Caravaggio, Michelangelo Merisi da -
Cassidy, Steve -
Chepstow -
Chipping Sodbury -
Chowdhury, Shefali -
Chudleigh -
Church Cottage -
Church of Scotland -
Clapham -
Cleese, John -
Cockcroft, Jason -
Colbert, David J. -
Colette, Sidonie-Gabrielle -
Coltrane, Robbie -
Columbus, Christopher -
Columbus, Eleanor -
Comic Relief U.K. -
Coulson, Christian -
Crouch -
Culpeper's Complete Herbal -
Cunningham, Barry
Caravaggio, Michelangelo Merisi da
(1573-1610)
Born Michelangelo da Merisi in 1573 in Caravaggio, Italy, this painter
become known by the name of his birthplace. JKR has said that her favorite
painting is
"
Supper at Emmaus" by
Caravaggio (1600-01) in which Jesus reveals himself to his disciples, having
risen from the dead. "I love it. Jesus looks very likeable ---
soft and rounded - and the painting captures the exact moment
when the disciples realize who this man is, blessing their bread"
(Lindsay Fraser,
Conversations with J.K. Rowling, Scholastic, October 2001).
Cassidy, Steve
Principal of the Encounter English Schools in
Porto, where Rowling worked during her time
in Portugal in the early 1990s
(Connie Ann Kirk,
J.K. Rowling: A Biography,
Greenwood Press, 2003).
Chepstow
Chepstow is
one mile from Tutshill, the village
where the Rowlings resided from 1974 onward. While Tutshill
is located in the English county of Gloucestershire, Chepstow is located
in Gwent County, Wales. Rowling attended primary school in Chepstow. Some
of the street names in Chepstow bear names remarkably similar to those in
Little Whinging,
the fictional Surrey bedroom community where the
Dursleys live (see the essay
Echoes of the Past:
Street Names of Little Whinging for details).
Hagrid's dropped word-endings are
characteristic of the speech of many locals in and near Chepstow
("Harry's Fame,"
Rosemary Goring, Scotland, 17 January 1999).
Chepstow and Tutshill are separated by the
Wye River.
Chepstow is also the location of Chepstow Castle, which is the focus of
Gies and Gies' excellent reference book
Life in a Medieval Castle
because it is one of the best-preserved and most imposing medieval castles in
Europe.
Chipping Sodbury
Although she has stated in interviews that she was born in the village of
Chipping Sodbury, Rowling's birth record records her birth at
Yate General Hospital on 31 July 1965.
Chipping Sodbury [] is a more
attractive village than current-day Yate, with its attractive 17th century
buildings and upscale shopping. Chipping Sodbury
("chipping" means "cheeping" or
buying/selling) is an old market town located east
of Bristol.
Chowdhury, Shefali
Shefali Chowdhury was cast as
Parvati Patil in
GF/f.
Further information can be found at:
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1715231/
Chudleigh
The village of Chudleigh (perhaps the model for the Chudley of the
Chudley Cannons)
is located just to the west of
Exeter, where Rowling attended
university.
|
| Church Cottage, Tutshill |
Rowling's home in Tutshill from 1974 and throughout her childhood, Church Cottage was situated between St. Luke's Church and the Church of England Primary School of Tutshill. The cottage was originally the village school for Tutshill from 1848 until 1893.
Church of Scotland
JKR has said in several interviews that she attends the Church of Scotland
[].
Since she gave her daughter Jessica a
copy of Jessica Mitford's
Hons
and Rebels for her "christening" gift,
it may be inferred that Jessica
was baptized in the Church of Scotland after JKR returned to the United Kingdom
when Jessica was only three months
old. One article explicitly says that
Jessica Rowling was christened
in an Edinburgh congregation of the
Church of Scotland, though a specific church was not cited
(WP1).
Clapham
After finishing her studies at the
University of Exeter, JKR took
a flat in Clapham, a Southwest London neighborhood, with some friends for
some unknown period of time.
[] The famous train ride during which Rowling invented
Harry Potter happened while she lived here:
That was...that was the kind of feeling I had getting off the train. As though I'd just met someone wonderful and we were about to embark on this wonderful affair. That kind of elation, that light-headedness and that excitement. And, um, so I got back to my flat in Clapham Junction and started writing. And I've now been writing for 10 years, so it's been a good affair. (HPM)See also Clapham.
