Well and for this to happen to them it applies to lot that use nothing more than distract you hundreds of people were stranded in Liverpool last night when a fire destroyed 1400 cars in a multistory car park in a defined New Year message the North Korean leader Kim Jong un has said he could launch a missile strike against the u.s. At any moment but also hinted at a willingness for more dialogue with South Korea. In his 1st comments in Santee government protests began in Iran last week President Rouhani has warned that violence will not be told it heated on the organizers of Scotland's biggest talked many street party in Edinburgh say 75000 people took part in the celebrations That's the new sport and here's Lee McLeod Well this week attempt to kick start his career though admitting he may no be on able to ever reaches best form again due to his long standing hip injury the former world number one has dropped to 16th in the tennis rankings having been out since last year's Wimbledon but begins his comeback in air n'est in Brisbane this week against the American world number 47 Ryan Harris and Marty hopes to be able to compete at the Australian Open later in the month in football Hibs could complete the 1st signing of the winter transfer window today the done deal keeper Scott b. And is likely to move to Easter Road on an initial loan deal. Rob crosses even to complete an incredible year when he's gone from amateur player to World Darts Championship finalist when he takes on the 16 time champion Phil Taylor and tonight short piece at Alexandra Palace in London in what is Taylor's last match before retirement not your sport and the weather central and southern Scotland will be another cloudy with occasional showers some of these heavy and falling as snow on the hills the showers will become more confined to southwestern coast slitter in the afternoon with sunnier skies spreading to Argyll and struggling share with clear spells reaching the south after dark in the north will be a few showers mainly affecting the coasts of North Island on the isles with parts of East Highland on the northeast enjoying the driest of the days weather and the best of the sunny intervals b.b.c. Radio Scotland news. I went to a seasonal group right here on b.b.c. Radio Scotland 2 2 2 2 2 2 3 3 3 3 3 2. We are the higher part of generation we grew up knowing how we run and how my any as if they were our friends as if they were real and so many people have been influenced by the messages in the books that they want to continue to experience it and so they come here to get what little they can of. Take a walk through the made those in Edinburgh and you might come across this. Quidditch the fictional game from Howdy Potter no one up and coming sport in the muggle world I'm Sean bagger son and this is Harvey Poulter's Edinburgh on b.b.c. Radio Scotland. When I played all over would Griffin there was fanatical Quidditch captain in the House people to phones I never dreamed it could evolve into a real sport assuming naively perhaps but the absence of flying broomsticks might pose a problem yet here we are and I will be exploring what it is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Edinburgh's Howdy Poulter on the world. 1st though let's meet the Hollywood hepa Griff's I'm only really high on the vice captain of the Hollywood progress 1st team so we're playing Quidditch and I want to make his. That's why I'm here today I had to try and create a team of the Northern Cup coming off and just in the 2 weeks or so I have prepared for that you know. Captain of the team is Tedham there in high school I played a lot of rugby and football and I just want to jump universe so I just wanted to try something completely different but still had like a sports aspect and that and quite it's kind of satisfied those criteria because I mean it is the mixture of rugby handball and Dodgeball So you've got to applied to rugby skillfulness general sports girls to a completely new sport and it's just a very social team so it's really fun to be a part of it no I'm only acquainted with magical Quidditch So all you had to get me up to speed on the rules so from my aim of the game as you have a quarter which is slightly different a volley ball which chases or keep us will try and score by putting that ball through the hips. A 2nd repossession is beaters and there are 2 of those on each team and their aim is to use play dodge ball bludgers not players out of the game so if you get hit by one of those dodge balls you have to come off your broom and you're knocked out you have to run back to your team's heaps. And then you can remain and rejoin the game. And their final moment is the sea. So the snitch is a like a match official. Address in your life they have a sort of pouch like a tennis ball kind of thing attached to the back of their shorts and seekers have to try and get that pouch. And the snitch can define themselves in pretty much any way possible and a catch in that is worth 30 points and ends the game. Just 30 points for the century. Later we'll check back in with the Hippogriffs. Leaving the meadows it's a short walk to the city's old town we soon run into a large group of people led by an imposing figure clad in wizarding rule. Of the well hello ladies and gentlemen the boys and girls which is wizards and nerds and welcome to the potter trail so my names will know me I run the parts trail here in Edinburgh this is going to be imaginable cantle up and it was all town visiting the sites and locations where j.k. Rowling wrote the famous Harry Potter series and discovering the site's McKay she's which inspired her carriages and places. I wouldn't of said at the time that I could have predicted the crazes become Now obviously it was the next big thing was a huge trend but the amount of swept the globe has become probably the most popular thing ever is was I think unpredictable. They had left the whole goats grounds completely They had obviously travelled miles perhaps hundreds of miles or even the mountains surrounding the castle were gone they were standing instead in a dark and overgrown graveyard. Thank you he's a black outline of a small church was visible so folks at 10 House points to whoever can tell me which book that comes from any ideas yes you have is that. The 4th book very good 10 House points now I am a student I'm a proud of that event but house boys do need to be given where they deserve so what house are you in. Ok 10 points