A field guide for curious Muggles
Here's how Harry Potter has changed the life of his creator as well as the world, in a mere decade.
* J.K. Rowling (pronounced "rolling") completed the first Harry Potter book in 1995 after spending months writing in local cafes while her daughter was sleeping. She began the book in 1990. While, at the time, Rowling was an unemployed single mother living on state benefits, she is highly educated in French and the Classics, which explains the novels' multitude of classical and literary allusions. Rowling has since remarried and had two more children while finishing the series.
* Thanks to Harry Potter, Rowling is a billionaire, the wealthiest writer in literary history and, according to Forbes, the second-richest female entertainer in the world (after Oprah Winfrey).
* Rowling told actors Alan Rickman and Robbie Coltrane, who play Severus Snape and Rubeus Hagrid in the movie franchise, certain secrets about their characters to aid them in their performances.
* The books have sold more than 325 million copies and been translated into 63 languages, including Urdu, Latin and ancient Greek.
* Harry Potter mania inspired the Wizard Rock movement, a genre of tribute bands that write songs about the books and dress like the characters, including the group Harry and the Potters and The Cruciatus Curse.
Even the most rabid Potter fan won't find these juicy tidbits in the novels, but J.K. Rowling did reveal them in interviews and on her Web site.
* Ginny Weasley's full first name is Ginevra, not Virginia, and she is the first female Weasley born in several generations.
* Hermione's cat Crookshanks is half kneazle, an intelligent catlike creature that detects untrustworthy people.
* Harry's father James inherited both a fortune and an invisibility cloak, which were then passed on to Harry.
* Witches and wizards have longer life spans than Muggles (people without magical powers). Professor Dumbledore is 150 and Professor McGonagall is 70.
* Dean Thomas was named Gary in the first drafts of the book. His father was killed by Death Eaters when Mr. Thomas refused to join them, but neither Dean nor his Muggle mother knows that. In Book 5, Dean states that both of his parents are Muggles.
Sources: Mugglenet.com, The-Leaky-Cauldron.org, Wikipedia