Cleese, John
John Cleese, a well-known and respected British actor born in 1939 in
Weston-super-Mare in Somerset, plays the role of
Nearly Headless Nick in the first two
films. Cleese is perhaps best known for his roles in the
Monty Python films.
See http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000092/
Cockcroft, Jason
Cockcroft designed the cover art for the Bloomsbury edition of
OP.
"Jason Cockcroft is a highly talented illustrator. He has illustrated
Billywise and The Little Blue Rabbit for Bloomsbury. He won
the first-ever Blue Peter Award in 2000 with A Pilgrim's Progress. He
lives in Addingham, West Yorkshire, England."
[]
Colbert, David J.
Author of
The Magical Worlds of Harry Potter:
A Treasury of Myths, Legends, and Fascinating Facts
(Lumina Press 2001) and of
The Magical Worlds of Narnia:
A Treasury of Myths, Legends, and Fascinating Facts
(Berkley Books 2005). David Colbert is also the editor of
Eyewitness to America, Eyewitness to the American West,
Baseball: The National Pastime in Art and Literature, and
World War II: A Tribute in Art and Literature.
Colette, Sidonie-Gabrielle
(1873-1954)
JKR admires the work of Colette,
born in 1873 in Saint-Saveur-en Puisaye, Burgundy. Colette is said to be
one of France's leading twentieth-century novelists. Critics generally
divide her work into four phases: the Claudine novels, life in the theater,
the politics of love, and reminiscences of youth and family. Dominant themes
concern the difficulty of reconciling a woman's struggle for independence
and self-realization with the insistent demands of physical passion and
the inevitable requirements of adult relationships. Her better known works
included The Pure and the Impure (1932),
The Vagabond (1910),
Cheri (1920),
The Last of Cheri (1926), My Mother's House (1922)
and Sido (1929). JKR has not mentioned any specific Colette novels
in her interviews.
[]
Coltrane, Robbie
Cast at JKR's request in the role of
Rubeus Hagrid in the films, Coltrane
(born in 1950 in Rutherglen, Scotland) has had a distinguished and varied
career as an actor. Further information can be found at:
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001059/
Columbus, Christopher
Born in 1958 in Spangler, Pennsylvania, Christopher Columbus has directed
numerous films, including notably Mrs. Doubtfire and
Home Alone, and had been the screenwriter of successful children's
adventure films, such as The Goonies, Young Sherlock Holmes,
and Gremlins. Columbus was signed to direct the
first Harry Potter film for
Warner Bros. on 27 March 2000
(SS_JKRB).
Columbus was the director and executive producer of
PS/f and
CS/f (2001 and 2002,
respectively) and served as a producer of
PA/f released in 2004. Further
information about Mr. Columbus' career can be found at:
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001060/
Columbus, Eleanor
Born in 1989, Eleanor Columbus (daughter of director
Chris Columbus) was cast as
Susan Bones in
PS/f and
CS/f. Further
information about Ms. Columbus' career can be found at:
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0173384/
Comic Relief UK
Charity [] to which JKR donated the proceeds from sales of
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
(2002), and
Quidditch Through the Ages
(2002). A spin-off from LiveAid, Comic Relief UK proceeds go primarily to
fund famine relief in Africa.
Coulson, Christian
Born in October 1978 in England, Christian Coulson was cast as
Tom Marvolo Riddle in
CS/f, although he was then
several years older than the maximum age for actors being sought for the
part. Further information can be found at:
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0183469/
Crouch
A small village in Kent
and the name of a river in Essex. Either of these are a possible source of
JKR's use of this surname in her novels.
Culpeper's Complete Herbal
Book which Rowling discovered when trying to find names of plants that
sounded "witchy." In it she discovered flaxweed, toadflax,
fleewort, goutwort, grommel, knot grass, and mugwort, among others. This
famous book is an herbalist's guide published in England by Nicholas Culpeper
in 1653. Current editions are available through
[amazon.com].
Cunningham, Barry
Cunningham was the head of the Children's Book Division at
Bloomsbury in 1996. He eventually
negotiated with his firm to take on the publication rights to
Philosopher's Stone
for £1,500 ($2,250). He unfortunately did not have the budget to acquire
the United States publication rights to this book and also lacked funds for any
marketing. Cunningham left Bloomsbury
before Rowling had submitted the draft manuscript of
Chamber of Secrets
(SS_JKRB).