to get into a decision that irritates me greatly but that's the right answer variables and given voice in the lead well played graph and you are completely correct that is an extract from the 4th book Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire where Harry encounters Voldemort in his human form for the 1st time this is supposedly the most haunted a graveyard in the United Kingdom j.k. Rowling used to come into this graveyard in the summer months when it was slightly warmer weather than this and to take inspiration everything around her this graveyard was allegedly be direct inspiration but that's graveyards the graveyards of little handle to like I say Harry encounters Voldemort in his human form for the 1st time the fandom is pretty intense when we went to tumble his grave in my 1st of doing the tour I had somebody burst into tears because they were so overcome with emotion that this is where the name allegedly came from and the quote from j.k. Rowling herself about that particular one is the name may well have entered her sub conscience because people pointed this out to her and she's never confirmed or denied it said Mabel events to subconscience I mean that was enough to reduce them to to his Ok folks here we have it sacred to the memory of Thomas rebel is Thomas rebel Tom Riddle I am Lord Voldemort this is Voldemort's grave very exciting now the 1st thing you notice about this grave is not the plaque itself but rather the ground that surrounds it if you look anywhere else in the graveyard you see there's grass underneath your feet whether there is this huge circle this river of mud because tens of thousands of people come here every single year to businessman's grave I suppose of course. Where And I was here with factions of I don't know grew up with both the pics and the poems in. Yourself in that world I think is absolutely fantastic so I am in Edinburgh for a few days and I definitely wanted to see this so because I've been growing up with Harry Potter how I was 11 when I read the 1st book so I was growing up like really with Harry Potter we arranged to go and then this was one of the 1st things I wanted to do so it's not like no one on my left the room. All them all in the books of knowing where to go with ration for the character from so to think that you are not as lucky for Tom while he's right about this this really cool I basically just came here for this tool because there were very cheap flights and I was like Ok let's go there it was just so on your own flight so I was like Ok let's go there afterwards I just found out pretty Edinburgh. Really. If getting a plane to Scotland just to take a tour seems excessive wait till you meet Emily Hopkins for her how the porter has played a role in some major life decisions Edinburgh my friend slightly influenced by Harry Potter as my choice of university there's a lot of locations that were inspirational for j.k. Rowling up here and places I can visit where she wrote the books and the best part of all is that Hogwarts itself is somewhere in the here I can just find it Emily as president of Edinburgh University's Harry Potter society I am known as grand mistress of all Hogwarts up here is my nickname in our Harry Potter chat or some people just call me Madam President I was I think 6 years old and we were reading it in class I remember my teacher had to ban me from Harry Potter and instigator rule that I had to read 4 books in between each part of which of course I cheated by reading for Mr Men books which are about 3 pages long there were a lot of relatable characters particularly in my any for me I think if I hadn't been for him I would not be where I am because I saw this girl in a book who was so studious and such a bright which I thought I want to be like that and so I worked and here I am a vet school for Emily and many others it's all about the books so what makes them so phenomenally popular. Beatrice Groves teaches at Trinity College Oxford and is the author of literary allusion in her report or she has a few theories something that sort of struck me about her part is just how long it is that she's over a 1000000 words which is significantly longer than say the King James Bible which is a 30 percent longer so in sense of having a a vast text that you can know in and out and discuss with other people and explore and find new links between and that's something Rowling has said is how delighted she is when people were reading the book communally as a as a family and that was something of a pleasure the fact that adults and children both enjoyed it is that you could we do it together and that's something that happened with Dickens as well people would get together when the new one came out and read it to their servants for example or to their children and this very long publication time meant that you couldn't understand everything until the final one came out so there was all that puzzle solving and that was that people very much got together to do is what clues is she leaving and you know fandom is very so policing about people making mistakes not knowing the text well enough and that and that kind of thing quizzing might be an obvious way where you can use your knowledge of the text and sort of do something in a communal sense and I think that's something we all enjoy I know a lot of detail I've yet to be beaten in a pub quiz I actually attended a pub quiz on my own because I didn't have anyone to be on a team with they were all busy and I still won. So I was very proud of that yes mother and house while I've been on the team is as yet undefeated. So we've got another pub quiz tonight we'll see. There's a profile. Already saw the pub quiz this is that is that alone is said to slither in House and the pub quiz night is on divination in case you guys didn't already know that. At So without further ado I am going to hand over to Alex Ok Does everyone have pens and paper and means of answering the question Hi I'm gonna Watson I'm head of slogan for the society I'm doing English Lit and philosophy and b. University so I'm interested in the books not just from a kind of escapism perspective but like the themes that are explored in them and the way we can see j.k. Through her like the loss of fi the way she represents the characters and the institutions in their midst and what I always get shown up in a from such a question name someone to me in the prophecy homeward journey how you try and keep animal with which they are most