Muggles

Bakery • Businesses, merchants, and shops According to Muggle legend, the 1666 great fire of London started in a bakery in Pudding Lane; according to wizarding legend, however, the fire actually started in the basement of a neighboring house, where a wizarding resident secretly kept a young dragon (JKR). Read More

Bartholomew Barebone • Character Bartholomew Barebone was a No-Maj whose discovery of the American wizarding community (thanks to Dorcus Twelvetrees giving him vital information) led to the instatement of Rappaport’s Law in the United States, completely segregating the magical and non-magical communities. Barebone was the descendant of Scourers, convinced to the reality of magic… Read More

Chastity Barebone • Character Chastity Barebone was the oldest adopted No-Maj daughter of Mary Lou Barebone, a Second Salem leader in 1920s New York. She was almost as fervent as her mother in handing out anti-witchcraft leaflets to the orphans who came to eat soup at Second Salem Church (WFT). Chastity died when mother… Read More

Mary Lou Barebone • Character Mary Lou Barebone was the fanatical leader of the New Salem Philanthropic Society, an anti-magic group active in New York during the 1920s. A “handsome” woman who wore Puritanical clothing like her Scourer ancestors, Mary Lou was also mother to three adopted children whom she raised inside the New Salem… Read More

Barker • Character Barker was the harried assistant of newspaper magnate Henry Shaw Sr. (WFT). Read More

Cousin Barny • Character A red-haired Muggle boy whose appearance Harry uses in his “Cousin Barny” role at Bill and Fleur’s wedding (DH8). Read More

A barrage of letters drives the Dursleys from their home • Event When thirty or forty letters come pouring out of the kitchen chimney at number four, Privet Drive, Uncle Vernon has had enough. He packs everyone into the car and drives around for hours. The family ends up in Cokeworth and stay the night in the Railview Hotel. Read More

Bartholomew Barebone dupes Dorcus Twelvetrees and exposes the American Wizarding World • Event Barebone was a descendant of Scourers who believed that all witches and wizards should be killed. He befriends a gullible young witch named Dorcus Twelvetrees, plies her with seemingly innocent questions, then steals her wand and publishes the locations of both Ilvermorny and MACUSA headquarters. Dorcus serves a year in… Read More

Basketball • Sports and competitions Harry likens Quidditch to this Muggle Game when Oliver Wood explains it to him first (PS10)… Read More

Battle of Hastings; the Norman Conquest of Britain • Event This famous battle actually took place near the town of Hastings on Selnac Hill. The defeat of Harold II by William the Conqueror marked the last time that England was conquered by foreign forces. Read More

Brother Benedict • Character Brother Benedict was a Medieval Franciscan monk in Worcestershire who had an encounter with a Jarvey, but thought it was an overlarge ferret. It insulted him, then bit him on the nose. His fellow monks thought he’d overindulged in turnip wine when he told them about it (FB).  … Read More

Amy Benson • Character Amy Benson was a child from the orphanage whom Tom Riddle once terrorized in a seaside cave (HBP13). Read More

Bethnal Green • City places A neighborhood on London’s East End, historically known as a poor area. Bethnal Green was also where Willy Widdershins pranked Muggles with exploding toilets, which Mr. Weasley had to investigate (OP9). Location: Map of Wizarding London… Read More

Billy Stubbs • Character Billy Stubbs was another child at Tom Riddle’s orphanage. Billy Stubbs had chickenpox at the time of Dumbledore’s first meeting with Riddle. According to Mrs. Cole, the day after Tom and Billy had had an argument, Billy’s pet rabbit was found hanging from the rafters (HBP13). Read More

Dennis Bishop • Character Dennis Bishop was a child from the Tom Riddle’s orphanage whom Tom Riddle once terrorized in a seaside cave (HBP13). Read More

Only Black in name: Andromeda Black Tonks • Article

Posted May 8, 2016 by Cathy McCabe in Essays

It could be argued that Andromeda Tonks is only a tertiary character in the Harry Potter novels; she only appears in one scene in the final book. Still, I have always found Andromeda Tonks to be an amazingly interesting character. Perhaps, it is this lack of information that causes me… Read More

