Three Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Spotlights
Posted 10.12.10 by reelz
Earlier this year, ReelzChannel correspondent Jeremy Parsons traveled to England to tour Harry Potter locations and visit the Deathly Hallows set. His coverage will be part of three upcoming Harry Potter Spotlights, premiering the first three Saturdays in November. As we count down the weeks until Part 1's November 19th release, we'll be bringing you weekly "Muggle Minute" segments from Hollywood Dailies and a blog from Jeremy about his trip.
Here's Jeremy's first installment.
Several months ago I traveled to London to discover firsthand some of the real-life sites made famous by the adventures of Harry Potter and his wizard friends. Jonathan, a delightful English gentlemen from British Tours with a historical knowledge that extends far beyond Harry Potter, was my delightful guide for the excursion.
Much of our tour took us an hour and a half outside of London to Oxford. With my American familiarities working as a filter, it didn't take long for the beautiful, sometimes ancient, structures and architecture of the famous university town to sweep me into a "Hogwarts" frame of mind. Ornate medieval cathedrals, winding stone streets, and the buzz of students — I could immediately see some points of reference for Rowling's setting.
Jonathan went into great detail explaining the structure of Oxford University — how it's comprised of many different colleges (or houses) that serve as living and learning communities for students — a structure Rowling used to put together the four houses of Hogwarts (Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin).
And so, we arrived at Christ Church College Dining Hall. Jonathan explained that this location served as inspiration for Hogwart's Great Hall. Walking in this room is surreal on many levels. From a Potter perspective, it is literally like sneaking in the back door of that famous Hogwart's gathering spot between meals or assemblies. You expect Dumbledore to emerge at the front of the room any moment (he never showed ... and the floating candelabra's were missing as well).
All this aside from the fact that the walls were lined with paintings of kings, religious leaders, revolutionaries, and some of the most powerful, influential figures in history who all gathered in this room at Christ Church over the centuries.
And this was just the start. More locations to come...
Tune in for the first Harry Potter Spotlight on Saturday, November 6, at 10:30 AM ET / 7:30 AM PT. Or catch one of its encore showings on ReelzChannel (Dish 299, DirecTV 238, and your cable system).