0:00:00 > 0:00:01Have a watch of this.Phew!
0:00:07 > 0:00:10"As there is little foolish wand-waving here,
0:00:10 > 0:00:14"many of you will hardly believe this is magic.
0:00:15 > 0:00:20"I don't expect you will really understand the beauty of the softly
0:00:20 > 0:00:23"simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes.
0:00:23 > 0:00:27"The delicate power of liquids that creep through human veins,
0:00:27 > 0:00:31"bewitching the mind, ensnaring the senses.
0:00:31 > 0:00:34"I can teach you how to bottle fame,
0:00:34 > 0:00:38"brew glory, even stopper death.
0:00:38 > 0:00:41"If you aren't as big a bunch of dunderheads
0:00:41 > 0:00:42"as I usually have to teach."
0:00:45 > 0:00:49In Harry Potter, JK Rowling created one of modern fiction's
0:00:49 > 0:00:51most alluring and magical worlds.
0:00:53 > 0:00:56But it's a vision based on more than mere make-believe.
0:00:58 > 0:01:01A lot of the things that we read in fiction in Harry Potter
0:01:01 > 0:01:05were actually believed in and enacted upon in history in the past.
0:01:07 > 0:01:10What Jo has done is, she's taken known values,
0:01:10 > 0:01:13she's taken familiar stories
0:01:13 > 0:01:15and added them in her own beautiful blend.
0:01:19 > 0:01:22My mandrakes aren't quite like that.
0:01:24 > 0:01:28The search for magical knowledge has obsessed humans since time began.
0:01:29 > 0:01:32From the age-old quest to conquer death...
0:01:33 > 0:01:35..to master destiny...
0:01:36 > 0:01:38..and overturn fate...
0:01:38 > 0:01:40Look at this. Oh, my Lord!
0:01:40 > 0:01:41THEY CHUCKLE
0:01:41 > 0:01:42I think it worked.
0:01:44 > 0:01:47..human beings have dreamt up magical ways of thinking.
0:01:49 > 0:01:51I don't think everyone should believe in magic,
0:01:51 > 0:01:54but I'm not sure I would trust anyone who doesn't,
0:01:54 > 0:01:55in some way or another.
0:01:56 > 0:01:57Accio.
0:01:59 > 0:02:02This is the story of the real-life magic
0:02:02 > 0:02:05at the heart of Harry Potter.
0:02:19 > 0:02:21This year marks a special anniversary
0:02:21 > 0:02:25and some very strange celebrations are under way.
0:02:25 > 0:02:27We came all the way from Brooklyn, New York.
0:02:27 > 0:02:29This is my mom. This is my daughter.
0:02:29 > 0:02:31And these are my granddaughters.
0:02:31 > 0:02:33Obliviate!
0:02:33 > 0:02:36I've come as Moaning Myrtle because she has a lot of personality
0:02:36 > 0:02:38for a dead person.Yes.
0:02:41 > 0:02:43I'm Professor Minerva McGonagall and I can't do a proper accent
0:02:43 > 0:02:45so I'm not really going to try.
0:02:45 > 0:02:47Go on.
0:02:47 > 0:02:50You're welcome to share my cubicle, Harry.
0:02:50 > 0:02:51Aw...
0:02:51 > 0:02:55It's been 20 years since an orphaned boy wizard made muggles
0:02:55 > 0:02:58out of all of us.
0:02:58 > 0:03:01There's something buried deep within all of us, I think,
0:03:01 > 0:03:04that would like to get the owl and be told...
0:03:05 > 0:03:08..you are not only unique and special,
0:03:08 > 0:03:10I'm going to take you to where your people are.
0:03:10 > 0:03:12I mean, that's such a seductive idea, I think.
0:03:12 > 0:03:14That's not just something that children crave,
0:03:14 > 0:03:16it's something that all of us crave.
0:03:16 > 0:03:19I've kind of loved to be in that world.
0:03:19 > 0:03:20I'd just love to be in that world.
0:03:20 > 0:03:22I wish I was a wizard!
0:03:22 > 0:03:26But Rowling's wizarding world is closer to our own than we think.
0:03:26 > 0:03:30As Harry's great friend Hermione Granger once said...
0:03:30 > 0:03:33Don't legends always have a basis in fact?
0:03:41 > 0:03:44In The Magician's Nephew by CS Lewis,
0:03:44 > 0:03:47there is one of the most beautiful fictional worlds
0:03:47 > 0:03:51that I've ever read, which is the world between the worlds,
0:03:51 > 0:03:54which is a place where you're in a forest and there are multiple pools
0:03:54 > 0:03:57and every pool you jump into will take you to a different world and
0:03:57 > 0:03:58that to me has always been a library.
0:04:01 > 0:04:04I was one of those bookish children
0:04:04 > 0:04:07who never left the library if she could help it.
0:04:07 > 0:04:11So, yeah, of course, to me, a library is truly a place of magic.
0:04:13 > 0:04:15At the British Library,
0:04:15 > 0:04:18all kinds of magical preparations are taking place.
0:04:20 > 0:04:23And it's all to create a new exhibition
0:04:23 > 0:04:26which aims to reveal the link between the real history of magic
0:04:26 > 0:04:29and JK Rowling's writing.
0:04:31 > 0:04:34And it's all there from the very first book.
0:04:35 > 0:04:38Most of the JK Rowling material has never been exhibited before.
0:04:38 > 0:04:41It's the first time it's going on display.
0:04:41 > 0:04:44So this is a typed synopsis of Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone.
0:04:44 > 0:04:47In the early '90s,
0:04:47 > 0:04:51this was written to be sent to agents and to publishers
0:04:51 > 0:04:53to sell the story.
0:04:53 > 0:04:55Yeah, she's having to sell Harry Potter.
0:04:55 > 0:04:58You wouldn't think it, would you?
0:05:00 > 0:05:03The conceit is that we muggles,
0:05:03 > 0:05:05we sort of glimpse this hidden world
0:05:05 > 0:05:07because we know some of the mythology,
0:05:07 > 0:05:09but what we think we know is often wrong.
0:05:09 > 0:05:12The real magic, as it were, is not quite as we believe it to be.
