1. The boy who made a podcast

In episode 1 I introduce myself, we meet some of our favourite characters, launch the petition to publish Dumbledore's biography (http://chng.it/jMwgtK8snw), and try to work out if Ted Tonks is the weather man. 

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Transcript

Episode 1: The boy who made a podcast.

Introduction:

Hi everyone, thanks for tuning in and welcome to the “Dobbylicious Podcast.” I’m Michaeljohn, your host, and as you’ve probably guessed by the name this podcast is based around Harry Potter. In each episode I will be using a chapter of one of the books as a guide and talking about the themes, characters or events which come up, and basically any thoughts that occur to me. Often, I’ll try to relate some of the themes to personal experiences I’ve had and if you at any point feel you want to share some thoughts about the books or experiences you’re reminded of that would be awesome. To do so, use any of the social media profiles which are listed in the podcast description below. So this is the first episode titled ‘The boy who made a podcast’ and I’ll start with the chapter one, book one, titled ‘The boy who lived.’ See what I did there? Okay, good! 

Ø  The Dursleys, perfectly normal thank you very much. 

So the opening chapter starts with the line:  “Mr and Mrs Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say they were perfectly normal, thank you very much.”

So on reading this first line I was struck by what I think is quite a profound thought, although it’s only the first line of the book. So on reading the Dursley’s are “perfectly normal, thank you very much” in my mind they instantly dropped down to being not my favourite people. And I realised, it’s strange because probably everybody tries to fit in and be normal to some degree at least, but in reality the people we look up to the most are actually outliers, we sort of admire the amazing writers, athletes, scientists, or whatever profession, so it’s a strange paradox that people try to fit in so much. 

So then we hear that Mr Dursley is the director of a firm which makes drills, and the story starts on a grey Tuesday morning when he’s on his way to work. 

Ø  Surprised that in the first few pages Vernon actually shows some caring behaviour.

Given that we find out throughout the books that the Dursleys basically abuse Harry while he lives with them, I wasn’t expecting to think this. So, uncle Vernon goes to work and sees a series of odd events… he sees a cat reading a map, people wearing funny cloaks, and a line I really liked which describes Vernon Dursley in this chapter is that he “did not approve of imagination.” So I thought, damn, this is going to get very messy for Vernon Dursley. Anyway, then when he’s on a break at work he hears the name ‘Harry Potter,’ and we’ve been told that the Potters are the Dursley’s deepest, darkest secret, so we know this is a red flag moment for Vernon. Vernon Dursley just wants to think about drills and have a nice old boring day, we’re even told he picked out his most boring tie for work, and he actually stops thinking about drills because he gets stressed by these odd events, and is on the verge of calling his wife, but stops, and the line says, “There was no point in worrying Mrs. Dursley, she always got so upset at any mention of her sister.” What really surprised me about this was that being considerate enough to not unnecessarily worry his wife is a caring act – it would have been easier for him to just vent his anxiety onto his wife – at least that was my interpretation of his choice. This considerate uncle Vernon is different to the child abuser who comes out in the later chapters and books. 

Ø  Snowflake story.

As we find out uncle Vernon just wants to have a boring day and think about drills. I can imagine that if you bump into a guy like this at a party, quickly discovering that all he wants to talk about is drills I think the boredom would probably drive me to make up a story about what I actually do just to kindle up some interest in the conversation. I don’t usually do things like that, but once, at some after work drinks (I used to work as a researcher at a university – right now I’m unemployed in corona virus lockdown) – but anyway at these after work drinks I told someone that I was doing a PhD studying snowflakes, and I backed it up by explaining that the shape and density of snowflakes are indicative of weather patterns, so that’s why I had moved to Sweden, to study snowflakes. After a while I came clean and said, by the way, I was just joking, I’m actually researching muscular weakness in inflammatory diseases, but they didn’t believe me and it was actually harder to convince them of what I was really researching than it was to pull off the snowflake roux. They found it quite funny and the next day sent me a link to some information about snowflakes so that I could elaborate on the story some more in the future, which I thought was pretty funny. But anyway, who knows what Vernon Dursley would have made of the snowflake story….                                 

