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1. “Harry Potter” Hard Core…The Radical J.K. Rowling

   As a keen Student of Shakespeare & Cervantes…& as the Author of a little Book entitled “The Shakespeare-Cervantes Code”, I am used to reading Allegory, & used to being tipped off to Allegory by Lines that appear not quite right or even dead wrong.

   As a Break from mind-bending William & Michael a few Years ago, I decided to kick back with a Book which, at the Time, was wildly popular with the Younger Set, “Harry Potter & the Sorcerer’s Stone”.

   Things were moving along much as expected when I came to the Chapter entitled “Diagon Alley”.

   On his eleventh Birthday, Harry Potter, who is an Orphan living with an unpleasant Aunt & Uncle, Petunia & Vernon Dursley, gets a Visit from a rustic, good-natured Big-Guy named “Hagrid” who informs Harry that he has been accepted to “Hogwarts Boarding School for Wizardry & Witchcraft”.

   His Foster Parents object but they are no match for Hagrid, who on the next Day takes Harry to London to shop for School Supplies.

   Hagrid takes Harry to a mysterious Shopping-Street called “Diagon Alley”, & then to an underground Bank called “Gringotts”…all the time telling Harry about his Parents, who unbeknownst to the Boy were famous Wizards…& telling Harry that he is one as well.

   Having shown Harry the Time of his Life, Hagrid then takes Harry to Paddington Station on the Underground.

   Paddington Station, in west London, is a stop for both above-ground, British Rail-line Trains as well as underground, London Transport Trains.

   From Paddington, Hagrid will put Harry on a Train that will take him to his Home with the Dursleys, which is in Little Whinging, Surrey.

   “Up another escalator & out into Paddington Station, Harry only realized where he was when Hagrid tapped him on the Shoulder.

   “Got time fer a Bite to eat before yer Train leaves”, he said.

   He bought Harry a Hamburger & they sat down on plastic Seats to eat them…”

   Then…”Hagrid helped Harry onto the Train that would take him back to the Dursleys”…then…

   The train pulled out of the Station.

   Harry wanted to watch Hagrid until he was out of Sight.

   He rose in his Seat & pressed his Nose against the Window…but he blinked, & Hagrid was gone.

   Now…JK Rowling is Nothing if not meticulous…but there is Something not quite right about this Passage.

   For One Thing the Departure Scene is Nothing like what one would expect at a British Rail, above-ground Station.

   It is, however, exactly what one would expect at an Underground Station.

   For Another Thing, British Rail trains leaving from Paddington Station don’t go to Surrey…they go to western England & Wales.

   To get to Surrey from Paddington Station, you have a Choice of only one Town, Richmond-on-Thames, which you can get to only on the District Line, which, at Paddington, is underground.

   Now…typically you don’t wait for an Underground Train at an above-ground station…& when Hagrid says “Got Time to eat before yer Train leaves”, the Reader is led to believe that, say, at 4 PM, Harry has all of a Half-hour to get onto his British Rail train, say, the 4:30 leaving from Platform 5.

   This would five the two of them Time for a Hamburger.

   Another Meaning that would make more Sense, is that Harry, who is carrying at least 50 Pounds of School Supplies…& who could get them Home only if his uncle Vernon picked him up at the Little Whinging Station, has agreed to meet his Uncle there at a certain Time…say 5 PM…& that if it
   takes a Half-hour to get from Paddington to Little Whinging on the District Line, Harry still has a Half-hour to hang out with Hagrid.

   The Meaning of this Passage, I believe, is to let the tuned-in Reader know that the Dursleys live in Richmond-on-Thames…more specifically, “Little Richmond”, Richmond Kew, home of the Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew…a place where any London Resident who wished to study Herbology would probably log numerous Hours.

   The Author clearly identifies the home of the Dursleys as Richmond-on-Thames…but just as clearly, doesn’t want the General Reader to know it.

   Another cryptic Message at the beginning of the First Book is the location of “Godric’s Hollow”.

