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The Birth of Harry Potter (Advanced Program) · Spotlight English: Advanced

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Ah, Welcome to Spotlight Advanced. I'm Alice Irrazari and.
• 0:08
  Speaker 2: I'm Andrew Davis. Spotlight uses a special English method of broadcasting.
• 0:14
  Speaker 2: It is easier for people to understand no matter where
• 0:18
  Speaker 2: in the world they live.
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: She was so sad that she thought about killing herself.
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: She was ready to give up. She had no money.
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: She had to apply for the welfare system in Scotland.
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: Welfare is a government system that gives poor people food,
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: housing and money. She spent her days with her young
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: daughter in a small coffee shop called the Elephant House Cafe.
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: She could only afford coffee. She drank it slowly for hours.
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  Speaker 1: She did not own a computer. She wrote page after
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  Speaker 1: page in her notepad. She was trying to write a book.
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  Speaker 1: She did not know if anyone would ever read it.
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  Speaker 1: She wondered if people would like it. She hoped she
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  Speaker 1: could finish it. Customers passed her day after day in
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  Speaker 1: the small coffee shop. They had no idea she was
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  Speaker 1: writing a book that would become one of the most
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  Speaker 1: famous in the world.
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: Today's Spotlight episode looks at JK. Rowling. She is a
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  Speaker 2: famous writer who has written forty eight books. She is
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  Speaker 2: worth over a billion dollars. She has won many awards,
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  Speaker 2: including the Hans Christian Anderson Literature Award, but none of
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  Speaker 2: that seemed possible as she sat in that coffee shop
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  Speaker 2: writing in her notepad.
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  Speaker 1: Rolling was born in Yate, Gloucestershire. She began writing as
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  Speaker 1: a young girl. She loved storytelling. She attended the University
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  Speaker 1: of Exeter. She studied French and the Classics. The Classics
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: is the study of the ancient Greek and Roman worlds.
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: After graduating, Rolling spent the late nineteen eighties working different
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: unsatisfying jobs.
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: In nineteen ninety, Rowling took a train ride that would
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  Speaker 2: change her life. She and the man she was in
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: a relationship with were looking for an apartment in Manchester, England.
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: They traveled back and forth from London to Manchester. One weekend,
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  Speaker 2: Rowling took the train back to London by herself. The
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  Speaker 2: train was delayed. Rowling saw a boy waiting on the
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  Speaker 2: train platform. She suddenly had an idea for a story.
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  Speaker 2: It would be about a boy who is drawn into
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  Speaker 2: a world of magical people called wizards. The boy eventually
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  Speaker 2: fights an evil wizard. Rowling would later name the boy
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  Speaker 2: Harry Potter.
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  Speaker 1: Rolling had nothing to write with on the train. She
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  Speaker 1: felt scared to ask anyone for a pen. She was
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  Speaker 1: frustrated that she could not start writing her story right away,
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  Speaker 1: but it ended up helping because it gave Rolling time
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  Speaker 1: to think. She spent the entire four hour train ride
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  Speaker 1: from Manchester to London thinking of ideas for her story.
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  Speaker 1: When she got home that night, Rolling began writing what
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  Speaker 1: would become her first book, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.
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  Speaker 2: But Rowling faced a great struggle. Later that year, her
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  Speaker 2: mother died at the age of forty five from a
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: terrible disease. Rowling was so sad she needed to move
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: away to a new place. She moved to Portugal. She
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  Speaker 2: met a newspaper reporter and got married. They had a daughter,
• 4:09
  Speaker 2: but Rowling and her husband had problems. They got divorced.
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  Speaker 1: Roling moved to Edinburgh, Scotland. She was poor. Rolling went
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  Speaker 1: on welfare. She spent many days in the Elephant House
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  Speaker 1: Cafe with her daughter. Roling continued to try to finish
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  Speaker 1: her book. Rowling later said I.
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  Speaker 3: Was as poor as it is possible to be in
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  Speaker 3: modern Britain without being homeless.
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  Speaker 2: It took Rowling several years to finish her book. When
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  Speaker 2: it was done, Rowling sent it to many literary agents
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  Speaker 2: and publishing houses. They all rejected it.