Ø  Is the weather man a wizard?

So when Vernon gets home from work he watches the news and hears that scientists can’t explain the change in owl sleep patterns because there have been owls flying around during the day. Having read the books, we know that the owls flying around are wizards sending letters to each other. Then it says: the reporter allowed himself a smile and says, how mysterious. I can remember reading the first book as a 10 year old and thinking okay, the weather man must know what’s going on and thinking we’ll see him again in the books. The fact that he ‘allows’ himself a smile suggests that he’s consciously aware of doing that, like he knows what’s going on with what’s being reported. But then he never comes up again. I’m a grown man and I still don’t know if the weather man is a wizard, so if anyone does know, please feel free to write in on one of the podcast social media platforms! 

What I did realise about this is that the weather man is called Ted, and the only other Ted we meet in the book series is Ted Tonks, Nymphodora Tonks’ dad. And actually, in book 7 Ted Tonks goes on the run because he’s muggle born, so the idea of him working for the muggle news isn’t inconceivable. Maybe wizards need some people to keep track of the muggle news, so Ted Tonks is one of those people. And also, Joe Rowling makes a lot of subtle references to people and objects which end up having significant roles in the plot of the books. So, in this situation we hear about the weather man called Ted, who seems to have an idea what’s going on, on the news, and then all the way in book 7 there’s a part where Harry, Ron and Hermione are on the run and they spot Ted Tonks and some others who are also on the run. So I wonder if that was originally going to be more of a relationship between Ted Tonks and Harry, Ron and Hermione, like maybe they’d be on the run together, but for whatever reason, Joe Rowling changed it when she wrote the later books. 

So anyway, the Dursley’s watch the news and then go to bed, and then…

Ø  Dumbledore appears and we get a first description:

So I’ll just read it: “Nothing like this man had ever been seen in Privet Drive. He was tall, thin, and very old, judging by the silver of his hair and beard, which were both long enough to tuck into his belt.  He was wearing long robes, a purple cloak which swept the ground and high heeled, buckled boots. His blue eyes were light, bright and sparkling behind half-moon spectacles and his nose was very long and crooked, as though it had been broken at least twice. This man’s name was Albus Dumbledore.”

One point I picked up on is that the description says Dumbledore’s nose looks like it’s been broken at least twice. We find out in the last book that Dumbledore’s nose is broken by his brother at their sister’s funeral. But that still leaves at least one nose break which we don’t find out about. It makes me think that Joe Rowling has detailed histories of the characters mapped out, and I just want to put this out there in case one day, JK Rowling is browsing for Harry Potter podcasts and listens to this: I would love a biography of Albus Dumbledore. I would read it in a snap, please publish it! Actually, this gave me the idea to start a petition. So please search for the petition titled “Publish Dumbledore’s Biography” if you’d like to read Dumbledore’s biography. The petition is on change.org. I mean, Dumbledore has had so many experiences, adventures and astonishing encounters, yet we don't even know how old he is! Sign this petition to show your desire for JK Rowling to publish a biography of Albus Dumbledore!              

Ø  Dumbledore’s deluminator is called a put-outer.

Dumbledore pulls out an object which looks like a silver cigarette lighter, and this object is referred to as the “put outer” because Dumbledore uses it to take the light out of the street lamps. When I read that I thought, whaaat, since when was it referred to as a put outer? We know it’s called a deluminator because Dumbledore bequeaths it to Ron in Deathly Hallows. Given that Joe Rowling literally came up with names for an entire world of magical characters, creatures, objects, places – everything, I don’t know why she would go for “put outer.” I mean let’s be honest, it’s slightly better than giving up naming it all together and just calling it a thingamyjig or thingamabob. I was wondering why Jo Rowling would call the delimunator a ‘put outer’ in the first chapter, and I thought that maybe it’s because ‘put outer’ is a name which is at the level of magical knowledge the reader has at this point in the book, which is no knowledge of magic or the magical world at all, so maybe she was using the text to reflect that. 