   Godric Gryffindor, the Founder of Gryffindor House at Hogwarts Academy, a thousand Years ago, has a Hollow named after him where Harry’s Parents were killed by one Lord Voldemort when Harry was just an Infant.

   Hagrid, on a borrowed, flying Motorcycle, in the middle of the Night, picks up Harry at Godric’s Hollow, & flies him to the Dursleys in Richmond Kew.

   The flight, the Author mentions, takes the two over the City of Bristol.

   Now…quite near Richmond, Surrey is Heathrow International Airport…& if you were to take a scheduled Flight from some Point in the UK to Heathrow that would take you over Bristol, it would probably be Cardiff International in Wales.

   Godric’s Hollow, then, is somewhere in Wales

   In 1485, Henry Tudor, the Earl of Richmond, who was Welsh (Tudor is Welsh “Theodore”), defeated Richard the Third at the famous, Battle of Bosworth Field.

   The Battle marked the end of a Feudal Era begun by the Normans at the Battle of Hastings in 1066…one in which the entire Ruling Class had French Antecedents…& it began a Mercantile Era in which the Welsh & Saxon English began to rule the Roost from London.

   Richmond-on-Thames, named after Henry Tudor, was the first Tudor Capital of England, before the Tudors set up shop in Whitehall, west London, which is the home of today’s British Government.

   (The Earl of Richmond got HIS title from the original Richmond…Richmond, Yorkshire)

   Harry’s muggle Uncle, Vernon Dursley, who lives in Richmond-on-Thames, has a Name that evokes the Battle of Bosworth Field.

   “Dursley” is a clipped Form of something like “Dursieglea”, which means “Dear Victory Field”…while “Vernon” kind of suggests “Green”, the heraldic Color of the House of Tudor…(as well as the primary color of Slytherin House).

   The secondary Color of Slytherin is Silver.

   In the French language, which I believe, JK Rowling once taught, “Silver” & “Money” are the same Word.

   Uncle Vernon, Like Henry VII Tudor, is very mercantile.

   Back at thousand Years ago, back in the Days of Godric Gryffindor, the Saxons, who had driven the original Inhabitants of England, the Welsh, into what is today Wales, did something remarkable.

   A Saxon king, Offa, who I don’t hesitate to call “Offa the Great”, built a Military Dyke the full Length of the English-Welsh border…thus putting an End to English-Welsh Wars, & becoming, willy-nilly, the “Godfather of the Welsh Nation”.

   Now a Military Dyke has a Ridge on one Side & a Trough on the Other…& whoever builds such a Dyke, puts the Ridge on his Side & the Trough or “Hollow” on the Side of the Foreigner.

   If Someone were living in, say, Chepstow, England, which is located on “Offa’s Ridge”, & looked across “Offa’s Ridge” onto “Offa’s Hollow”, they would be looking into Wales.

   Chepstow, Wales, in Offa’s Hollow, is the childhood Home of JK Rowling.

   Unlike the Saxons, who, after the construction of Offa’s Dyke, respected the Anglo-Welsh Border for the next hundred Years, the conquering Normans, already having subjugated the Saxons, wasted no time overrunning Offa’s Dyke & subjugating the Welsh,….& this brings us to the Story of “St. George & the Dragon”.

   St. George, the Patron Saint of chivalry & a pan-European Saint, is the Patron Saint of England.

   He is popular in every European Country save one, Wales, which is the “Land of the Dragon”.

   It was during the Conquest of Wales that St. George, invariably depicted skewering the sinewy Reptile, was made
   the “Patron Saint of England”.

   The heraldic symbol of Henry VII, Tudor, was “The Welsh Dragon”.

   Now Harry Potter, is an English boy, in Wales as an Infant, perhaps even born in Wales, who escapes an Attempt on his Life in the Form of a killer Curse administered by Lord Voldemort.

   Harry is left with a Scar on his Forehead…but More than That, a perfect Knowledge of “Parseltongue”, the Language of be-scaled Creatures.