0:05:13 > 0:05:17Using pre-existing myths or ideas of fantastic creatures and so on
0:05:17 > 0:05:19was a way of giving texture to the world.
0:05:22 > 0:05:23I think JK Rowling used magic
0:05:23 > 0:05:28and the history of magic in an exceedingly sophisticated way,
0:05:28 > 0:05:31and possibly there are aspects of it that your general reader
0:05:31 > 0:05:32just might not even see.
0:05:35 > 0:05:37"The ancient study of alchemy is concerned with making
0:05:37 > 0:05:39"the philosopher's stone,
0:05:39 > 0:05:43"a legendary substance with astonishing powers.
0:05:43 > 0:05:47"The stone will transform any metal into pure gold.
0:05:47 > 0:05:50"It also produces the elixir of life,
0:05:50 > 0:05:52"which will make the drinker immortal."
0:05:55 > 0:05:59The pursuit of immortality was a quest to which medieval alchemists
0:05:59 > 0:06:02devoted their lives.
0:06:02 > 0:06:05And one amongst them became the stuff of legend.
0:06:07 > 0:06:10"There have been many reports of the philosopher's stone over the
0:06:10 > 0:06:14"centuries, but the only stone currently in existence belongs
0:06:14 > 0:06:18"to Mr Nicolas Flamel, the noted alchemist and opera lover.
0:06:18 > 0:06:23"Mr Flamel, who celebrated his 665th birthday last year,
0:06:23 > 0:06:28"enjoys a quiet life in Devon with his wife Perenelle, 658."
0:06:33 > 0:06:34In the stories, Nicolas Flamel,
0:06:34 > 0:06:38he's the person who's actually discovered the key to eternal life
0:06:38 > 0:06:41and is alive and well.
0:06:41 > 0:06:45I hate to spoil the story, but he is based on a real-life figure
0:06:45 > 0:06:49who lived in Paris in the early 15th century
0:06:49 > 0:06:50and obviously, sadly, he did die,
0:06:50 > 0:06:53but we do actually have his tombstone.
0:06:53 > 0:06:55It's quite a magical object in itself.
0:06:58 > 0:07:01Nicolas Flamel may not have achieved immortality,
0:07:01 > 0:07:06but alchemists continued their search for the elixir of life.
0:07:06 > 0:07:09And some of their mysterious instructions survive
0:07:09 > 0:07:11on a magical scroll.
0:07:11 > 0:07:13Let's take this one out of the box.
0:07:13 > 0:07:17So, this is the...amazing... Oh, my God.
0:07:17 > 0:07:19..Ripley scroll. There you are.
0:07:20 > 0:07:24It's extraordinary.I think it's made about the year 1600...
0:07:24 > 0:07:27and it tells you how to make the philosopher's stone.
0:07:27 > 0:07:28Oh, look.
0:07:28 > 0:07:32Isn't that incredible? Oh, it's so gorgeous. Look at this.
0:07:32 > 0:07:35I've never seen...
0:07:35 > 0:07:37anything quite like this before.
0:07:37 > 0:07:39I would imagine few people have.
0:07:41 > 0:07:45What fascinates me about alchemy is, you have this mixture of science,
0:07:45 > 0:07:46actual science, right?
0:07:46 > 0:07:49Because this was old chemistry,
0:07:49 > 0:07:52so some of it is genuinely scientific.
0:07:52 > 0:07:56They were observing phenomena that we recognise now as the basis
0:07:56 > 0:08:00for chemistry. So it's just this fascinating hybrid, isn't it?
0:08:00 > 0:08:02Yeah, combination of all these ideas.
0:08:02 > 0:08:04And I'm really disappointed you haven't tried to make one.
0:08:04 > 0:08:08Because the joke's on us if this works!
0:08:08 > 0:08:11We'll make sure it does work.Yeah.
0:08:16 > 0:08:21Many scientific discoveries were actually made as a result of people
0:08:21 > 0:08:24carrying out that alchemical process.
0:08:24 > 0:08:25There's a very famous painting,
0:08:25 > 0:08:27it's by Joseph Wright of Derby,
0:08:27 > 0:08:30and it shows a German chemist, alchemist,
0:08:30 > 0:08:32in the 17th century.
0:08:32 > 0:08:37He's trying to create gold and he's boiling a flask of urine!
0:08:37 > 0:08:41He doesn't create gold, but he discovers phosphorus in the process.
0:08:46 > 0:08:48The relationship between magic and science,
0:08:48 > 0:08:52particularly in the early modern period, is extremely important.
0:08:52 > 0:08:55What powers are there out there that we perhaps can't see
0:08:55 > 0:08:58but which we can harness and adapt for our own use?
0:08:58 > 0:09:00And to some extent, that is a form of magic.
0:09:00 > 0:09:03Perhaps penicillin is a form of magic.
0:09:03 > 0:09:05It's just magic that consistently works.
0:09:08 > 0:09:12But even in our rational, enlightened age of today,
0:09:12 > 0:09:15perhaps there's still a place for the old ways of thinking.
0:09:17 > 0:09:19Magic is fascinating to me, clearly,
0:09:19 > 0:09:22because I've spent a lot of time writing about it,
0:09:22 > 0:09:25but I think that it connects to very important things about what it is
0:09:25 > 0:09:29to be human and what human beings want and what they believe.
0:09:32 > 0:09:36"When he had been younger, Harry had dreamed and dreamed of some unknown
0:09:36 > 0:09:40"relation coming to take him away, but it had never happened.
0:09:40 > 0:09:42"The Dursleys were his only family.
0:09:42 > 0:09:45"Yet sometimes he thought, or maybe hoped,
0:09:45 > 0:09:48"that strangers in the street seemed to know him.
0:09:49 > 0:09:51"Very strange strangers they were, too."
0:09:54 > 0:09:59Children believe in magic because they're starting to make sense of
0:09:59 > 0:10:01and control their world.
0:10:01 > 0:10:04But I think we all have that inside us.
0:10:04 > 0:10:06The world is complex and largely unknowable,
0:10:06 > 0:10:10and although we've moved on to science,
0:10:10 > 0:10:13I think that we all, at heart,
0:10:13 > 0:10:16retain a certain amount of magical thinking.