complete I'm from Edinburgh myself. I haven't grown up in the shadow consciously of Harry Potter and Potter row but my father worked the university and my parents did encourage me to read Harry Potter I have grown up with Harry Potter events around me a lot more recent years as anniversaries get higher in numbers but even back when I was a kid I remember going to shops and them selling chocolate frog cards that might be you know small scale compared to some of the stuff in America by I think really got into Potter fever once j.k. And where the work was done got publicized while we wait to see whether Emily in the southern team will retain their undefeated title we're welcomed into the Harry Potter society ranks it's all very hard for my name on the open day for the advanced me see the 1st thing my sister said was It looks just like problems in that it was like yeah it does I just feel like the whole of my 1st year I actually called T.V.'s The whole building because I didn't there was cool and the thing is there's a feeling to this well it's it's welcoming didn't buy anything it's all those feelings you got when you 1st opened up but it was tiring so it doesn't hurt and we get to go to the store it's not a part of that you know so long as you're friendly and vaguely like Harry Potter will want to be your friend essentially So we're very sort of open to anyone who comes along with barreling to give you a little bit of a heart to anyone who sort of strolls through our door and wants to take part I think that's what makes it all so welcoming and so familial. In 2nd place is. Never for the rich or grossly other. Point so my deepest Cujo is to review. With $100.00 point. You're listening to Harry Potter's Edinburgh on b.b.c. Radio Scotland with me Schoenberger stuff I am John Granger the dean of Harry Potter scholars agree the Time magazine Harry has taken me places and industry to people that I certainly never would have met otherwise I mean Harry Potter is turned my life upside down and inside out John Green here has written 4 books and 2 se anthologies about the whole saga he blogs podcasts and teaches university courses on Harry Potter has experience travelling all over the world give some idea of just how massive it's become every bookstore in the States you know carries all the Potter books of course you do with a display apart from from other stories you know they're in the children's books a part of it is usually a large display you know very Potter books and ancillary text like might like my books every every curio and gift shop you walk into has items from the Warner Brothers consumer products division I mean it's a whole wing of Warner Brothers devoted to providing people who want curios. That are Harry Potter related we've got Pottery Barn coming out with with a potter line Williams Sonoma has just released aprons and spatulas with Hogwarts house emblems because you know you wouldn't want to be turning over that pancake and not be reminded about the boy you live Yeah there's a new seasonal franchise store called Christmas in the wizarding world that that just a bit debuted on November 9th at this ritzy Utah shopping center outside Salt Lake it's a universal phenomenon I mean that's why we have wizarding world now in Bangkok this is not the u.k. Phenomenon anymore it's a global thing and are no boast to put our shops with my hometown of Glasgow about to get one too as you might expect Emily has picked up a 70 or 2 along the way. Wouldn't be going too far to describe her student flood and. Probably not so there's a a few bits of Harry Potter memorabilia in here and this on the wall this my my calendar my boyfriend actually had this made for me and it's currently on a picture of the 2 as a platform 9 and 3 quarters in a lovely slither in scarf for me and have him. Over here we've got a canvas that my best friend. Of the Hippogriff that was a a going away to university present we've got a little little statue of an inflow there and next to a middle model of. Lots of Southern memorabilia actually. I've got matching gloves with that. And there's also a couple of ones here I've got to make himself was one of the commanders ones I have a few others at home and the Elder Wand Lupin's one. Myself collect them get these tokens like tokens used to pick up on their pilgrimages are important things they help us keep our desired orientation right I mean it's like a charm bracelet or something that reminds you of loved ones that reorient you to hey this is what I'm about you know doing the hard right thing you know whatever whatever you know brings to you in your life these experiences that you can have the wallpaper you can put up the posters that you have the underwear you get Virgin those those tokens may help you you know keep your orientation so try to overlook the tackiness of it all let's are just to pick up souvenirs as a new thing. Beatrice groups are spotted parallels with pilgrimages of the past there's a Scot William Lythgoe who goes to Jerusalem in the early 17th century and he's very clear that he's not a pilgrim I just happen to be travelling to Jerusalem you know and when he goes he brings back exactly the things that pilgrims have always brought back from Jerusalem so he goes and gets a bit of wood from a tree by the River Jordan and he brings back a bit of Jerusalem earth and I think this desire to go to places and then to take something away from that place is a basic human desire and so I do understand why if someone has come to Edinburgh for example you would want a little Harry Potter thing that you bought in Haddam that sense of going somewhere and taking something tangible away from it is something very basic to us of course aside from souvenirs the main point of a pilgrimage is visiting the place itself this is Victoria Street or I've also known the real life dying because we believe the best candidates for what is considered to be the inspiration behind die good but can Edinburgh really claim today going to. Many cities like London or Exeter offer their own convincing candidates and I recently found myself accidentally in the middle of a wizarding 2 of the shambles in New York yes there's quite a few streets in Edinburgh and outside that have claimed cells to be diagonally to my personal knowledge she has never definitively said one street in particular Victoria Street scenes of captured people's imaginations partly because a shop just opened in the last 6 months that has fueled