   Parseltongue, say I, is Welsh.

   For this Reason, when Harry is being “sorted” into one of the four, Hogwarts Boarding-Houses, the Sorting Hat assumes the Boy is meant for Slytherin House…& relents only because Harry keeps thinking “Not Slytherin!”.

   In the words of Gilbert & Sullivan “In Spite of all Temptations/ to belong to other Nations/ he remains an English Man”.

   It was up to Hagrid, your basic Saxon, who is not unfavorably disposed to Dragons, knowing Harry was on the Wrong Side of Offa’s Dyke, to bring him Home to his Own Side of the Dyke.

   The Gryffindor Colors are Red & Gold…Red, the Color of the Cross of St. George…& Gold, the color of the Fleur-de-Lys, the Color of Feudal France.

   Harry’s mother is named “Lily”.

   Now…only an elite Few of us…(“we Few/ we happy Few”) will know what the “Weasleys” are all about.

   The Author is quoted as saying…”In Britain and Ireland the Weasel has a bad Reputation as an unfortunate, even malevolent, Animal.

   However, since Childhood I have had a great Fondness for the family Mustelidae…not so much malignant as maligned, in my Opinion.

   There are also many Superstitions associated with Redheaded People and most state that they are in some Way
   unlucky…Judas Iscariot was supposedly red-haired…but this is Nonsense…I happen to like Red Hair as well as Weasels.”

   As Alastor Moody once warned Harry Potter about pretty, Tri-Wizard Champion, Fleur Delacour…”She is as much a Fairy Princess as I am”.

   A profoundly red-headed, English family, red-headed for Hundreds of Years, just like the Weasleys, are the Spencers of Althorp.

   Even Winston Spencer Churchill, who I don’t believe was an Althorp, had red Hair.

   The Althorp Spencers get their red Hair from one Henry Wriothesley, to whom Shakespeare dedicated “Venus & Adonis”, “The Rape of Lucrece” & even, many believe, “The Sonnets”.

   Either Elizabeth Vernon, who Henry married, or Sir William Spencer, who their Daughter Penelope married, or Both, were red-headed, because the persistent red-headedness of this Family is remarkable.

   What makes the Weasleys “Wizards”, however, is one of the best-kept secrets in the British Isles.

   Namely, it’s how Henry Wriothesley came by HIS red hair.

   By the most obscure law in English history, ratified by Parliament & still on the books…the “Treason Act of 1571”, states that any “natural” (as opposed to “lawful”) Line of Elizabeth I, is “Royal English”.

   The red-headed Spencers of Althorp are thus potentially, “Royal English”…unlike the Windsors who were Germans, until they became “Royal British” in 1723 & have never been “English Nationals”, let alone “English Royals”.

   What, today, makes the Windsors “royal” & not the Spencers of Althorp, is the “Act of Union of 1707”, which put Scotland under London & the Union Jack…& thus eliminates “Sovereign English Nationality”.

   Unlike the Welsh, Scots & Irish, today’s English are officially, simply “British”, a Term originally meaning “Welsh”, but today a catch-all term meaning only “British Passport Holders”.

   Unlike the Welsh, Scottish & Irish national soccer & rugby Teams, there is no “English” National Team…only an “England” Team with an “England” Team-Captain…who MAY be English but doesn’t have to be.

   Should Scotland secede from the United Kingdom, however, the Cross of St. George would replace the Union Jack over London…& the Windsors…English name notwithstanding, would become, “Germans” once again…&, as Germany is now a Republic, they would also become German Commoners.

   To keep the Spencers of Althorp, who, in this Event, would have become Royal English, from turfing the Windsors out of England, Charles, the heir to the British throne, would have had to marry one of the three Daughters of John, the Earl Spencer, which, perforce, he did.

   Charles married a “Diana”, which, co-incidentally, was the courtly, code-name of Elizabeth I.

   “Diana” in Shakespeare, is always Elizabeth.