0:10:16 > 0:10:18Tarantellegra!
0:10:18 > 0:10:19Locomotor Wibbly!
0:10:19 > 0:10:21Evanesco!
0:10:21 > 0:10:23Rictusempra!
0:10:23 > 0:10:25Whoosh! I've got to do a whoosh sound,
0:10:25 > 0:10:27it's the only way it makes it real to me.
0:10:32 > 0:10:34To trace the real history of magic,
0:10:34 > 0:10:38there can be few better places than the British Library.
0:10:38 > 0:10:40It has 150 million items
0:10:40 > 0:10:44and the curators have been searching amongst them for over a year.
0:10:45 > 0:10:48As every Hogwarts student knows,
0:10:48 > 0:10:53a good magical textbook can save your life or solve your problems.
0:10:53 > 0:10:55But in the 16th century,
0:10:55 > 0:10:58members of the British cultural establishment believed in them, too.
0:11:00 > 0:11:04So, this is one of my favourite manuscripts in the exhibition.
0:11:04 > 0:11:09It's an actual book of spells and is extremely beautiful to look at,
0:11:09 > 0:11:12I think, and has a lot of interesting content.
0:11:13 > 0:11:16A real magical textbook,
0:11:16 > 0:11:19and it belonged to the Elizabethan poet Gabriel Harvey.
0:11:19 > 0:11:23But this one is an experiment or a spell on how to be invisible
0:11:23 > 0:11:25and how it must be prepared.
0:11:26 > 0:11:29There's lots of text written about Gabriel Harvey,
0:11:29 > 0:11:33but as far as I know, I don't think he ever disappeared.
0:11:34 > 0:11:37HE RECITES THE MANUSCRIPT
0:11:42 > 0:11:45"By the mercy which you bear upon mankind,
0:11:45 > 0:11:47"make me to be invisible."
0:11:52 > 0:11:57"He set off, drawing the invisibility cloak tight around him
0:11:57 > 0:11:58"as he walked.
0:11:58 > 0:12:02"The library was pitch-black and very eerie.
0:12:02 > 0:12:06"Harry lit a lamp to see his way along the rows of books."
0:12:16 > 0:12:20Conveying the rich imaginary world of JK Rowling is a huge challenge
0:12:20 > 0:12:22for the curators.
0:12:22 > 0:12:27To help them, they've enlisted Harry Potter illustrator Jim Kay,
0:12:27 > 0:12:30whose drawings and paintings will bring to life the links between
0:12:30 > 0:12:33literary fantasy and historical fact.
0:12:35 > 0:12:38So I first started illustrating Harry Potter
0:12:38 > 0:12:41back in 2013,
0:12:41 > 0:12:42and back then,
0:12:42 > 0:12:46I thought, "Well, it'd take about six months to do all of book one,"
0:12:46 > 0:12:50and it actually took me two and a half years
0:12:50 > 0:12:52working seven days a week,
0:12:52 > 0:12:54usually 12 hours at once, a day.
0:12:55 > 0:12:58It was terrible pressure and you don't want to mess up
0:12:58 > 0:13:00the world's most successful children's book.
0:13:00 > 0:13:05The British Library team are selecting examples of Jim's work
0:13:05 > 0:13:08to feature in the show.
0:13:08 > 0:13:11Who is this?McGonagall.
0:13:11 > 0:13:13It's actually based loosely on my partner,
0:13:13 > 0:13:17who I aged for this painting, I must stress.
0:13:17 > 0:13:23Jim's most intriguing illustrations are these curious-looking specimens,
0:13:23 > 0:13:26mandrake roots and their seedlings.
0:13:26 > 0:13:28Harmless enough, you might think,
0:13:28 > 0:13:31but these roots must be handled with care.
0:13:33 > 0:13:36"Harry snapped the earmuffs over his ears.
0:13:36 > 0:13:39"They shut out sound completely.
0:13:39 > 0:13:43"Professor Sprout put a pink, fluffy pair over her own ears,
0:13:43 > 0:13:45"rolled up the sleeves of her robes,
0:13:45 > 0:13:49"grasped one of the tufty plants firmly and pulled hard.
0:13:49 > 0:13:53"Harry let out a gasp of surprise that no-one could hear.
0:13:53 > 0:13:54"Instead of roots,
0:13:54 > 0:14:00"a small, muddy and extremely ugly baby popped out of the earth.
0:14:00 > 0:14:03"The leaves were growing right out of his head!
0:14:03 > 0:14:05"He had pale-green mottled skin
0:14:05 > 0:14:08"and was clearly bawling at the top of his lungs.
0:14:08 > 0:14:12"Professor Sprout took a large plant pot from under the table and
0:14:12 > 0:14:17"plunged the mandrake into it, burying him in dark, damp compost,
0:14:17 > 0:14:19"until only the tufted leaves were visible.
0:14:21 > 0:14:23"Professor Sprout dusted off her hands,
0:14:23 > 0:14:26"gave them all the thumbs-up and removed her own earmuffs.
0:14:27 > 0:14:29"'As our mandrakes are only seedlings,
0:14:29 > 0:14:32"'their cries won't kill yet,' she said calmly,
0:14:32 > 0:14:36"as though she'd just done nothing more exciting than water a begonia.
0:14:36 > 0:14:39"'However, they will knock you out for several hours.'"
0:14:41 > 0:14:45In herbal folklore, the bloodcurdling scream of the mandrake
0:14:45 > 0:14:48was thought to kill or send its listener mad.
0:14:51 > 0:14:55The British Library have uncovered an unusual illustration of the myth.
0:14:56 > 0:14:59A very unusual illustration indeed.
0:15:03 > 0:15:05My mandrakes aren't quite like that.
0:15:07 > 0:15:10Broadly speaking, I adopted the myth with some tweaks.
0:15:10 > 0:15:13Very similar. No dogs involved in mine, though.
0:15:13 > 0:15:15Humans did actually pull them up
0:15:15 > 0:15:20and mandrake root was an essential component in a restorative potion
0:15:20 > 0:15:23that was needed at Hogwarts that year.
0:15:23 > 0:15:27There are real mandrakes and the root is human-shaped,
0:15:27 > 0:15:29so I think that's where the myth came from, isn't it?