We also find out in Deathly Hallows, that the deluminator is an invention of Dumbledore’s, so I thought that also might explain why Dumbledore uses the deluminator to take the light out of the lamps instead of just waving his wand, because it’d be more fun to use something which you invented yourself. At least, having not invented anything myself I’d imagine it would be more fun. But then I realised something, and came up with a theory for why Dumbledore actually uses the deluminator in this scene, which is simply that Dumbledore uses the deliuminator so that he can find Harry later if he needs to, because he knows that Harry will always be in danger. Fast forward to book 5, the order of the phoenix, and Mad-Eye Moody uses the deluminator to put out the street lights when standing with Harry outside number 12 Grimauld Place, after a journey where Mad-Eye had carefully planned every move to protect Harry, so I don’t think he would have just used the deluminator for fun just to put the lights out and Dumbledore would have had to have given Mad-Eye the deluminator, probably for a reason more important than switching lights on and off. I think he used it in book 5 because then the light in the deluminator could be used to track Harry, who Dumbledore was avoiding interactions with Harry but also wanted to keep tabs on Harry. Then, in book 7, the Deathly Hallows, Ron uses the deluminator to switch the lights on and off when he’s on the run with Harry and Hermione, and this light enables him to find them when he needs to. So in short, I think this explains why Dumbledore uses the deluminator to switch the street lights off, because he cares about Harry and wants to be able to protect Harry if he needs to. Obviously, this is something that only Joe Rowling would know.

Ø  We meet McGonagall for the first time. 

Dumbledore sees the cat which uncle Vernon thought he’d seen reading a map earlier in the chapter, and knows that the cat is in fact Minerva McGonagall. McGonagall is surprised that Dumbledore can recognise her, but I don’t know why she is because on wizarding world.com it says that Dumbledore was the inspirational transfiguration teacher who helped her become an animagus with distinctive markings. So, it makes sense that Dumbledore will know what she looks like if she becomes a cat. 

McGonagall is described as being a ‘severe-looking woman… wearing an emerald cloak and with black hair drawn into a tight bun.’ I think we get more of an indication of what McGonagall is like by her actions, rather than this physical description. So for example, Dumbledore asks if she’s been celebrating and she says no, I’ve been sitting on this brick wall all day and then comments on how people have been celebrating too jubilantly which might draw the attention of the muggles. This gives the idea that McG is excessively sensible. Knowing that voldermort has just been taken down it seems normal that she would go and celebrate, so this shows how straight laced and sensible she is.

Just as an aside, on wizarding world.com it says that witches and wizards were celebrating so publicly because a one-day amnesty was declared, so wizards didn’t have to adhere to the international statute of secrecy so stringently and could celebrate Voldermort’s downfall. 

This reminds me of a lady who was my first sort of, mentor figure who gave me my first training in a lab doing research. She was called Winifred and she had such strong principles and was very much a  sensible type, like McGonagall. According to wizardingworld.com McGonagall was the daughter of the revered Robert McGonagall, from whom she inherited her cast-iron moral sense. So, more than just being sensible this idea of a cast-iron moral sense reminds me of Winifred. I actually remember being at university and there was a big party for all the staff and I was able to get in because I was doing my dissertation over the summer there, and this party was apparently very expensive for the university. Winifred actually took a stand and refused to go because she said that the students didn’t even have lockers but the university felt it could throw a party. She didn’t make a huge fuss, she just didn’t go. McGonagall not celebrating after Voldermort’s downfall is a bit more extreme but reminded me of Winifred. As an aside, when people take those types of actions I think they do make an impression on the people around them. I still remember Winifred doing that even if the university doesn’t. 

Ø  Dumbledore’s lightheartedness in potentially serious moments. 

McGonagall asks Dumbledore if Voldermort is really gone. The line goes, 

“I suppose he really has gone, Dumbledore? 

It certainly seems so, we have much to be thankful for. Would you care for a sherbert lemon?”

It seems strange that Dumbledore would be so lighthearted, even in a conversation about Voldermort. However, later in the book series we find out about some of the most difficult personal events in Dumbledore’s life, so although being the leader of the resistance against Voldermort might be Dumbledore’s most magically challenging experience, I doubt it’s Dumbledore’s most emotionally challenging experience, which could explain why he can be so lighthearted in this conversation with McGonagall. 