   “Virginia” like the American State (& which has much the same Meaning as “Diana”), is another Reference to Elizabeth I.

   Ron Weasley’s Kid Sister, & Hermione’s Hogwarts Chum is “Ginny”.

   Now…a “Muggle”, in Harry Potter, in contrast to a “Wizard” is simply Someone who is a Non-believer in Magic.

   Far from being a humorous-sounding made-up Word, a “Muggle is a most obscure Saxon term meaning a “Man with a Tail”.

   The Author is not above an esoteric Slur…but while it is highly unlikely the Author would ever be called to account for “Muggle”, there are a Couple of names on which she might be…& so…it appears to me, that she has taken Pains to prepare herself for a Confrontation at some future Press Conference.

   As a former Bush Ranger in Africa who is still alive after having tracked various wounded Animals through tall, Vlei-grass, I am well aware of the Bag of Tricks employed by any savvy Creature with a keen “Sense of Survival”.

   “Parseltongue”, for one Thing, is not the “Language of Postal Employees”.

   English Verbs beginning with “par”…”to part”, “to parse” or even “to parcel” usually mean “to split”.

   In Wales, the “Land of the Dragon”, there is a fricative Consonant “chl” which does not exist in English…& sounds not unlike a Dragon “firing up”.

   The English, who as a Nation are unlikely to understand even One Word of Welsh, when mimicking this Language, will usually go “chl, chl, chl”.

   I have no Doubt that “Parseltongue”, in Harry Potter is meant to be “Welsh”…but also very little Doubt that the Author would not like to have this come to Light.

   Her device has been to give Harry’s mother Lily, the maiden name “Evans”.

   This prepares her for the inevitable Press Conference Set-To in which the Questions arise…”Harry Potter is Allegory isn’t it?

   It’s about the “Land of St. George” versus the “Land of the Dragon”, isn’t it?

   Parseltongue is “Welsh”, isn’t it?

   “Draco Malfoy” means “Perfidious Wales”, doesn’t it?

   The Author would then be in a Position to answer..”That’s just silly… Harry’s own dear Mother was an “Evans”…I say so in my Book.”

   Likewise the Name, “Ginny”, the Weasley Girl, is covered by giving her the Proper Name “Ginevra”. I

   It is highly unlikely that the Daughter of Arthur & Molly, & Sister of George, Fred, Charlie, Percy & Ron would have such an exotic name as “Ginevra”…or even why the Author would bother mentioning it.

   If it wasn’t mentioned, however, 999 Readers out of a Thousand would just assume Ginny is a “Virginia”.

   If, then, at the aforementioned Press Conference, the Author was asked…”Red-headed Ginny” is an allusion to the Virgin Queen, Elizabeth I, isn’t it?…the red-headed, wizard Weasleys are the red-headed Wriothesleys, the Spencers of Althorp, aren’t they?… what you are saying is that “Ginny Weasley”, like Diana Spencer, is an “English Royal”, aren’t you?

   The Author maintaining her Composure could then reply…”But this Ginny is not a “Virginia”…she’s a “Ginevra”.

   Finally, “Gringotts”, the underground, London Bank run by Elves, I believe, is a play on “Ringgoetters” as in Wagner’s “Goetterdaemmerung”.

   If there is one Composer of cinematic Scores on the Scene today who can do Wagner’s smoldering, minor-key Riffs, it is Patrick Doyle, who, notably, has been brought on Board for the latest Harry Potter Film, “Goblet of Fire”.

   JK Rowling may say that her favorite Author is “Jane Austen”…& I suppose, the monster-free,”Yule Ball Episode” in “Goblet of Fire” is not unlike Jane Austen, but her principal Influences, I would say, are Shakespeare & Wagner.

   Harry Potter is certainly about “Wizardry & Witchcraft”…& it’s also about “Growing Up”…but mostly, I would say, it is about “Esprit de Corps” & “Guts”, as the “Key to Survival”.

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