the fire of the idea it looks very similar to her original sketches of diagonally street the bends upwards and the rights confine the image online if there's any good scans there is probably going to be Victoria Street and there's even a magic shop at the base of the street box a magic shop behind a joke shop a joke shop like we do with it this to be a sign in a weird obvious magic shop saying j.k. Rowling never came in here stop coming in and asking us to go away quite aggressively we have taken it down now j.k. Rowling is often deliberately vague over where she gets her inspiration which of course stalks the curiosity of her readers and those for a bit of the tech that work she's very careful about f I giving specific places you know anytime anyone says this cool is the source of the whole question always say no it is and there's one which I have found which I mean I don't think anyone else has thought it which is that she has said that she got from aim War Memorial and there is a church in Edinburgh which is called Lockhart's Memorial Church and that church was formerly known as among gays and Lockhart does end up in this among us which is the hospital in Haifa so I thought oh it just seemed more than you coincident probably. There was. A place where she has inscribed. She went to the. To write the Deathly Hallows. She did. Create. Thought. To have a place that she had made in. 1195 pounds. You can say what is now called the j.k. Rowling suite that busts them that you had to put in a glass case. With a tiny bra our. Plans number 5. They did let me up into it I went along in my robes and I asked very nicely and it was empty it's very exciting and I still have the bust that she graffitied when she finished it and oh and a bookcase will be originals like 1st edition copies of the books the idea of people having to go to real world place. Why is that why the people that have this imaginative experience inside the books want to go to places like Great friars kirkyard or Victoria Street or can pick or oh yeah. I think it's because you know essentially that we're materialists that magic of experience is not to us what's real is something that we experience in terms of sets but there's also I think on a more profound level we have a spiritual capacity. That our profane culture really suppressed I think these programs at sites like Orlando or Edinburgh at large provide the sacred spaces in a non-threatening challenging manner nobody nobody goes to Edinburgh the way that totems went to Canterbury you know. That kind of pilgrimage but still there is this idea that I'm. During into a imaginative at least space that gives some sort of succor to my spiritual capacity with out how the Potter superfan agree I think it's a possibility but I also think a lot of people just want to believe in magic that there's some kind of solution to all the problems that we have and I can't speak for j.k. Rowling here but the time in her life when she started writing Harry Potter it doesn't sound like it was a great time it was quite turbulent and maybe she needed the magic as much as we did and I think that maybe this helped just like it is for most of us some way to get away from the stress of real life j.k. Rowling story has run in parallel with her reporters she's often been romanticized especially by the tabloid press they went with this idea of her as a king of real life Cinderella nobody she keeps press contact to a minimum but we did find this b.b.c. Clip of her from 2000 setting the record straight like most newspaper stories I think it's about 50 percent true and 50 percent in prudery it's true that I lived and Tiny on benefits for 9 months mostly on benefits for about 18 months it's true that I wrote in cafes with my daughter sleeping next to me and that sounds very romantic but of course it's not all romantic when you're living through it. The embroidery comes where they say we have flat was on heat I wasn't in search of whom I was just in search of good coffee frankly not having to interrupt the flow by getting up to make myself more coffee I did also meet an American journalist who said to me so you wrote the 1st novel napkins and I mean I lost myself stupid I said no I could afford paper and let's face it she don't need a lot of napkins Has anyone here been inside the elephant house half a. Few nods Did anyone get a chance to go into the ladies' toilets. It's a weird question we don't know why I'm asking but the ladies dollars and his gob shop are a tourist attraction because that was the ceilings the cubicles are covered in graffiti this graffiti is people writing their names I'm writing letters of dedication to j.k. Rowling writing things like John thank you for making my life more magical The reason this graffiti is there in the ladies' toilets is incase j.k. Rowling ever comes back it's every Potter fan's dream to bump into their favorite author. Stories of random say things around Edinburgh are many feeling the hope this is. My 1st copy of Harry Potter and the 1st stone from when I was 7 and I normally carry this with me in Edinburgh on the off chance that I bump into j.k. Rowling I need to have something with me that she can sign everyone bumps into her randomly no one no one seems to know where she's going to be she shows up Rowling's I'd say she's largely created the role of celebrity off the come advocate until anthropos and whatever your feelings about her politics you know she's attractive she's intelligent and she's funny in an awkward way right booksellers could not have dreamt up a better champion at the reading life and a marketer of her novels and t.v. And film adaptations the I the almost daily news items and Twitter commentary is certainly a large part of Harry's longevity operation there are some aspects of how the parts are almost evolved to take on a life of their own apart from the books I was surprised to learn that Quidditch players all the interim of the Hollywood Hippogriffs are seeing them that wasn't going to action I think the distancing itself from Harry Potter it's actually is impossible to lose the connection between purely because of what this point is and where it came from it's definitely turning out I don't care that much for Harry Potter but I read the books and I grew up and I like them but I didn't care much for it I just wanted to do a sport that was different there might be a good reason why serious fans of the sport want to distance themselves from its origins and I