0:15:29 > 0:15:34As often happens, people extrapolated from the real object.
0:15:38 > 0:15:41The mandrake is no longer commonplace.
0:15:41 > 0:15:44Yet the elaborate folklore that surrounds it all came down
0:15:44 > 0:15:47to this rather small, grubby root.
0:15:48 > 0:15:51There's definitely something in these roots that...
0:15:51 > 0:15:53Yeah, anthropomorphic.
0:15:53 > 0:15:56It's almost like a sort of pot belly.
0:15:56 > 0:16:00So you could have a more distended stomach
0:16:00 > 0:16:02leading to legs...
0:16:02 > 0:16:03which I quite like.
0:16:09 > 0:16:13These severed hands symbolise its use as an anaesthetic
0:16:13 > 0:16:15in amputations.
0:16:15 > 0:16:19Medieval herbals like these reveal the wonder and mystery
0:16:19 > 0:16:21inspired by plants.
0:16:23 > 0:16:26This is a time when most people couldn't get access
0:16:26 > 0:16:30to any form of medicine. A small cut could kill you, you know?
0:16:30 > 0:16:32It's no wonder that people put so much stock
0:16:32 > 0:16:34in the potential life-saving properties
0:16:34 > 0:16:36of the plants around them, really.
0:16:42 > 0:16:45Plants are a key ingredient in JK Rowling's wizarding world,
0:16:45 > 0:16:49where they're used to make potions, and supplies can be found
0:16:49 > 0:16:52in the apothecary of a certain Mr Mulpepper.
0:16:54 > 0:16:58His name might sound a little bit like another exhibit in the show,
0:16:58 > 0:17:03the Complete Herbal by one Nicholas Culpeper.
0:17:06 > 0:17:08So Culpeper really was a herbal hero.
0:17:08 > 0:17:10He was the guy who revolutionised medicine in Britain.
0:17:10 > 0:17:13He took the power from the physicians and gave it back
0:17:13 > 0:17:15to the common people.
0:17:15 > 0:17:18Nicholas Culpeper grew up in the Sussex countryside
0:17:18 > 0:17:19here in Isfield.
0:17:22 > 0:17:24So, this footpath here would've been the exact footpath
0:17:24 > 0:17:26that the young Culpeper would have walked down
0:17:26 > 0:17:28from his grandfather's church over to the village,
0:17:28 > 0:17:30and it's here he would've learned all about
0:17:30 > 0:17:33the flowers and the plants of the English countryside.
0:17:39 > 0:17:41The book was published almost 400 years ago and
0:17:41 > 0:17:42it's still in print today.
0:17:42 > 0:17:45In the 1600s, you could buy it on a street corner.
0:17:45 > 0:17:46You can buy it online today.
0:17:46 > 0:17:49It's the book that's been in print for the longest
0:17:49 > 0:17:50apart from the Bible.
0:17:50 > 0:17:53Culpeper's book has special significance for JK Rowling.
0:17:56 > 0:17:58Oh, yes.
0:18:00 > 0:18:01I know this book.
0:18:03 > 0:18:07This is Culpeper's Complete Herbal and I own two copies of this.
0:18:09 > 0:18:11Am I allowed to touch this?
0:18:11 > 0:18:13I will be tremendously careful, I'm so scared.
0:18:17 > 0:18:19Oh, wow, look.
0:18:19 > 0:18:22It's not even the properties of the plants,
0:18:22 > 0:18:24it's just the way that they wrote about the plants
0:18:24 > 0:18:28and observed them and tied them to planetary movements and so on.
0:18:28 > 0:18:30There's such a poetry to it.
0:18:30 > 0:18:33"Oh, yes, it is fat, unctuous and temperate.
0:18:33 > 0:18:38"Generated of that which is moist, aerius and moderately hot."
0:18:38 > 0:18:39I love it.
0:18:43 > 0:18:48"Midnight came and went while Harry was reading and rereading a passage
0:18:48 > 0:18:51"about the uses of scurvy-grass,
0:18:51 > 0:18:55"lovage and sneezewort, and not taking in a word of it.
0:18:55 > 0:18:59"These plants are most efficacious in the inflaming of the brain and
0:18:59 > 0:19:03"are therefore much used in confusing and befuddlement drafts,
0:19:03 > 0:19:06"where the wizard is desirous of producing hot-headiness
0:19:06 > 0:19:08"and recklessness."
0:19:10 > 0:19:12Even when I didn't really use what they were saying,
0:19:12 > 0:19:14I found it inspirational.
0:19:14 > 0:19:16I found the way they talked about these plants inspirational.
0:19:16 > 0:19:18This is a gorgeous book. Look at this.
0:19:20 > 0:19:23And sometimes I would use old names to make my own names, you know?
0:19:23 > 0:19:26You just look at the way that they put the words together.
0:19:26 > 0:19:29Sea colewort - love it.
0:19:31 > 0:19:36Nicholas Culpeper was also accused of witchcraft about ten years before
0:19:36 > 0:19:37he published his book.
0:19:37 > 0:19:41In 1642, he was accused of being a practising witch.
0:19:41 > 0:19:44Now, this is possibly because of antagonisms that he was creating
0:19:44 > 0:19:46with the College of Physicians,
0:19:46 > 0:19:48but it's also because I think people
0:19:48 > 0:19:51that are mixing up herbs, creating potions,
0:19:51 > 0:19:54there's always going to be those questions about them.
0:19:58 > 0:20:01"Non-magic people, more commonly known as muggles,
0:20:01 > 0:20:05"were particularly afraid of magic in medieval times,
0:20:05 > 0:20:08"but not very good at recognising it.
0:20:08 > 0:20:11"On the rare occasion they did catch a real witch or wizard,
0:20:11 > 0:20:14"burning had no effect whatsoever.
0:20:14 > 0:20:17"The witch or wizard would perform a basic flame freezing charm
0:20:17 > 0:20:20"and then pretend to shriek with pain
0:20:20 > 0:20:23"while enjoying a gentle tickling sensation.
0:20:23 > 0:20:27"Indeed, Wendelin the Weird enjoyed being burnt so much
0:20:27 > 0:20:30"that she allowed herself to be caught no fewer than
0:20:30 > 0:20:33"47 times in various disguises."