I always found that Dumbledore has a lightness about him, e.g. sparkling blue eyes, and he’s able to lift the weight of a potentially serious or scary moment just by being who he is and by being the way he is. He really reminds me of one of my old PhD supervisors called Robert, who was a retired professor who was just working in science for fun, and I remember going to his office while struggling with some work related problem and he had this clock in his office with a cartoon face on which all the clock numbers had fallen off their places and were jumbled up at the bottom of the clock, and in the middle of the clock it just said: who cares! With an exclamation mark. So immediately on going into Robert’s office you sort of had this feeling that although he was focused there was also a lighthearted feeling. 

Thinking about it there are actually several parallels between Robert and Dumbledore, but I actually had the most Dumbledor-ish experience involving Robert just in the last few weeks. Basically, one day Robert asked me to find him an article which he’d  read before but lost. So of course I said sure I’ll find this article and he goes, okay good, it’s about sled dogs in Greenland studied in winter and summer. So I thought, okay, that sounds pretty random but I’ll have a look. So I found this article and sent it to Robert. I also read the article myself and thought it was interesting but didn’t see how it was relevant. Anyway, then, sadly, Robert passed away, but, much like Dumbledore equips Harry with knowledge to be able to continue along his path I remember having the distinct feeling that Robert had helped me learn the skills I needed to get through my PhD, even though there were still challenges ahead. So I proceeded to do a couple of years more research and finished my PhD. And then just a few weeks ago I was writing up one of my PhD papers for publication and I was trying to find a way to explain some of my results. And coincidentally I came across this article which Robert had asked me to find for him, years before. And I read the article and suddenly everything just clicked into place – the data from this article about sled dogs actually gave an explanation which comfortably fit my results. And it just struck me that, Robert knew all along that this article had relevant information for potential results even though I hadn’t even started the experiments for this project when he asked me to find that article. I mean, he was just so far ahead all the time, we were in meetings and I remember getting the distinct impression that Robert was patiently waiting for me to catch up to him. And when I re-discovered this article it was as though he had put it in my path and I had stumbled across the right information at the right time to finish up this article which I’d spend two years collecting data for. So for me it was heart warming in a way to feel that Robert had inadvertently given me this guidance although he’s no longer around anymore, and in making this podcast I realised how uncannily Dumbledore like this experience was.

  Dumbledore’s first joke – layers.

Just to re-cap where we were before I went into that Robert-Dumbledore comparison: Dumbledore has arrived in Privet Drive and has met Professor McGonagall. McGonagall is building up to asking Dumbledore about how Voldermort died and says that Dumbledore was the only wizard Voldermort feared, and that Dumbledore was too noble to use the dark magic Voldermort used. Dumbledore replies,

“It’s lucky it’s dark. I haven’t blushed so much since Madam Pomfrey told me she liked my new ear muffs.” 

So, for me at least, this is the first joke Dumbledore makes in the 7 books and there’s a lot going on in this line: Dumbledore seems to be so wise that he can appreciate the simple pleasures in life and small moments, like a small compliment about his ear muffs or taking a moment to enjoy a sherbert lemon. It seems silly for Dumbledore to equate being complimented for being a great wizard with being complimented for having a nice pair of ear muffs, but I think Dumbledore says stuff like this knowing how he’s coming across. So he says something silly so that you’ll laugh with him, but also appreciates that the eccentricity of the comment makes it funny to laugh at him at the same time. I think these double layer jokes are an intentional thing Dumbledore does. That’s my theory anyway. I think Dumbledore is really funny sometimes.

 As an aside, I think this also brings a youthful feeling to Dumbledore despite his age, because blushing uncontrollably seems like something a teenager might do. 

Dumbledore’s watch.

So, then we’re waiting for Hagrid to arrive and Dumbledore pulls out a watch which is described as “…a very odd watch. It had twelve hands but no numbers; instead, little planets were moving around the edge.”