don't know it's like how true this is spare read I read somewhere j.k. Rowling kind of created credits to mock Sports the best for the man in the books snatched off his board with a just kind of Besides the whole game she did recently say on Twitter you know the worst thing to be stuck in a lift with someone saying and by the way why is this 150 points and she has said that she invented it after valid her boyfriend and she intentionally made a stupid sport. To annoy one man shell is classified but for it to be the puppet but they have changed it in Quidditch and the snitches were 30 points. Or for the sake of the sport I'm glad that sorted then quit it is free to go from strength to strength this summer I played for Team Norway as European games which was hosted in our slow and we have a player who played for Team Brazil for World Cup last year another one for Team England I would love to say keep progressing I think the Olympics are always a long way off is a big question you know it's got a broom and sets and things like that which sometimes the element that I would love to see it keep expanding because it is a really great sport I'd love to see it being taken more seriously here's to a limp equipage in the future and what about Emily's future 2 2 2 will there still be room for how the Poulter and her adult life I will never get over Harry Potter there will always be a time when I need to come back to the books it doesn't matter how I get there always be a time when I need magic if I have kids in the future I'd quite like to name them after a few 140 characters currently all of a top of my baby name list has been vetoed by my boyfriend Excellent name choices all over in particular has a certain ring to it. And that brings us to the end of our journey through Edinburgh's Harry Potter on the world hope you've enjoyed travelling with us. Mischief managed. To look. Once or is the point is what do you know about the short cold nights stock as you can this car join me on Friday afternoons for more conversation and inspiring recommendations for a winter treat maybe a much fun classic novel or favorite film every week I'll be joined by 3 special guests who will be sharing a few of their favorite things to make your weekend that little bit more interesting and on Fridays and touch up on previous episodes on the b.b.c. I Player radio once a weekend with the stock Fridays from to b.b.c. Radio Scotland. On b.b.c. Video. Via the b.b.c. I Player radio. Famous made famous places and great stories one so one don't mind the 4 grams on b.b.c. Radio. I really like it because it's very funny I really like because there's lots of new words I am learning I thought it was very funny and I badger like to give her advice that. This. Is their. Job. Is to. This is the story of how badger the mystical came to be and in being forever changed the lives of 2 women 2 very determined women who risked everything to follow their dreams and turn a story about self belief in magic into reality. With no publisher and no experience your born Lynn nickel and Liverpudlian Laura Jackson to calm the world with their cheerful and hopeful tale Badger is a big black dog with floppy ears a white tummy and a red and white magical neckerchief known for his love of toast and magic that doesn't always work now after 6 short years he's the star of 2 series of books aimed at 5 to 9 year olds which look at issues like bullying inclusiveness and Prejudice whilst encouraging the children all over the country who've grown to love him to follow their dreams and believe in themselves however once upon a time this lovable character was just a twinkle in the eyes of his creators neither of whom were authors before he came along it was a shared love of dogs and a chance meeting that set the paragraph. I was in the costume department of a theater and a great big dog sitting in the corner next to limit nickel and they had to haggle to pickle the tower of toast and I felt really hungry so I thought I'll go and ask them for a piece of toast by Joe was my dog and he was a rescue talk from card on old cat and dog home and he was magical and we thought one day we would try a story about by just thinking it would be easy it started off at $300.00 parts started off as what we thought was possibly going to be a picture book and it grew and it grew and then we met our editor and she knocked us into shape my name is Gail when skill and I'm a freelance editor I've read so much children's fiction some of it which is very gritty and that's great some of it which is. I decent story but isn't particularly original but this one it made me laugh and up for that age group of children that they were actually aiming for it's quite something when you can make me laugh because I know that sounds terrible but I read so much that actually to have something that really grabs me is quite unusual when you're doing writing it's easy to show it to your friends because they're going to say it's fun time steak but you really do need someone outside a professional editing your books so that the structure is correct the grandma particularly is correct and so yes very important the 1st time around they completely new to it they didn't know how children's book works they didn't realize that there isn't a basic format the way a book is structured they know all that now it was a complete learning curve and it was fantastic I remember when we got our 1st notes back from Gail she's funny because she always says it's just a couple of things and then we go oh we have a moment to climb we felt like we had a right to claim when there when we got was 1st because we thought structurally You know we were flinging away chapters completely but she was point what's the relevance that there's no need for that chapter to be there and and you know we got there but we I don't think we could have done it with Gail. Without a publisher but with the benefit of Gil's editing experience Lennon Laura's confidence in the 1st batch of grew and grew and much of cool things started to happen. It became more serious after we saw the 1st photos and copies of book one we thought we would do a 1000 copies as a bit of a calling card and see how sales went as the books were sale and we thought well let's print another couple of 1000 see how that goes and I mean we're in or 9. 