0:20:35 > 0:20:36Witches and wizards in the Potterverse,
0:20:36 > 0:20:38they are morally neutral.
0:20:38 > 0:20:40You are as good or as bad as you decide to be.
0:20:40 > 0:20:43There's nothing inherently wrong about performing magic,
0:20:43 > 0:20:45it's simply an ability that some people have.
0:20:48 > 0:20:52Yet in history, most references to witches are resoundingly negative.
0:20:55 > 0:20:59And the link between witches and powerful dark magic
0:20:59 > 0:21:01was forged by a book.
0:21:02 > 0:21:07So this is the earliest illustrated printed treatise on witchcraft.
0:21:07 > 0:21:10It's called De Lamiis Et Phythonicis Mulieribus,
0:21:10 > 0:21:14which roughly translate as "of witches and soothsayers".
0:21:14 > 0:21:16This is the first time
0:21:16 > 0:21:21that you get a printed visual representation of witches.
0:21:21 > 0:21:21And it was published in 1489,
0:21:21 > 0:21:23And it was published in 1489,
0:21:23 > 0:21:27written by a man called Ulrich Molitor.
0:21:27 > 0:21:28In the book, Molitor claims
0:21:28 > 0:21:31that witches were not as powerful as people thought,
0:21:31 > 0:21:35but his illustrator clearly didn't read his text,
0:21:35 > 0:21:39because the drawings tell a different story.
0:21:39 > 0:21:41So here you have two women.
0:21:41 > 0:21:45They're old, they're haggard and they're evil-looking.
0:21:45 > 0:21:47They're dangerous and they're powerful.
0:21:47 > 0:21:51It shows them as able to create dangerous weather magic,
0:21:51 > 0:21:53hailstorms, using cauldrons.
0:21:55 > 0:21:59This is the earliest printed image of witches using a cauldron.
0:22:02 > 0:22:04The book was published in 49 different editions
0:22:04 > 0:22:07and was still in print a century later.
0:22:08 > 0:22:10The whole text is written in Latin,
0:22:10 > 0:22:14which wouldn't really be that accessible to your average person
0:22:14 > 0:22:15even if they could read.
0:22:15 > 0:22:18But the images are something that everyone can read
0:22:18 > 0:22:21and that is where the power of this book comes in,
0:22:21 > 0:22:26and it cemented the iconography of how we understand witches to look.
0:22:38 > 0:22:41At the edge of the Atlantic on the North Cornwall coast,
0:22:41 > 0:22:44Boscastle is one of the most magical places in the land.
0:22:45 > 0:22:47It even has its own museum of witchcraft.
0:22:51 > 0:22:55So this broomstick belonged to Olga Hunt of Manaton.
0:22:55 > 0:22:59She used to, on the night of the full moon,
0:22:59 > 0:23:02scamper and leap about
0:23:02 > 0:23:06on this broomstick on the rocks of Haytor, on Dartmoor.
0:23:08 > 0:23:10Olga Hunt's broomstick is one of the artefacts
0:23:10 > 0:23:12that will feature in the show.
0:23:12 > 0:23:15The British Library has been scouring the museum
0:23:15 > 0:23:16for other objects that might fit.
0:23:16 > 0:23:20There are 3,000 to choose from.
0:23:20 > 0:23:23This cauldron has a very unusual story attached to it
0:23:23 > 0:23:25because it exploded,
0:23:25 > 0:23:28much like the one in the stories of Harry Potter.
0:23:28 > 0:23:30Ooh, this is interesting!
0:23:30 > 0:23:31The tarred head.
0:23:33 > 0:23:34I most definitely believe in magic.
0:23:36 > 0:23:38Do I have to justify that?
0:23:40 > 0:23:43The museum owns one of the largest collections of witchcraft artefacts
0:23:43 > 0:23:45in the world.
0:23:45 > 0:23:47So this is a dried cat.
0:23:47 > 0:23:49They're often found in old buildings
0:23:49 > 0:23:53and they were used as a protection charm to ward off infestation.
0:23:53 > 0:23:57You'd think that a live cat would do a better job of it, but here we are.
0:23:58 > 0:24:01And here we've got a selection of wands,
0:24:01 > 0:24:04one of which is going to feature in the exhibition.
0:24:04 > 0:24:06Now, wands are subtle tools.
0:24:06 > 0:24:08They're used to direct energy,
0:24:08 > 0:24:12but they're also used for creating a magical space.
0:24:14 > 0:24:18We have an example here of a very dark use...
0:24:19 > 0:24:23..of the practice, which is a blasting rod.
0:24:23 > 0:24:28And blasting rods are basically used to blast people and to direct
0:24:28 > 0:24:31negative energy at them for a curse of some form.
0:24:32 > 0:24:35Oh, it could kill somebody very easily, I should imagine,
0:24:35 > 0:24:39so... Used by the right person in the right way.
0:24:39 > 0:24:41So it's kept behind glass normally.
0:24:44 > 0:24:48Every Hogwarts pupil needs their very own magic wand.
0:24:48 > 0:24:50But no two wands are the same.
0:24:52 > 0:24:55"'You talk about wands like they've got feelings,' said Harry.
0:24:55 > 0:24:57"'Like they can think for themselves.'
0:24:57 > 0:25:01"'The wand chooses the wizard,' said Ollivander.
0:25:01 > 0:25:05"'That much has always been clear to those of us who have studied wandlore.'"
0:25:07 > 0:25:10Wands are an essential part of casting a spell
0:25:10 > 0:25:12and everyone has their favourite.
0:25:12 > 0:25:15Expelliarmus!
0:25:15 > 0:25:17Did that work?
0:25:17 > 0:25:20If we could only use them in the muggle world,
0:25:20 > 0:25:22they'd come in very handy.
0:25:22 > 0:25:25I would cast a spell to make TJ in my class like me.
0:25:25 > 0:25:27Oh, not on telly!
0:25:30 > 0:25:31BOTH:Obliviate!
0:25:31 > 0:25:33But for the spell to work,
0:25:33 > 0:25:37you need exactly the right flick or twist of the wrist.
0:25:37 > 0:25:39ALL:Piertotum locomotor!
