Harry Potter

There has been speculation that the writer was shut out of the programme after her previous comments about trans people divided public opinion.

Rowling does not appear with the cast members in the special, and is only seen in archive video clips.

Harry Potter 20th Anniversary - Return To Hogwarts is released on 1 January.

The special sees former child stars Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint reunite with fellow cast members including Robbie Coltrane, Helena Bonham Carter, Jason Isaacs, Gary Oldman and Ralph Fiennes.

The hardback 1997 British edition of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, with a colour illustration on the cover, was described by Heritage Auctions as "magical, incredibly bright and so very near pristine."

The book was published in the United States as Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.

The Dallas-based auction house said only 500 copies with the specific binding were printed. The final price was more than six times the pre-sale estimate of $70,000.

Previous auction prices for Harry Potter first editions have ranged from about $110,000 to $138,000.

 The Imperial Hotel in Melbourne has been ordered tear down its rooftop Harry Potter installation and turn off the taps on its Buttah Beer after the multinational demanded the pub remove all wizard-themed decorations and references.

The pub – on the corner of Bourke and Spring streets, a few doors down from the Princess Theatre where the Harry Potter and the Cursed Child play runs eight times a week – featured six "magical stores" adorned with spell books, almanacs and colours from the film series.

Images from the burning at Gdansk's Mother of Church parish were posted on Facebook by Catholic foundation SMS z Nieba (SMS from Heaven,) which uses unconventional means to carry out its religious work.

Many spent hours online trying to secure some of the 250,000 new tickets released at 11:00 BST on Thursday.

"Failed to get #CursedChild tickets after queuing for four hours," wrote one Twitter user. "Now loads on sale for hundreds of pounds on StubHub."

Tickets are currently being offered on the secondary site for up to £1,000.

Scholastic Inc. announced Wednesday that a "script book" of "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child" will be published July 31.

The book is a based on the two-part stage collaboration of J.K. Rowling, Jack Thorne and John Tiffany and arrives just after the play premieres in London on July 30. Rowling's Potter web site www.pottermore.com will release an edition.

The first seven Potter books have sold more than 400 million copies worldwide, according to Scholastic, the series' U.S. publisher.

Author JK Rowling took to Twitter to answer the enduring question on Friday in an exchange with a fan who asked why one of Harry's children received the middle name of Severus.

Not only did she bless us with a world of witches and wizards way back when -- a world that changed our childhoods forever -- but has kept that childish wonder in us alive by revealing new secrets and adventures over the years.

Whether you're looking for Harry Potter confessions or one-of-a-kind zingers (basically, don't ever body shame Serena Williams), you should look no further than the best-selling author's social media page.

But on Saturday morning, the 50-year-old writer managed to make fans feel deeply touched when she responded to a stranger on social media who hopes to follow in her footsteps.

"You inspired me to write. However, in Egypt, girls can't do anything freely as boys," the Twitter user wrote. "They laugh at me when I say I am a writer."

Called Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, it is due to open at the Palace Theatre in London's West End in the summer of 2016. Although not a musical, it is expected to eclipse box office records for blockbuster West End productions such as The Lion King, The Phantom of the Opera and Cats.

Rowling released the first details of the stage production, via Twitter on Friday.