3 print of book No it just gathered speed it became more serious Also because we met a wonderful woman who was working on what storms of the time and and she said Why don't you do this yourself she took hers and shorters the shelves in the children's section and she said I'll see you there next to Haunted Henry and she also said why not bring your character to life so we have a lot to thank Gabriel for because she had the vision and we had all of these things still to learn. Having in the self publishing route the authors were heading down a difficult and winding path as the cheer of the Society of Authors in Scotland and author herself of the hymn Children series and destruction can testify. I think if you want to self publish it is a lot of hard work I think you have to be aware of how much work you have to n. That perhaps a publisher would be doing on the plus side you have much more control over it self publishing used to be the poor elation of the publishing world and no it is self publishing has lost a lot of the stigma that it perhaps had originally when it tended to be only people who could never find a publisher the self publish nowadays many authors who are already published with publishers generally will also choose to go down the self publishing route but I think just like writing itself people underestimate how much work it is and the people who can do it well like the girls have done for the Pack your bags tribute to them because it's a lot of work. But Lynn and Laura weren't afraid of hard work. Taking on the earlier advice of Gabrielle Badger became a character who existed side of the books as a huggable high 5 ing 6 foot tall dog who joined Lynne and Laura as they began to travel around Scotland for book appearances and school visits the live events take up a lot of time it's like doing a gig which is quite exciting we have a set up with pull ups and by just much it table and all sorts of things and then there is a reading from the book lots of magic the Badgers music it's really quite a full on event of a very very very 1st badger event was an event for the brownies and there were about 20 or 30 of them and I couldn't believe their reaction when by education into the room that they went mad and it was such fun and I are really enjoyed doing the reading it was wonderful. When. The demand for live events with Badger was growing but to survive Lennon Laura still had to keep their full time jobs. They were approaching a crossroads a new a difficult decision was looming. It was becoming harder and harder to commit to events because we had other work to do so we did our sums and thought if we can keep doing what we're doing we have more time to write I mean we have we have written books an ems Xstrata lodge is we have we have written in the most bizarre places we have never had that luxury really of been able to say let's take a couple of months and set and write this and I think the something to be said for that because she tended to produce better work when you're busy I was quite surprised when they told me that they were totally giving up everything but good for them I thought they were brave but I think at the same time if you really want to do something there's always a way of making things work we realized we were enjoying the live events much much more when we were doing bad as it where it made us feel good that's poor is important in life be in control of our own destiny to an extent and the magic that comes with and not having to energy is into promoting other things are other people so they took the life changing decision to give up the day jobs and threw themselves into following their dream. But as Linda struck and explains when choosing life as a children's author fame and fortune are far far from guaranteed people like to think everybody is making as much money as j.k. Rowling and the reality is I think writers are a bit like film stars or actors you have the mega stars who are earning lots of money and you have the sort of medium range actors who are employed and doing well whatever and then you have the ones who shouldn't give up the day job unfortunately for right is exactly the same with the stakes higher than ever are determined pair devoted themselves to promoting battery ran the country taking on even more live events and traveling far and wide Last year I think somebody said to as we can only be a few events behind Deep Purple so probably between $2.30 a year believe it or not because sometimes we do 2 events in one day in fact we did a 2 hour up in Aberdeen Shire a couple years ago we did 33 events a day. But all those gigs and all that work inevitably took its toll with almost disastrous consequences. Because there are only 2 of us and we're in quite a precarious situation that if one of his gets l. Then that and you know that knocks I had not happened this year where I ended up in hospital in the middle of a 282 or I remember lying in the hospital bed and speaking to the surgeon and saying but there's 200 kids expect to me at school tomorrow he pretty much gave me a telling off and said I don't think you'll be going into any schools for a while saw that said we feel really rudderless if we're at for noise their performance canceling live events was just one problem our authors faced but there were more consequences to come when their editor Gail Windscale received the manuscript for their latest book she discovered that this challenging period had also affected their writing to be honest it wasn't that the book was totally bad it's just it wasn't as good as their others and I think they'd been various reasons for that and to me it showed and probably on the only person who can turn around and say that to them so I did we had to go back to the drawing boards and we had to spend the time and we had to get the story right and and not let the events overtake the actual core of what we're doing which is is the right. Was the was. Was was. Just the was going. On was was. With both Lynn I'm the next project but now in tip top shape things started to look up and both authors were delighted to be asked to become patrons of reading for by . Tim primary school in waste an honor bestowed upon just $1000.00 other authors in Scotland Lennon Laura will spend the next year establishing a special and more meaningful relationship with the peoples they're helping to inspire and instill a love of reading across the whole school over 300 excited enthusiastic children who are waiting for them when they visited the school for the 1st time Well good morning everyone was My name is Lauren Jackson and I am here to read to you