have penned the first Harry Potter book.

Rowling, who is said to have started writing the schoolboy wizard’s first adventure in an Edinburgh café, has already been immortalised in a stone that has been given pride of place outside the City Chambers.

Now the author has had her handprints done in accordance with the civic award she received last year, which made her the second person to win the Edinburgh Award.

The award is given to individuals “whose outstanding achievements have brought honour to the city”, with ‘The Rebus’ author Ian Rankin being the first to receive it.

“I was delighted to receive the Edinburgh Award, as this city and its wonderful inhabitants have meant so much to me for the last 15 years,” the Scotsman quoted her as saying.

“It is particularly appropriate for a writer’s hands to be represented, so I am deeply honoured to have my keyboard-chipped fingernails, not to mention my pen-induced friction callous, commemorated in the place where I produced Harry Potter,” she added. (ANI)

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J.K. Rowling : Rowling ‘lands gold-dust invitation for Obama’s inaugural gala’

ranjankul — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 14:37:15 +0000

Acclaimed author J.K. Rowling has received a special gold-dust invitation for US President-elect Barack Obama’s inaugural ceremony, according to reports.

The author received the special early invitation because Obama is a huge fan of Harry Potter books.

The invitation may see Rowling rubbing shoulders with celebrities like George Clooney and Will Smith at the star-studded inauguration ceremony and White House dinner on Tuesday.

However J.K. Rowling’s spokeswoman said she was unaware of any decision on the invite.

The organisers of the bash in Washington are much aware of Obama’s “cool” status, as rapper Jay-Z, his superstar wife Beyonce Knowles and rock legend Bruce Springsteen are also on the guest list for the glitzy reception.

“Obama is cool. He’s the first pop culture president,” The Sun quoted Morris Reid of the Creative Coalition, as saying.

In 2007, Obama’s wife Michelle outed him as the original “Harry Potter parent”. (ANI)

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David Tennant refused to star in ‘Doctor Who’ alongside J. K. Rowling

admin — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 02:05:52 +0000

TV producer Russell T Davies has revealed that his team had to cancel a ‘Dr Who’ Christmas special after the show’s legend David Tennant refused to star alongside British author J. K. Rowling.

He said that the idea has had to be scrapped in order to keep Tennant, 37, happy.

Davies had to ditch his idea of writing the Harry Potter creator into this year’s Christmas Day episode as a gift to young fans, after Tennant declared he thought the idea sounded like a spoof.

Had the show been allowed to go on, the episode would have featured Rowling’s imagination, a world full of magic and wizards, which turns into reality after she is attacked by a giant space bug.

“Zap! JK’s imagination becomes real! A world of Victorian magic replaces the present-day world,” the Sun quoted Davies explaining.

“The Doctor arrives and has to battle through a world of witches and wizards, with wands and spells, to reach JK Rowling at the heart of it all,” he said.

But when it was known that tenth Time Lord Tennant was not in favour of the idea, Davies emailed his bosses about it.

“David doesn’t like the JK idea. He thinks it sounds like a spoof so we’ve paused slightly, wondering whether to win him round or just abandon something he’s not going to be happy with,” he had written.

A very unhappy Davies had to do away with the idea, revealing to his colleagues that Tennant’s happiness comes first.

“We’ve got to keep him happy. He keeps us happy. Plus he might be right. So that idea has parked itself,” he added. (ANI)

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Rowling regrets not telling mom about Harry Potter book

admin — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 09:23:30 +0000

British writer JK Rowling revealed that she regrets not having told her mother, Anne, about the Harry Potter book she was writing.

Rowling had started writing the book just six months before her mother died of multiple sclerosis (MS) at the age of 45.

“I started writing Harry six months before she died. That’s obviously a real regret, because I never told her I was even writing it,” Daily Telegraph quoted her as saying in an interview for a BBC Scotland documentary.

“She knew I wanted to write – I’m not sure how seriously she took it. She never knew anything about Harry Potter at all,” she said.

The series of books has gone on to sell 375 million copies worldwide and spawn five blockbuster films, with the sixth installment, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, due out in November this year.

Rowling, patron of the Multiple Sclerosis Society Scotland, also voiced frustration at the level of funding available for research into the debilitating disease.

Rowling further spoke of her pain at witnessing the gradual decline of her mother, whom she had perceived as “invulnerable”, prior to her death in 1990.

“She had me very young. She had me when she was 20, so I was 25 when she died,” the 42-year-old told the documentary.

“When I left home, she was walking unaided. By the time I graduated, she was in a wheelchair and in the house she needed a walking frame. It was awful to watch,” she added.

Rowling, who contributed to the cost of a new MS research centre in Edinburgh, has labelled MS the “Cinderella of illness” because it is under-funded and ignored. (ANI)

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Rowling joins Pullman in protesting age guidance limits on books

admin — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 15:38:27 +0000

Harry Potter author JK Rowling is joining hands with joined rival fantasy writer Philip Pullman in a bid to block plans by publishers to put age guidance limits on books.

Pullman is just one of the authors and illustrators livid about the move, which would see kids’ books getting age limits rather like what the movies have today.

Other children’s literature giants who are protesting include Quentin Blake, Anne Fine and Dame Jacqueline Wilson, reports Contactmusic.

As for why they are resisting the idea, Pullman says doing so will mean that authors’ books are limited to only a particular age group.

“You simply can’t decide who your readership will be. Nor do I want to, because declaring that it’s for any group in particular means excluding every other group,” he said. (ANI)

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