wizard

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City Fires 'Wizard' It Employed for 2 Decades

City of Christchurch will no longer be needing the services of Ian Brackenbury Channell

(Newser) - Ian Brackenbury Channell has an entire Wikipedia page devoted to him, with a title not many (if any) can claim: the Wizard of New Zealand. It looks like the 88-year-old sorcerer may be hanging up his long black robe for good, however, at least officially, after the city of Christchurch...

New Zealand Won't Commit on Official Wizard's Successor

For $10K a year, 87-year-old tries to deliver fun, sometimes with an edge

(Newser) - Now that he's 87, Ian Brackenbury Channell has stepped back from his job a bit. Not even the official wizard of the New Zealand city of Christchurch can go on forever, so he's looking for someone to eventually take his staff. The job description is pretty clear—"...

Warren Wants a New Job—at Wizard School

She wants to fight dark magic, aka 'Trump'

(Newser) - Elizabeth Warren: wizard professor? In a tweet to Harry Potter author JK Rowling—who revealed details about a fictional wizarding school in Massachusetts this week—Warren says she would be up for teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts, the class that prepares students to fight dark magic and Lord Voldemort'...

Abra Cadabra: The New Harry Potter

Soul-sucking horror for boy wizard in new trailer

(Newser) - Desperation, death, and soul-sucking chills. And that's just a taste of what our boy wizard is up against in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, flying to theaters Nov. 19 . The brand new theatrical trailer for the Warner Bros. film reveals a blacker black from director David Yates, heart-stopping evil...

Rowling's Potter Prequel Conjures Up $49K for Charity

800-word tale features Harry's father

(Newser) - JK Rowling’s handwritten “prequel” to the Harry Potter books has sold for $49,000 at a charity auction to benefit the PEN writers organization, Reuters reports. In the 800-word story, which takes place before Harry’s birth, the boy wizard’s father and Sirius Black use magic to...

Rowling Casts Spell at Harvard
 Rowling Casts Spell at Harvard 
Jun 6, 2008 7:10 AM CDT

Rowling Casts Spell at Harvard

Fight the monsters, she urges

(Newser) - Harry Potter birth mom JK Rowling yesterday urged Harvard graduates at their commencement to use their imaginations on more than wizards and muggles to envision—and create—a better world. She recalled the rewarding time she spent when she was younger working for prisoners of totalitarian regimes for Amnesty International....

Missing Pages, Printing Errors Hex Potter Fans

At least 200 readers have reported printing errors in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

(Newser) - The seventh Harry Potter book sold 8.3 million copies in its first 24 hours in print, but at least 200 fans of the teenage wizard have had less than magical experiences with the saga's finale. An irate group of readers on message boards at Amazon.com and eBay are...

Potter Spell Smashes Records in First-Day Sales

8.3M copies fly off shelves in 24 hours

(Newser) - The internet leaks don't seem to have weakened any of the boy wizard's magic:  "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" sold a record-breaking 8.3 million copies in its first 24 hours on sale Saturday. The 7th and final installment in the series bested the 6th, “Harry...

Potter Pages Leaked in Web Hocus Pocus

Scanned book appears on Internet despite $20M security

(Newser) - The world's favorite boy wizard flies onto bookshelves for the final time Saturday, but scanned pages of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows—some real, some phony—have already landed on the Internet. Photographs of what seem to be every page of the 784-page tome have been posted on several...

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