0:25:43 > 0:25:46I couldn't find anything on wands, so I just made it all up.
0:25:46 > 0:25:49That was all me and I had so much fun
0:25:49 > 0:25:52and actually, I do remember exactly where I was.
0:25:52 > 0:25:55I literally was sitting under a tree out in the open
0:25:55 > 0:25:58on a very warm summer's day when I wrote that chapter,
0:25:58 > 0:26:01the wand shop in the Philosopher's Stone.
0:26:01 > 0:26:03And I just sat there and made up all these properties
0:26:03 > 0:26:06and the cores and, yeah, I really enjoyed that.
0:26:06 > 0:26:09So, yeah, no, I'm afraid I don't know anything about...
0:26:09 > 0:26:11I don't know what anyone else has said about wands.
0:26:11 > 0:26:13I made the whole thing up!
0:26:19 > 0:26:21But there are folk out there
0:26:21 > 0:26:24who have been making wands for centuries.
0:26:24 > 0:26:29Dusty Miller, father and son, come from a long line of wandmakers.
0:26:30 > 0:26:32I'm Dusty XII.
0:26:32 > 0:26:35XIII, sorry. My father was XII. Hello, Grandad!
0:26:38 > 0:26:41My son is the XIII. XIV!
0:26:41 > 0:26:43I like that, I got promoted then. Did you see that?
0:26:51 > 0:26:53We work for the tree spirits,
0:26:53 > 0:26:56so they tell us when to go and collect a piece of wood,
0:26:56 > 0:26:58where to collect it,
0:26:58 > 0:26:59which tree to collect it from.
0:26:59 > 0:27:01It's all very complicated
0:27:01 > 0:27:04and often means getting up in the middle of the night
0:27:04 > 0:27:05to be in the forest at daybreak.
0:27:05 > 0:27:08Why they always want daybreak, I don't know.
0:27:08 > 0:27:10Why it can't be lunchtime...
0:27:10 > 0:27:12another matter entirely. Trees don't have lunch!
0:27:12 > 0:27:15No, that's true, they don't.
0:27:19 > 0:27:22The wood they collect is made into wands,
0:27:22 > 0:27:25which they believe channel the sacred power of the trees.
0:27:27 > 0:27:29Because we have this partnership with the tree spirits,
0:27:29 > 0:27:34when they tell us to make certain tools, to create certain items for
0:27:34 > 0:27:38people to make changes in their lives...
0:27:38 > 0:27:41and be able to... Maybe do healing on other people, or themselves,
0:27:41 > 0:27:43then we're quite happy to do that
0:27:43 > 0:27:46and that's what we've spent our entire lifetimes doing.
0:27:51 > 0:27:53In Rowling's wizarding world,
0:27:53 > 0:27:56the effects of a spell can happen in an instant.
0:27:56 > 0:28:01Expecto Patronum!
0:28:02 > 0:28:05You just have to say the words the right way.
0:28:05 > 0:28:07Take the doubling spell.
0:28:07 > 0:28:09Geminio.
0:28:11 > 0:28:12Geminio.
0:28:13 > 0:28:15Geminio!
0:28:15 > 0:28:19The spells often have their roots in classical languages
0:28:19 > 0:28:22and Rowling's degree in French and Classics turned out to be useful.
0:28:24 > 0:28:26Sometimes I just invented it.
0:28:26 > 0:28:29It usually depended on the gravity of what I was inventing.
0:28:29 > 0:28:32I often tended to give a richer provenance to things
0:28:32 > 0:28:36that were very significant, like the Cruciatus Curse
0:28:36 > 0:28:38or Avada Kedavra, whereas the more...
0:28:38 > 0:28:41The fun things, Wingardium Leviosa is exactly what it sounds like
0:28:41 > 0:28:43and it's flippant and it's fun.
0:28:43 > 0:28:45Wingardium Leviosa!
0:28:47 > 0:28:51It's only in fourth year that Harry encounters the most sinister spells
0:28:51 > 0:28:53in the wizarding world -
0:28:53 > 0:28:56the three unforgivable curses.
0:28:57 > 0:29:00What are the unforgivable curses and what do they do?
0:29:00 > 0:29:01Imperio!
0:29:01 > 0:29:05There's Imperio, which is the controlling curse.
0:29:05 > 0:29:07Crucio!
0:29:07 > 0:29:09Crucio is a torture curse.
0:29:09 > 0:29:12It makes whoever you're casting it at go into great pain.
0:29:12 > 0:29:14So...pretty bad.
0:29:16 > 0:29:20And the final curse, the most dreadful of them all -
0:29:20 > 0:29:21the killing spell.
0:29:22 > 0:29:24"Avada Kedavra!
0:29:26 > 0:29:31"A blast of green light blazed through Harry's eyelids
0:29:31 > 0:29:35"and he heard something heavy fall to the ground beside him.
0:29:36 > 0:29:39"The pain in his scar reached such a pitch that he retched
0:29:39 > 0:29:41"and then it diminished.
0:29:42 > 0:29:47"Terrified of what he was about to see, he opened his stinging eyes.
0:29:48 > 0:29:53"Cedric was lying spread-eagled on the ground beside him.
0:29:56 > 0:29:57"He was dead."
0:30:02 > 0:30:05It sounds so powerful, doesn't it, Avada Kedavra?
0:30:05 > 0:30:07It's got a real force to it.
0:30:07 > 0:30:09It's Aramaic, I think.
0:30:09 > 0:30:12Well, that is genuinely the derivation of abracadabra,
0:30:12 > 0:30:15not many people know that. That's where abracadabra came from.
0:30:15 > 0:30:19And literally translated, it means, "May the thing be destroyed."
0:30:25 > 0:30:28Abracadabra is today often thought of as a charm
0:30:28 > 0:30:33which stage magicians use when they are pulling a rabbit out of a hat,
0:30:33 > 0:30:37but actually it was first used in Roman times as a protection
0:30:37 > 0:30:40against catching the disease malaria.
0:30:44 > 0:30:47"'Double divination this afternoon,'
0:30:47 > 0:30:49"Harry groaned, looking down.
0:30:49 > 0:30:54"Divination was his least favourite subject, apart from potions.