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  Speaker 3: Rowling said, the first agent to whom I sent my
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  Speaker 3: first three chapters had sent my manuscript back so fast
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  Speaker 3: that it seemed like they sent it back the same
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  Speaker 3: it arrived.
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  Speaker 1: Twelve publishers and agents turned down Rolling, but one agent,
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  Speaker 1: Christopher Little, saw the power of the story. He agreed
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  Speaker 1: to represent Rolling and submit her book to publishers. Little said,
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  Speaker 1: I loved the story and the heroism.
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  Speaker 3: I liked the friendship between the three main characters.
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  Speaker 2: The owls and magic were great. In Rowling's book, Harry
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  Speaker 2: Potter thinks he is just a normal boy, but he
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  Speaker 2: discovers that he is a wizard with magical powers. He
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  Speaker 2: attends a special school called Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
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  Speaker 2: Potter makes two good friends, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger.
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  Speaker 2: These friends were inspired by Rowling's own college friends. She
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  Speaker 2: simply made Potter, Weasley and Granger eleven years old.
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  Speaker 1: Roling used some of the buildings surrounding her in Edinburgh,
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  Speaker 1: Scotland as inspiration for Hogwarts. Victoria Street in Edinburgh inspired
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  Speaker 1: the street where Potter buys his first magic one. Rolling
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  Speaker 1: used names found on tombstones at a local graveyard. Greyfriar's
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  Speaker 1: Kirkyard inspired some of the names for the characters in
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  Speaker 1: her story.
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  Speaker 2: Rowling's book became popular. It sold one hundred and twenty
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  Speaker 2: million copies. Rowling wrote six more Harry Potter novels. They
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  Speaker 2: sold a total of more than six hundred million copies. Today.
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  Speaker 2: The books have been translated into more than eighty five languages.
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  Speaker 2: Rowling's Harry Potter books were made into films. The films
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  Speaker 2: earned almost eight billion dollars. Rowling became the richest writer
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  Speaker 2: in history.
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  Speaker 1: Rolling has never forgotten what it was like to be poor.
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  Speaker 1: She wants to help those in need. She has been
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  Speaker 1: generous with her fortune. She started a charity called Lumos
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  Speaker 1: to help children in need across the world. Rolling has
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  Speaker 1: donated millions of dollars to this foundation. She has also
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  Speaker 1: donated much money to charities that help women and children
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  Speaker 1: who are victims of violence. She started the Anne Rolling
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  Speaker 1: Regenerative Neurology Clinic, named after her mother. Rolling has contributed
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  Speaker 1: to many other charities across the world.
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  Speaker 2: Rowling hoped to create a world in her Harry Potter
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  Speaker 2: books where readers could escape. She filled her books with
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  Speaker 2: interesting characters and exciting adventures. Rowling stressed the importance of
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  Speaker 2: friendship and loyalty between Potter, Weasley, and Granger as they
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  Speaker 2: fought evil forces. Rowling hoped to inspire children and adults
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  Speaker 2: to make positive changes to them world. She has always
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  Speaker 2: wanted them to understand that anyone can make a difference.
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  Speaker 2: They just cannot give up. Rowling knows this from personal experience.
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  Speaker 1: Have you read any Harry Potter books or seen any
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  Speaker 1: of the films? Which is your favorite? Have you ever
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  Speaker 1: wanted to write a book like JK. Rowling. You can
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: leave a comment on our website at www dot Spotlight
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: English dot com. You can also find us on YouTube, Facebook, TikTok, Instagram,
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: and x You can also get our programs delivered directly
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: to your Android or Apple device through our free official
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: Spotlight English app.
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  Speaker 2: The writer of this episode was Peter Anderson. The producer
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  Speaker 2: was Mityo Ozaki. The voices you heard were from the
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  Speaker 2: United States and the Union United Kingdom. All quotes were
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  Speaker 2: adapted for this episode and voiced by Spotlight. No AI
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  Speaker 2: or artificial intelligence was used in this episode. Spotlight episodes
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  Speaker 2: are written, voiced, and produced by real people for real people,
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  Speaker 2: no matter where in the world they live. This Spotlight
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  Speaker 2: episode is called the Birth of Harry Potter.
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  Speaker 1: We hope you can join us again for the next
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  Speaker 1: Spotlight episode. Goodbye,