HARRY POTTER

The eighth and last Harry Potter film has just had its premiere, an event that marks the end of the whole project. There will be no more books, and no more films. It's possible that there will be further spin-offs; games, clothes, theme parks? But the whole story is now known.

My children loved the Harry Potter books. As we lived in Denmark, my mother was roped into buying them in England as soon as they came out, and sending them over. My elder son read the last book, a 700 + page doorstopper, in not much more than a couple of days. After they had finished them, they tended to read them again. And again.

I have not seen any of the films; and I have only read the first book, a modest 200 pages or so. It was OK. But I can't say that it gripped me, in the way it has obviously gripped so many millions. Is it because I am not a child? When the world looks back on Harry Potter in 50 years' time, will they think it great literature, a publishing phenomenon or just a quirk? I have to admit I have no idea.

Walter Blotscher