0:30:54 > 0:30:57"Professor Trelawney kept predicting Harry's death,
0:30:57 > 0:30:59"which he found extremely annoying."
0:31:05 > 0:31:08A nice item relating to divination.
0:31:08 > 0:31:11"On wonders past and present and to come."
0:31:11 > 0:31:13About the prophecies of Old Mother Shipton,
0:31:13 > 0:31:17who was a famous witch that made prophecies from Knaresborough.
0:31:17 > 0:31:20A nice interesting image of a witch, which I think is...
0:31:20 > 0:31:23Yes, in no way a cliche, with her enormous nose
0:31:23 > 0:31:26and her chin that almost meets the tip of it!
0:31:26 > 0:31:27That's great.
0:31:27 > 0:31:30I have a lot of fun with divination in the Potter books
0:31:30 > 0:31:32because I make it quite clear
0:31:32 > 0:31:35that you get lucky once every million times.
0:31:35 > 0:31:39Free will is the abiding principle of the Potter books, not prophecy.
0:31:43 > 0:31:46"There was a lot more to magic, as Harry quickly found out,
0:31:46 > 0:31:49"than waving your wand and saying a few funny words."
0:31:57 > 0:31:58The exhibition will be divided
0:31:58 > 0:32:02into subjects corresponding to the Hogwarts curriculum,
0:32:02 > 0:32:04from divination to astronomy.
0:32:06 > 0:32:08The most spectacular and bizarre exhibits
0:32:08 > 0:32:12belong to a section on care of magical creatures.
0:32:17 > 0:32:20So this is Edward Topsell's History Of Four-footed Beasts.
0:32:20 > 0:32:23He describes a number of different beasts
0:32:23 > 0:32:26that feature in Harry Potter, including the Sphinx.
0:32:26 > 0:32:28Yes...
0:32:28 > 0:32:30Yeah. She's interesting.
0:32:30 > 0:32:34Yeah.Very unusual. It's not how we'd actually imagine a Sphinx
0:32:34 > 0:32:36to look like from classical mythology, is it?
0:32:36 > 0:32:39No. They are bred in India and Ethiopia.
0:32:39 > 0:32:41Interesting.
0:32:46 > 0:32:49When it comes to beasts, the hippogriff or the dragon,
0:32:49 > 0:32:52there are certain beasts that absolutely must be in Potter
0:32:52 > 0:32:56because they're so well known, you would just expect to see them there.
0:32:56 > 0:32:58And I've played with them to an extent.
0:33:02 > 0:33:05This one dates from probably the early 13th century.
0:33:06 > 0:33:10First of all, the phoenix is making its own funeral pyre
0:33:10 > 0:33:13by picking twigs and leaves and branches from the trees.
0:33:13 > 0:33:16Oh, that's fantastic. And there you are.I love that.
0:33:16 > 0:33:20It's on fire and it's going to rise from the ashes.
0:33:20 > 0:33:23That's my favourite creature. He's gorgeous, isn't he?Yeah.
0:33:23 > 0:33:26Stunning. I also like this chap,
0:33:26 > 0:33:29because that's like an Augerey, which I invented.
0:33:29 > 0:33:31There's no such thing, but I call it the Irish phoenix.
0:33:33 > 0:33:34These are so beautiful.
0:33:37 > 0:33:38Incredibly human-looking owl.
0:33:45 > 0:33:48In Harry Potter, JK Rowling refers to over 100 species
0:33:48 > 0:33:51of mythical creature, drawn from across the globe.
0:34:00 > 0:34:02In every society and every culture,
0:34:02 > 0:34:04there is the practice of magic
0:34:04 > 0:34:07or the understanding of the supernatural.
0:34:07 > 0:34:09Magic is a universal language.
0:34:10 > 0:34:13In the Department of African Studies,
0:34:13 > 0:34:16one curator has made an exciting discovery.
0:34:16 > 0:34:21It's a text written in Ge'ez, an ancient language of Ethiopia.
0:34:21 > 0:34:26"If you wish to turn into a lion or transform yourself into a lion,
0:34:27 > 0:34:29"read the above prayer
0:34:29 > 0:34:32"and write it on a silk cloth
0:34:32 > 0:34:34"and tie it around your head.
0:34:34 > 0:34:36"Or if you wish to be
0:34:36 > 0:34:40"a serpent, write this and tie it on your wrist."
0:34:41 > 0:34:45This is a prayer for transformation or to turn...
0:34:45 > 0:34:48You know, to change into something else.
0:34:48 > 0:34:49By the 15th century,
0:34:49 > 0:34:53this type of magic had been outlawed by Ethiopia's Christian king.
0:34:53 > 0:34:56So manuscripts like these are exceptionally rare.
0:34:58 > 0:35:00But despite its Ethiopian roots,
0:35:00 > 0:35:02this branch of magic is very similar
0:35:02 > 0:35:05to an important subject taught at Hogwarts.
0:35:05 > 0:35:09This book is defence against the dark arts.
0:35:09 > 0:35:13So the purpose of this talisman is to protect the client
0:35:13 > 0:35:15from real or imagined harm.
0:35:19 > 0:35:22In Defence against the Dark Arts,
0:35:22 > 0:35:24Harry's magical ability shines
0:35:24 > 0:35:28when he masters wizarding's most powerful protective charm.
0:35:30 > 0:35:33"'Expecto Patronum,' he yelled.
0:35:35 > 0:35:40"And out of the end of his wand burst not a shapeless cloud of mist
0:35:40 > 0:35:44"but a blinding, dazzling, silver animal.
0:35:46 > 0:35:49"He screwed up his eyes to see what it was.
0:35:49 > 0:35:51"It looked like a horse.
0:35:51 > 0:35:54"It was galloping silently away from him
0:35:54 > 0:35:57"across the black surface of the lake."
0:36:04 > 0:36:08As the last few objects arrive from museums across Britain...
0:36:09 > 0:36:13..they're being joined by works that are rather more recent.
0:36:13 > 0:36:16These date from the 1990s.
0:36:18 > 0:36:23I chose them all because they had particular meaning to me.
0:36:23 > 0:36:25They're all pieces of writing
0:36:25 > 0:36:29or doodles that I could particularly remember.
