Harry Potter

The award winning actor began his acting career after leaving school with no qualifications.

He went on to become a household name starring in The Singing Detective early on his career and latterly his role in the Harry Potter films earned him a new generation of fans.

There has been speculation that the writer was shut out of the programme after her previous comments about trans people divided public opinion.

Rowling does not appear with the cast members in the special, and is only seen in archive video clips.

Harry Potter 20th Anniversary - Return To Hogwarts is released on 1 January.

The special sees former child stars Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint reunite with fellow cast members including Robbie Coltrane, Helena Bonham Carter, Jason Isaacs, Gary Oldman and Ralph Fiennes.

The hardback 1997 British edition of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, with a colour illustration on the cover, was described by Heritage Auctions as "magical, incredibly bright and so very near pristine."

The book was published in the United States as Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.

The Dallas-based auction house said only 500 copies with the specific binding were printed. The final price was more than six times the pre-sale estimate of $70,000.

Previous auction prices for Harry Potter first editions have ranged from about $110,000 to $138,000.

Per the Hollywood Reporter's Lesley Goldberg, a live-action Harry Potter series is in the "early development" stages at the increasingly stacked streaming service.

According to the publication's sources, executives at the streamer have held "multiple conversations" with possible writers for the series, with the discussions centering on multiple broad ideas about how to bring the Potterverse to the television format.

At this time, no writers or other creatives have been attached to the alleged project.

Radcliffe, who played the boy wizard in the film series, is taking part in the starry lockdown reading initiative Harry Potter At Home.

Eddie Redmayne and Stephen Fry are among the other celebrities involved.

The videos will feature on Rowling's online hub to help children, parents, carers and teachers through the crisis.

Audio versions will also be available on Spotify.

Each celebrity will read a different section of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone - known as Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone in the US.

The author lived there between the ages of nine and 18 and in 2011 bought the cottage through a property company in her married name.

She paid about £400,000 for the house, which is said to have inspired key elements of the young wizard's story.

Land Registry records show in September 2011, Edinburgh-based Caernarfon Lettings Ltd, which lists the author's husband Neil Murray as a director, bought Church Cottage.

The property was sold by BBC producer Julian Mercer, who himself had bought it off the Rowling family in 1995.

 The Imperial Hotel in Melbourne has been ordered tear down its rooftop Harry Potter installation and turn off the taps on its Buttah Beer after the multinational demanded the pub remove all wizard-themed decorations and references.

The pub – on the corner of Bourke and Spring streets, a few doors down from the Princess Theatre where the Harry Potter and the Cursed Child play runs eight times a week – featured six "magical stores" adorned with spell books, almanacs and colours from the film series.

Images from the burning at Gdansk's Mother of Church parish were posted on Facebook by Catholic foundation SMS z Nieba (SMS from Heaven,) which uses unconventional means to carry out its religious work.

Niantic said players would find and fight fantasy beasts in real-world neighbourhoods in the smartphone game, which has yet to get a release date.

Pokemon Go reportedly had about 45 million daily players at its peak and generated more than $1.2bn (£915m) in sales.

One expert said the Harry Potter brand had the potential for similar success.

Many spent hours online trying to secure some of the 250,000 new tickets released at 11:00 BST on Thursday.

"Failed to get #CursedChild tickets after queuing for four hours," wrote one Twitter user. "Now loads on sale for hundreds of pounds on StubHub."

Tickets are currently being offered on the secondary site for up to £1,000.