Phineas Black • Character Phineas Black was the son of Phineas Nigellus Black, born circa early 1880s. He was removed from the Black Family Tree tapestry which hung in Grimmauld Place for supporting Muggle rights (BFT). Read More

Blackpool Pier • Public places There are now three separate piers at Blackpool, on the northwestern coast of England on the Irish Sea. The North Pier, however, was once referred to as Blackpool pier, and for nearly 150 years has been an entertainment center, now featuring a theatre, shops, restaurants, and bars. Apparently the Longbottoms… Read More

BLC: Bloomsbury Live Chat • Source Bloomsbury Live Chat (Bloomsbury.com, 30 July 2007, 2.00-3.00pm BST) with J K Rowling nine days after the release of Deathly Hallows. Read More

Blenheim Stalk • Character Blenheim Stalk is a well-known expert on Muggles and the author of several books, including Muggles Who Notice (FB, FW). Read More

Blood Status • Wizarding culture One of the underlying problems in the wizarding world is intolerance and prejudice based on the “purity” of a person’s wizarding blood. Wizards distinguish between purebloods (no Muggle ancestry), half-blood (at least one wizarding parent but at least one Muggle parent or grandparent) and Muggle-borns (both parents were Muggles). Read More

BN0 • Source The first of three Barnes & Noble chats. Read More

Bob Hitchens • Character The Muggle man that Iola (Black) Hitchens marries, which gets her disowned from the Muggle-hating, prejudiced Black family. Her face is burned in the tapestry of the Black Family Tree. (BFT)… Read More

Bob Ogden visits the Gaunt house on a routine follow-up • Event Ogden is investigating an attack on a Muggle by Morfin Gaunt late the previous evening. In the yard outside the hovel, Ogden is attacked by Morfin, then he encounters the irate Marvolo Gaunt who, along with his son Morfin, refuse to admit Morfin has done anything wrong, either in attacking the… Read More

Bonfire Night • Glossary On 5th November every year, Britain commemorates the Gunpowder Plot, in which Guy (Guido) Fawkes and other extremist Catholics plotted (but failed) to blow up James I and his Parliament. People have firework parties or attend organized displays, and effigies of Guy Fawkes (known as “the guy”) are burned on… Read More

Brother Boniface • Character Brother Boniface was a Franciscan monk in medieval Worcestershire who made turnip wine (FB). Read More

BR: Babbity Rabbity and her Cackling Stump • Source “Babbity Rabbity and her Cackling Stump” is a wizarding world fairy tale, part of the collection The Tales of Beedle the Bard. In the story, a foolish king decided to claim all magic for himself. He banished all true witches and wizards and hired a charlatan to teach him… Read More

British Schooling in the 1970s • Article

Posted April 3, 2003 by Diana Summers in Essays

Some American fans have raised the issue of being confused about the British education system. I am a Brit who is exactly the same age as JKR (a mere 5 weeks older) so I can explain, step by step, British schooling as we both knew it in the 1970s. Obviously… Read More

Brockdale Bridge • Bridges The Brockdale Bridge was less than ten years old when, thanks to Death Eaters, it collapsed and killed a large number of Muggles who were on it (HBP1). There doesn’t seem to be an actual Brockdale Bridge, and there isn’t enough information given to pinpoint a location for it,… Read More

Brookshire • Regions, counties, and territories Brookshire is almost certainly a fictitious county in England, home to the town of Crawford and therefore to Robert Wood. Robert is a (presumably fictitious) Muggle fan of J. K. Rowling, who writes to her on www.jkrowling.com in the F.A.Q. Poll section. Read More

Angus Buchanan • Character Angus Buchanan was a Squib who rose to fame playing rugby for the Scottish national side. Angus Buchanan was the only non-magical member of the Buchanan family of the Scottish Borders. Fearing the wrath of their father, the Buchanan siblings helped to conceal Angus’ lack of magic, even… Read More

Bungy the Budgie • Character Bungy the Budgie was a budgerigar, or budgie, that could water-ski. He resided at the Five Feathers in Barnsley (OP1). Read More