โ ๏ธ The area around McGonagall was a dustbowl, Edinburgh council has kindly returfed it. Please, please avoid walking on the grass or I fear they'll come for us Potter tour guides with pitchforks. They're little less lairy than a Hippogriff on heat ๐ค
William Topaz Mcgonagall was born and died in Greyfriars parish Edinburgh. But he moved to Dundee finding work as a weaver. One day a strange feeling stole over him, and "a flame seemed to kindle up my entire frame with a strong desire to write poetry". A legend began.
Mcgonagall decided he needed a patron so wrote to Queen Victoria, a court functionary wrote back thanking him for his interest. Thanked by the Queen!
In 1879 during a visit to Dunfermline the Chief
Templar mocked him and told him his poetry was very bad.
Robust McGonagall retorted that "it was so very bad that Her Majesty had thanked McGonagall
for what the Chief Templar had condemned."
McGonagall decided that he needed to enhance his reputation further, and a live performance before her majesty would do it. In 1878 he walked the 97km from Dundee to Balmoral, over the Cairngorm mountains and through a violent thunderstorm to perform for Queen Victoria.
When he arrived he announced "I am the Queen's Poet!"
The guards informed him "You're not the Queen's poet! Tennyson is the Queen's poet."
Mcgonagall presented his letter, but was refused entry and returned home.
He struggled for money and ended up working in a local circus reading his poems while the crowd chucked eggs, flour, herrings and stale bread. It got out of control and Dundee magistrates banned his performances.
Almost bankrupt he was finally published, striking a hit with a poem commemorating a horrific rail bridge collapse; which had trapped & drowned an entire trains' crew & passengers & children in a cruel storm.
A rush of books followed, suitably titled 'Poetic Gems' and the people of Dundee finally recognised him as "So giftedly bad, he backed unwittingly into genius"
JK Rowling said it was irrisistable that the great and brilliant Minerva, headmistress of Hogwarts, would somehow be distantly related to our brilliant buffon William.
One of my favourite people in Scottish history William Mcgonagall... he was absolutely sincere in what he did... He was a nutterAni-magi often transform into the same animal as their Patronus because the form is determined by the same inner-traits. Peter Pettigrew was coached by Sirrus & James to become his ani-magus, a rat, foreshadowing the betrayal of his friends. While Minerva Mcgonagall is shrewd & intelligent.
Between 1551-87 the Swiss naturalist Conrad Gessner wrote one of the earliest zoological texts. He was the first to use woodcuts for illustrations of animals, thus providing enough detail to identify them and his work jumped across the channel.
His English translator, Edward Topsell annotated his entry for felines with โThe familiars (servants) of witches do most ordinarily appear in the shape of cats, which is an argument that the beast is dangerous to soul and bodyโ. Elsewhere Gessner added โmen have been known to lose their strength, perspire violents, and even faint at the sight of a catโ.
Well they can be spooky.
It requires supreme dedication to become an animagus, the process can take years and has ended in disaster, with permanent half-human half-animal mutations.
This is then spat into a vial within range of a โfull moonโs pure raysโ. If itโs a cloudy full moon it must start over.
Thereโs a whole bunch of wise, sensible, prudent preparation then it ends with the witch chanting the incantation โAmato Animo Animato Animagusโ with the tip of their wand placed over the heart during an electrical storm.
Easy peasy.
Mcgonagallโs animagus form is, however, imperfect.
Due to the complexity of the process to become an animagus, and itโs limited usefulness, there were only 7 Animagus in the 20th century.
The most influential unregistered, animagus is acid-quilled Rita Skeeter, she transforms into an attentive little beetle. โAppropriate for a reporter who scuttled merrily over the misfortune of others and fed on trashโ - Pottermore.
To learn more about the inspirations for the love of Harryโs life, Ms Skeeter, I'd love to meet you on my Harry Potter tour. But you don't have to, the internet is a treasure of information.
Visiting? Choose your Avatar so we know how to greet you.
Multi-nationals, based outwith Scotland such as Sandemans, persistently ran tours which massively breached Scotlands First Ministerโs guidance, thereby spreading disease. 234,000 UK citizens, no small number, have died. Loved members of peopleโs families wiped.
Local companies have endured having their guides on their tours, taking notes & transcripts, to help build their own versions. They call this โsievingโ or โfilletingโ, their partners believe they โdo it properlyโ & are... sieving for gold?
This reduces local tour operators & Scotland ๐ด๓ ง๓ ข๓ ณ๓ ฃ๓ ด๓ ฟ because their guides get little, Sandemans has circumvented our Legal minimum wage & much of the profits are sucked abroad. It also harms honest - originated the work - competition, because the multi-nationals lean on a cartel theyโve built with hotels & hostels. These partners, some โpocketedโ for a fee, spotlight multi-nationalโs โsievedโ tours, building their review dominance.
Thereโs little motivation to do original work if you expect the work wonโt pay. Weโre being sieved to the bottom. Thereโs little need for tourism if its gift is congestion & hardship.
Please do not visit & norm โsievingโ.
If you go on a multi-nationalโs tour you empower brands who murder ๐คข
Work & ethics should pay ๐ช
Reject the fatcat cartel ๐พโ๐ผโ๐พ Prefer local tour providers {Me, PotterTrail} who would love to host you, or maybe just go to Manchester instead.
Go well
Sam
Directions to Greyfriarsโ grave of Thomas Riddell, namesake of Harry Potterโs terrifying Lord Voldemort.
Cast a disillusionment charm and watch the school previously known as Hogwarts materialise - why did the fans get it so wrong?
NEW: ยฝ day cycle tours of greater Edinburgh unpacking Harry Potter's development.
Crack the Fidelius charm & explore where JK Rowling has truthfully lived, written & caffeinated. As the struggles of Voldemort's 'Chosen One' grew more famous the caffeine had to be sought more slyly.