0:36:29 > 0:36:32And they come from very different stages in the process.
0:36:32 > 0:36:35So some of it's on my very old manual typewriter.
0:36:35 > 0:36:37Lots of hand-written stuff.
0:36:37 > 0:36:39They just show what I was thinking.
0:36:42 > 0:36:48This is a sketch of Hogwarts that JK Rowling sent to her publishers,
0:36:48 > 0:36:54Bloomsbury, and it maps out all the key elements of Hogwarts
0:36:54 > 0:36:57and she's given notes, as well.
0:36:57 > 0:36:59My favourite bit about this one is
0:36:59 > 0:37:02where she's drawn the squid that lives in the lake.
0:37:06 > 0:37:08So this is one of mine.
0:37:08 > 0:37:10So I don't feel quite so reverent about this one.
0:37:16 > 0:37:19Professor Sprout is the herbologist.
0:37:19 > 0:37:21Very lovable character.
0:37:21 > 0:37:24I would say she's the most maternal, actually, or parental,
0:37:24 > 0:37:28of the four Heads of House at Hogwarts.
0:37:29 > 0:37:34So I drew this picture on December 30th, 1990.
0:37:35 > 0:37:38And I can be very precise about when I drew this picture
0:37:38 > 0:37:41because I was staying at a friend's house,
0:37:41 > 0:37:44I'd been writing Potter for six months
0:37:44 > 0:37:47and I stayed up when everyone else had gone to bed
0:37:47 > 0:37:51because I was watching the movie The Man Who Would Be King.
0:37:51 > 0:37:54And the reason I can be incredibly precise about
0:37:54 > 0:37:56when I drew this is because...
0:37:56 > 0:37:58at some point...
0:37:58 > 0:38:01during the time I was watching that movie and drawing this picture,
0:38:01 > 0:38:04my mother died 250 miles away
0:38:04 > 0:38:07and I got the phone call the next day
0:38:07 > 0:38:09to say that she had died.
0:38:11 > 0:38:14So this obviously means a great deal to me, this picture.
0:38:16 > 0:38:19But there was something quite extraordinary that I only realised
0:38:19 > 0:38:22about 20 years later, so it seems very appropriate to say it now
0:38:22 > 0:38:24in the context of this exhibition.
0:38:26 > 0:38:28The Man Who Would Be King, for those who don't know,
0:38:28 > 0:38:32is a story with Sean Connery and Michael Caine in it
0:38:32 > 0:38:35and it's from an old Rudyard Kipling story.
0:38:35 > 0:38:39And the Masonic symbol is very important in that movie.
0:38:39 > 0:38:41And it was literally 20 years later
0:38:41 > 0:38:45that I looked at the sign of the Deathly Hallows
0:38:45 > 0:38:48and realised how similar they were.
0:38:49 > 0:38:53The Deathly Hallows is comprised of the Elder Wand,
0:38:53 > 0:38:57the Cloak of Invisibility and the Resurrection Stone.
0:38:58 > 0:39:02And whoever possesses all three is said to be Master of Death.
0:39:04 > 0:39:06When I saw the movie again and saw the Masonic symbol,
0:39:06 > 0:39:09I sort of went cold all over and I thought...
0:39:11 > 0:39:13..is that why the Hallows symbol is what it is?
0:39:13 > 0:39:17And I've got a feeling that, on some deep subconscious level,
0:39:17 > 0:39:19they are connected.
0:39:19 > 0:39:24So I feel as though I sort of worked my way back over 20 years
0:39:24 > 0:39:29to that night because the Potter series is hugely about loss...
0:39:30 > 0:39:33And I've said this before, if my mother hadn't died,
0:39:33 > 0:39:37I think the stories would be utterly different and not what they are.
0:39:37 > 0:39:39Um... So, yeah.
0:39:39 > 0:39:43So, this picture is very meaningful to me
0:39:43 > 0:39:46on a lot of different levels.
0:39:53 > 0:39:56"Harry was so close to the mirror now
0:39:56 > 0:40:00"that his nose was nearly touching that of his reflection.
0:40:00 > 0:40:02"'Mum?' he whispered.
0:40:05 > 0:40:06"'Dad?'
0:40:08 > 0:40:10"They just looked at him...
0:40:10 > 0:40:12"..smiling...
0:40:12 > 0:40:15"..and slowly Harry looked into the faces
0:40:15 > 0:40:17"of the other people in the mirror
0:40:17 > 0:40:20"and saw other pairs of green eyes like his,
0:40:20 > 0:40:22"other noses like his,
0:40:22 > 0:40:26"even a little old man who looked as though he had Harry's knobbly knees.
0:40:28 > 0:40:34"Harry was looking at his family for the first time in his life."
0:40:42 > 0:40:45I meet people quite regularly who tell me
0:40:45 > 0:40:47what Potter meant to them
0:40:47 > 0:40:51and I can only say that even they have no idea what it meant to me.
0:40:52 > 0:40:56So I wrote Potter during what I hope will turn out to have been
0:40:56 > 0:40:58the most turbulent period of my life
0:40:58 > 0:41:01and I put a huge amount, more than people will ever know,
0:41:01 > 0:41:05of my own life and experiences into those books
0:41:05 > 0:41:09and it's not that lots of people liked it,
0:41:09 > 0:41:13it's the fact that it meant that much to a few people even
0:41:13 > 0:41:16is more than enough for a writer. It's an amazing feeling.
0:41:28 > 0:41:31"Hermione, however, clapped her hand to her forehead.
0:41:31 > 0:41:34"'Harry, I think I've just understood something.
0:41:34 > 0:41:36"'I've got to go to the library.'
0:41:36 > 0:41:38"And she sprinted away up the stairs.
0:41:45 > 0:41:48"'What does she understand?' said Harry, distractedly,
0:41:48 > 0:41:51"still looking around trying to tell where the voice had come from.
0:41:53 > 0:41:56"'Loads more than I do,' said Ron, shaking his head.
0:41:56 > 0:41:58"'But why's she got to go to the library?'
0:42:01 > 0:42:05"'Because that's what Hermione does,' said Ron, shrugging.
0:42:05 > 0:42:08"'When in doubt, go to the library.'"