UK Witches Upset by Harry Potter Broomstick Style

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Monday July 9 12:52 PM ET

UK Witches Upset by Harry Potter Broomstick Style

LONDON (Reuters) - Hollywood studio Warner Bros. has had a spell cast on it for showing apprentice wizard Harry Potter (news - web sites) riding his broomstick with the brush part at the back.

A high priest of British White Witches said broomsticks should be ridden the other way around, and has wished for the film to do poorly at the box office until the studio admits it got it wrong.

``Warner Bros. claims the film is an accurate portrayal of things that happen in witchcraft, yet woodcuts from the 16th and 17th centuries show broomsticks being ridden with the brush part in the front,'' said Kevin Carlyon, who has his own coven in Sussex, southern England.

``It's a common mistake -- even the sixties TV series 'Bewitched' showed broomsticks being ridden backwards, but this is not correct,'' he said.

``Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone,'' adapted from the best-selling book by JK Rowling, goes on release in November, but the trailer shows Harry being taught to ride a broomstick.

The movie will be titled ``Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone'' in the United States.

Carlyon knows first hand the proper way to ride a broomstick -- he said he had three, though all were grounded at the moment.

``The CAA (Britain's Civil Aviation Authority) won't give me permission to fly,'' he said.

-- Tidbit (of@the.day), July 09, 2001


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