Dr Philip Errington, director of printed books and manuscripts at Sotheby’s, said: “This can undoubtedly be regarded as the definitive copy of any Harry Potter book. Not only is it a fine copy of a first edition of the first book, but the author has significantly personalised it with numerous written comments and many impressive and evocative illustrations. The personality of the author leaps from these pages and we are treated to a remarkable insight into her creative genius.”

Thanks to SnitchSeeker for the tip!

TOUR DATES:

From May 6^th – tickets for Stoke on Trent can be obtained from Cafe Divine, 493-495 Hartshill Road, Hartshill, Stoke-on-Trent, ST4 6AA – Cafe Divine will also have an exhibition of the concept artwork from the WETA Workshop (see above) Tickets are priced from £15 to £20 and can be purchased by calling 020 7378 7840, online www.houdinitheplay.com or directly from Cafe Divine

Animal Actors week begins on May 25th and continues until June 2nd. More information on the week’s activities may be seen in our original post from last month.

During filming, 40 kittens were brought to the studio to be filmed in front of a green screen for Dolores Umbridge’s porcelain kitten plates, which can be found at the Studio Tour in Umbridge’s Ministry of Magic office. We will be recreating this process during Animal Actors Week; watch this video to meet our very own Twitter Litter and help us name them by tweeting your suggestions to @wbstudiotour using #AnimalActors

The LA Times is reporting today that Daniel Radcliffe’s television series A Young Doctor’s Notebook will be airing on US television station Ovation this Summer. The show also stars Mad Men‘s Jon Ham as the older version of Daniel’s character as well as the narrator. The mini-series is four episodes long and follows a new doctor (Daniel) as he undertakes his first job at a hospital in rural Russia during the revolution.

From the press release:

A Young Doctor’s Notebook (4 x ½-hr)
Produced by the BBC and premiering in the US exclusively on Ovation, this scripted series stars Jon Hamm (Mad Men, 30 Rock) and Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter, The Woman in Black).  Based on the book by Mikhail Bulgakov, A Young Doctor’s Notebook is the darkly humorous account of the experiences of a newly graduated young doctor who lands a post at a small hospital in a remote village during the Russian Revolution. The story is told through the eyes of the doctor’s older, opiate-addicted self (Hamm) as he narrates the action from his own notebooks. The series premieres this summer, only on Ovation.

THE ADVENTURE CONTINUES: THE WIZARDING WORLD OF HARRY POTTER – DIAGON ALLEY IS COMING TO UNIVERSAL ORLANDO RESORT.

Building on the global phenomenon that is The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, Universal Orlando Resort and Warner Bros. Entertainment today announced an expansion of historic proportion with the entirely new themed environment, The Wizarding World of Harry Potter – Diagon Alley.

Scheduled to open in 2014, the world’s first centrally themed, multi-park experience expands The Wizarding World of Harry Potter across both Universal Orlando theme parks and allows Universal’s creative team to bring an unparalleled vision to this unique project. The new area will bring to life some of the experiences and places found in and around London in the Harry Potter books and films, offering brand-new adventures for fans and theme park guests from around the world.

Diagon Alley and ‘London’ will be located within the Universal Studios Florida theme park, which is adjacent to Universal’s Islands of Adventure theme park, where guests now experience Hogwarts and Hogsmeade. The new area within Universal Studios will be just as expansive, immersive and authentic as the existing themed environment.”

The Huffington Post also has some more details on the expansion from Mark Woodbury, president of Universal Creative:

“Given the strong response that we got from our Guests as well as from Harry Potter fans, we knew that we had done something truly special in bringing to life this great body of fiction with such a high level of detail and authenticity,” Woodbury explained. “But even so, we knew that there were other great Harry Potter-related tales to tell. That there were stories, characters and experiences that we just hadn’t been able to fit into Hogsmeade & Hogwarts Castle.”

“So we then began to wonder: Given that we had these two great theme parks sitting right next to each other, could we maybe turn that to our storytelling advantage?,” Mark continued. “By placing Diagon Alley & London at Universal Studios Florida and Hogsmeade & Hogwarts at Islands of Adventure, could we maybe use the distance between these two theme parks as a way to echo the natural geographic separation that the readers find between Hogwarts & Diagon Alley in J.K. Rowling’s own stories?”

[...]“Those meetings [with Jo] are fascinating and wonderful opportunities to have, to be able to talk and collaborate directly with J K Rowling and the Warner Bros. film-makers. This was a big idea. And everybody immediately saw that when we initially laid it all out. And the fact that we wanted to continue to tell the Harry Potter story, the places that we had chosen to develop — Diagon Alley & London & Gringotts & Hogwarts Express — were really big ideas and bold moves, I think that the ambition behind that was very much appreciated,” Mark stated.

[...]

“As we went into this project, the folks at Universal Orlando & Warner Bros. Entertainment set the bar very high and we weren’t about to compromise. We knew that London & Diagon Alley & the Hogwarts Express had to be equal to and better than Hogsmeade & Hogwarts Castle in every way and at every level. And that’s exactly how we approached this expansion project right from the get-go,” Mark said.

“Our goal here is to fully immerse people into the Harry Potter stories. So the architecture plays a big role in that. And starting with the London area, which is totally authentic and recreates & captures the essence of the iconographic parts of the fiction in that space, we went big,” Woodbury continued. “And then we find our way into Diagon Alley in much the same way you do in the books and movies. And that’s a totally different environment that gives Guests an even deeper immersion into the world of Harry Potter. And those buildings are big as well. Four and five stories-tall in some places.”

[...]

“After teasing people with that static version of the Hogwarts Express in Hogsmeade, we’re now going to give them the opportunity to climb aboard that train and go on an actual journey. And we’re not going to do the usual theme park thing, where you get on an attraction that promises to take you on a journey, but then when you exit your ride vehicle, you’re actually back in the exact same spot where you began that ride,” Mark enthused. “After people climb aboard the Hogwarts Express at Universal Orlando Resort next year, as they exit that train, they’re going to find themselves in an entirely different environment, in a completely different place. Whether they’ve journeyed from London to Hogsmeade or visa versa. And we’ve made sure that even your train trip aboard the Hogwarts Express will be part of the ambitious immersive storytelling experience that we’re trying to create for our Guests with this Potter expansion.”

Saturday May 11th

• 1:00pm – Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
• 4:30pm – Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
• 7:30pm – Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Saturday May 12th

• 9:30am- Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
• 1:00pm- Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
• 4:00pm- Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
• 7:30pm – Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I

The Prince and Duchess learn how to fight with wands:

Part of Prince William’s speech:

WB Studio Tour has also released a video from the visit:

The following members of the Potter family were in attendance: David Heyman, David Yates, Mike Newell and Matthew Lewis . We will have photos of them as soon as they become available.  For now view these (which will be updated as more appear online):

• Matthew Lewis – via his Twitter
• J.K. Rowling, David Yates, David Heyman and Mike Newell - via Mugglenet
• J.K. Rowling & Prince Harry – via WB Studio Tour Twitter