Meet the city's very own Harry Potter

The real Harry Potter...

12 July 2007 10:47

He may be a Muggle, but to his mum and dad, he's the most magical little boy of all.

When little Harry Potter was born at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital almost five years ago, the magic and mystery of Halloween were still in the air.

“He was born just a few hours after midnight on Halloween at 5.17am,” said dad John Potter, managing director at Potters Leisure Resort in Hopton, who admits that he has never read any of JK Rowling's best-selling books and only caught the merest glimpses of any of the Harry Potter films.

“We loved the name and even though it was really famous, we decided to stick to our guns and go for it. We couldn't believe just how interested everyone was! When my wife Celia came out of hospital Sky News were there and everyone wanted to talk to us. We felt a bit like Posh and Becks!”

The couple, who live in Eaton, had fallen in love with the name Harry long before their own little Harry arrived and “before the Harry Potter books became huge”, explained John.

“We'd always said that if we had a girl we'd call her Amelia and if we had a boy, we'd call him Harry. Amelia came along first, and then Harry. Obviously, by that time, the name was part of a phenomenon, but it was still the only name we could agree on, so it stuck. We thought that perhaps all the fuss about the name would blow over in a year or so, but now we're not quite so sure!”

John explained that Harry, who was born just two weeks before Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets was released at cinemas, had already caused a stir with his magical name. At school, because there is another Harry in his class, he is known by his full moniker, and at a recent trip to hospital with an injured arm he caused amusement when his name was called in front of a packed waiting room.

“It was a Friday night, and a few of the other patients were slightly inebriated. We were sitting at the back of the room and the nurse came in and called out 'Harry Potter?'. There was a bit of a commotion!” said John.

Harry is showing no early signs of becoming a boy wizard, preferring to play with his Spider-Man toys and harbouring early dreams to become a vet.

Sister Amelia is a fan of the Harry Potter films, but is “fairly immune” to the fact that her brother shares a name with the boy wizard, who is about to star in the final book of the seven-part series and in the forthcoming film, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.

“To us, he's just our little Harry Potter. He's great, a real little character. There are a lot worse things than having the same name as a wizard, especially a wizard that everyone loves,” said John.

But he added that little Harry was very keen to bring some magic to the guests at Potters, which is the longest-established holiday resort in Britain and was founded by John's great grandfather Herbert in 1920.

“He's heard me saying that my job is to make people happy at Potters and he really wants to come and help me do just that,” said John.

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