So we get this relatively detailed description of this watch but then never hear about it again in any of the books. So if anyone knows what it is, please get in touch on one of the social media platforms. In the Deathly Hallows, Mrs Weasley gives Harry a watch for his birthday when he comes of age and says that it’s traditional to give a wizard a watch when they become an adult. The watch is described as “gold, with stars circling round the face instead of hands.” Apparently the watch was old and belonged to Molly Weasley’s brother, Fabian, and Ron received a similar watch. So maybe Dumbledore’s watch was just what he got when he came of age when he was 17, or maybe there was originally going to be a link between the watches or something. The fact that Harry’s was old and had previously belonged to another wizard leaves the door open for the watch’s history to come to the fore. Or not, it could just be a watch. 

·        First sighting of Hagrid

Hagrid arrives on a flying motorbike, and we are told that the engine noise “…swells to a roar… and a huge motorbike fell out of the air and landed on the road in front of them…”

Upon Hagrid’s entrance we can see why McGonagall thought he might not be the right person for the job. McGonagall has been disguised as a cat all day to keep her cover and Dumbledore has removed all the light from the street lights to hide their presence, and then Hagrid comes in on a loud, flying motorbike. I love the contrast between their approaches on how to handle this situation of delivering baby Harry to the Dursleys. To be honest, Hagrid’s character is a bit more wild than the others’ and he always seems more raw, like his emotions are closer to the surface. It’s a bit like Hagrid is perpetually a bit drunk while everyone else is sober. Hagrid’s personality is just kind of ‘extra’ in relation to everyone else’s. 

Dumbledore understands this about Hagrid because earlier in the chapter when speaking to McGonagall, Dumbledore says, ‘I suppose Hagrid told you I was here.’ This shows that Dumbledore knows what Hagrid is like in terms of giving valuable information away. This is subtle but important because I think it shows that Dumbledore chooses people to do things based on who they are rather than what they can do. It’s like their character equips them to handle a task better than their skills. Otherwise for example, he could have asked McGonagall to deliver Harry since she’s so uncompromisingly sensible. 

So we get a description of Hagrid, some of which is that he was “…too big to be allowed, and so wild…” Obviously later in the series we find out that he’s half-giant. Hagrid mentions that Sirius Black gave him the motorbike, which is a subtle plug in because Sirius Black comes back up in book 3. 

 ·        First sighting of Harry, Dumbledore’s comment on scars.

Harry is described as having jet black hair and a lighting bolt shaped cut on his forehead. And then in the midst of their curiosity about the scar, Dumbledore says scars can be very useful, for example he has one above his left knee which is a perfect map of the London Underground. I mean, this just made me laugh. I think Dumbledore would be great if you were with friends at a pub, he’d just have so many funny stories. And also, we need a biography of Dumbledore to shed light on these important matters – how do you get a scar which is a perfect map of the London underground?!

But anyway, so then there’s the emotional moment when they leave Harry at the Dursleys’ house. Hagrid is literally howling and crying because Lily and James have died and Harry is going to live with muggles and McGonagall says, yes yes it’s all very sad but get a grip of yourself. Some classic British emotional counselling there. 

The moment comes when they give Harry to the Durselys and we know it’s serious because Hagrid is howling, McGonagall is blinking furiously to stop herself from crying and the sparkle from Dumbledore’s eyes has gone out. Dumbledore has explained the situation to the Dursleys in a letter, and the contents of the letter are not specified in the book, but apparently Dumbledore explains how Harry’s parents were murdered, and that because of Lily’s sacrifice Harry would be safe from Voldermort as long as he could call the place where his mother’s blood existed, home. 

They leave Harry at number 4 privet drive, and Harry actually is the 4th person in the house, so I wonder if there’s a connection between that and the house number. Apparently Jo Rowling has always found the number four cold and unforgiving, which is why she chose it for the Dursleys’ front door. Privet is a bush which makes neat hedges, so Jo Rowling named the Dursleys’ street Privet Drive because she liked the associations with suburban living and also enclosure, since the Dursleys wanted to keep themselves separate from the wizarding world. 

Anyway, the end of the chapter brings us to the end of the first episode! It’s been fun making a podcast for the first time so I hope you’ve found it an interesting listen at least. Until next time…any suggestions for a catchy signing off phrase are welcome.