from badgers 1st book but before I do I would like to introduce you to a very special friend of mine. Oh. Oh was thank you. My name is Emily sing clear and I'm Melissa puts her learning teacher at banked in printing the school in our school we are trying to develop a reading culture for our children to encourage them to read white Lee and to have access to lots of different t.v. Shows to help support their vocabulary development it's widely know in that children can join school with her vastly different levels of the cabbie ready I think children are possibly not having as many bedtime stories as they might have done children again most of their vocabulary after their basic conversational vocabulary from takes from stories so if the children aren't exposed to hearing stories or aren't reading studies then it creates a huge gap for them a lot of children are using technologies in their past times and technologies are being used in the home in place of studies in student tailing So we really want to put that back into the heart to the fabric of the education system and it's we're all education. Stems from. What. They call bad now I have to tell you that bad he still hasn't had his breakfast on his favorite snack. Will the pair go oh he loves toast you'll like toast. I think you want to show you some magic before he goes what you think you. Are just very popular with the children. He's got a bit of attitude and he's very interactive and he can actually do magic and he can actually fly sadly not in schools because of health and safety but he's much more than. A figure standing there and doing nothing and he is completely interacting with the children he doesn't speak by he doesn't have to because he's got doggy language and that comes across in those big brain eyes and that while the tail is a bit it's a wee bit mischievous in school was . Thank. You and Jacqueline steer and the head teacher he had banked and play many school we had the books prior to their visit and the books have been secularly to train the classrooms and the reaction to the pics has been very positive but nothing can capture the essence of books quite like an author visit to the school to see the children she actions to badger and all sorts see their rocked reactions spend a lot of is actually the dying from the ex was incredible right across the skill the children were delighted by the Fessor but primary bond just could not resist a hug from Badger before they even packed class. Just stepped off stage with $300.00 plus children and I was completely Busson because the energy is so I just it's it goes through every pretty everybody should mobile phones him always quite high after a bit of an event he's found. In a sea I can't explain it's great deal. I think the 1st time we were at school when the children just spontaneously started chanting by just name we were blown away by that and that has happened at several schools no. I know it's just I don't know how it starts usually one has had the miraculous confiscated by Nora. And the children and the written for that point they just started chanting and they had never seen or heard anything about budget before and that was the best feeling in the world. But it's not just the obvious joy of the performance which makes these school visits so worthwhile and destruction has also authored the writing for children hunt and she explains how the books can have a much bigger impact on the children's lives. I think a very important part of school for this is it's not just about pushing your book it's about looking at the wider context and reading books of any kind is about children gaining empathy realising somebody else's life is like there we are living is not the only one that's possible. But I was younger I remember getting taken to the library to join and it was so exciting it was like I had this whole world to myself I could go off to the library and I could pick my books and. I can imagine growing up and know I have in this imaginary world that I could go into in terms of helping children develop a passion for written or books are often called a fresh street or a chapter book so it's the book that children will get into much in the same way the Famous 5 did it for me within it like I wanted to read more I want to read more and then from when I had finished with the Famous 5 went on and read all the books and I worked my way up I don't think writing is everything whoever you're writing for and there are people who think that because you're a human children and it's going to be easier because they're children but in fact they are one of the most. Turning audiences you can have because if children start to read something get bored just stop writing Richard involves. Not so much remembering what you were as a child but writing for the child with a new perhaps writing so that you are enjoying it as much as the child who's going to be reading it I think that's one of the most important things a children's book should perhaps have liers it should have the lyrics that is immediately obvious and interesting for the child but then it has perhaps another layer that as a child who maybe loves to become Read again who can get something more out of it but adults should enjoy reading children's books if they're well written they will . Early on in their journey Lennon Laura struck up a friendship with successful children's author Kathy Cassidy creator of the Daisy star books for younger children and the chocolate box Girl series for older readers she's also won the coveted queen of teen award but no matter how much success you have life as an author is one of unpredictable fortunes. I've been writing for 13 years but I think you never really well in my case I never really think that it's a done deal with something like this where you're freelance you know it could all be over tomorrow so everybody I think every author is aware that whatever even even if they're successful it's something that isn't necessarily a forever thing these days it's something like 12 percent of authors that are able to actually make a living slowly from writing and that's quite scary really when you think about it certainly when I started out. I had no idea whether the books would be successful or not you just don't there's so much luck involved it's not it's not just talent it's not just hard work there's there's a big dollop of luck mixed into it and the thing that has struck me about Linda Noura as our friendship has continued