Kirsty Wark
Journalist, Kirsty Wark has presented BBC’s Newsnight since 1993 and Newsnight Review since 2001 so she is well acquainted with the current arts scene. No publishing phenomenon however can rival that of the Harry Potter series, which Kirsty has enjoyed reading to her two children, and Kirsty is as passionate an advocate for JK Rowling as is her 15-year-old son James.

Later we went to JK Rowling’s home town of Edinburgh with her advocate Kirsty Wark. We filmed in some wonderfully evocative locations including Edinburgh Castle and Prestonfield. It was great that Kirsty brought her son along to the shoot, as he has grown up reading the Harry Potter books and is enraptured by the world Rowling has created. Queuing up with several thousand Potter fans on the night that the final book came out was also a real experience. People at the front of the queue had arrived days before and travelled from all round Europe. Even though they were cold and drenched through from our British summer of rain, they sang merrily to keep themselves warm and were entertained by the magicians and other entertainment that the book shops had laid on. When midnight struck and the crowds were let in, there were faces of pure elation from those who were at last able to get their hands on the final installment, leaving us with no doubt of the massive publishing phenomenon Rowling has created.