is really just massive respect for how hard they work they really are they're lovely but they work so hard and I just think that is that is actually how you get to be successful not being deterred if things don't work out perfectly straight away you just keep going keep going so the heroes of this tale can't ever rest on their laurels and if they want to be as successful as Kathy is they need to take their books to a wider audience Bajor needs to go. And Caroline who travel and I'm an international rights agent and I sell the rights for the for the budget books abroad people are always looking for a new angle with books and when you're selling translation rights that's what you're trying to find is a new angle and a new way to present titles and the thing about the Badger books is that they are quite easy to read the have this wonderful magical dog and then children in all sorts of different situations so there's quite a few different hooks which made me think that they would there would be rights potential all over the world there's a publishers in Sweden and Denmark who are particularly looking for these kind of. Works and you know of course publishers tastes change all the time so a couple of years ago that might not be looking for this but now they are so I think those countries are a very strong possibility China. Has always been a strong possibility and remains a strong possibility because they love big series and budgets becoming quite a big series if a book is it is a good book it's a good book anyway and that's what you know what I sort of stand by and my mom my 1st big successes and translation rights was in the Horrible Histories series so at Frankfurt I would a percentage of the budget books to probably about 50 publishers and quite a high percentage of those would have asked to see copies or to receive materials by email after the fact so there's a lot of interest in different territories and I do definitely see that by just time overseas is coming I think the work that Linda Laura have put in making him into a bigger brand here in the u.k. And particularly in Scotland is really paying off and publishers are beginning to recognize that and see Bajor as something that they could seriously consider for their list. It's no surprise that Badger is poised for international success he's already got some stamps on his doggie passport and when he accompanied Len and Laura on a trip to the United States they discovered that even in the midst of a disaster children couldn't help but fall in love with Badger we went to a self publishing conference in New York and I can Sandy struck so we couldn't get home. If someone said to me you're going to be stuck in New York for a week I would have not believed that I would have been quite distressed by but we had we didn't have any money so we were living on a raised pizza slice is it $3.00. But 8 we thought what can we do we have by Joe here with us we can find out where the evacuation shelters are and we can perhaps take a long and do a reading so I remember it was hollow in 2012 we went in to know this was an old school that had been made into a shelter and there was much of season in the corridor just it was really very humbling and we went in and we met these 3 families who had been moved shelter to shelter and they had stayed together didn't know each other before the hurricane and I mean they had just lost their homes on the children were saying it was the best day they'd ever had. And it was it was incredible. So this is where we leave Lynn McNichol Laura Jackson and of course our furry friend better having given up all the security of their old life to pursue their passion they're still working their socks and paws off introducing badger to thousands of children every year and it seems it's only a matter of time until he gains an international following to just like the children they inspire Lennon Laura have been convinced by Badger to believe in themselves and to keep chasing that dream so there are ending might not be certain one thing is if you want something badly enough and you're prepared to work hard for it. You can make magical things happen. You know it's not been easy it really hasn't been easy and we don't pay ourselves. Very well we do pay ourselves into all order to actually survive but we we know that it's growing and it's growing and we've never doubted that so we just the there isn't any way we go back from this my raise on their tree has changed it's it's about building the success with the books on a by not getting writer's block you know touch wood that hasn't happened yet but as long as the ideas come in and we have it by just world it's getting easier it should be getting easier for us to write those stories I'm a very clear idea of where we're going with you know we know how many series we're doing we know how many books and by the time we have completed we know where else we can go with Barger we have seen as being what a white since the 1st book and that's what we want to see by just light shining out around the globe. To stick. To. The mystical Mt was adapted to production for b.b.c. Radio Scotland on digital radio 92 to 95 f.m. Our economy deal with b.b.c. Radio Scott. B.b.c. News at 9 o'clock with Christine Finnegan the British catering giant Compass Group has confirmed that its chief executive was one of 5 members of a family killed when a seaplane crashed near Sydney yesterday Richard cousins who is 58 died with his 2 sons William and Edward. His fiancee Boden and her daughter Heather who is a live in the North Korean leader Kim Jong un has given a defiant new year to address taunting the u.s. And its allies over his country's nuclear weapons program he repeated his claim that he had the capability to hit the u.s. Mainland you want your call now I'm going to assume they don't and don't put a what do you want from the United States will never be able to start a war against him a 1000000 country the whole of America is within range of our nuclear weapons and a nuclear button or he's always on my desk and this is reality not a threat to the former Deputy 1st Minister Jim Wallace describe Scotland as a violent country during discussions for a ban on smacking in 2002 according to newly released cabinet documents they show he told colleagues in that then Labor Liberal Democrat executive that Scotland was fine and by international standards and if they wanted to break that cycle a start had to be made with the young.