24 Harry Potter secrets even the most diehard Potterheads won't know

24 Harry Potter secrets

20,000 props were handmade for the shop windows of Diagon Alley in the films.

The graphic design team painstakingly handwrote hundreds of letters to be used in the film, only to discover that the paper they had used was to heavy for the owls to carry. They had to start again with lighter paper!

Rupert Grint, Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson didn't have to act their amazement during the Sorting scene in the first film. It was genuinely their first time seeing the Great Hall set.

Over the course of filming the 8 movies, Daniel Radcliffe went through no less than 160 pairs of glasses and 80 wands as he kept breaking them!

J.K. Rowling initially planned to kill off Ron in the middle of the series.

Moaning Myrtle is supposed to be a teenager but she was played by Shirley Henderson, who was aged 41 at the time!

Each Wizard's Chess piece weighed over 220kg!

J.K. Rowling first thought of Harry Potter whilst on a train. Also, her parents first met on a train between Kings Cross and Scotland - just like the Hogwarts Express.

The soul-sucking Dementors are a metaphor for depression, which J.K. Rowling had previously suffered from.

As a reward, Daniel Radcliffe's parents let him go to bed half an hour later than usual the night he found out he'd got the role.

Two versions of Hagrid's hut were built for the films. One was enormous to make the actors look small in comparison and one was normal-sized to make Hagrid look giant.

The popularity of the Harry Potter series sadly led to a spate of owls being adopted and then abandoned in the UK.

Hagrid's enormous beard was made up of six hairpieces. Lots of things ended up getting stuck in it over the course of filming!

Initially, Hermione was supposed to fall in love with Harry...

The owls who perform in the films had to be trained for 6 months to deliver letters.

J.K. Rowling had written the ending to the seventh book before she'd even finished writing the first!

Only one staircase was actually built for use in the films. The rest were added digitally.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows earned 90 million dollars more than the most successful Twilight film.

Ron's Patronus is a terrier, whilst Hermione's is an otter.

There were over 1000 bottles in the Potions classroom.

The 'potions' the actors drank were actually soup. Their favorite was carrot and coriander.

Daniel Radcliffe is a big smoker and would smoke at least 20 a day whilst filming.

Over 60 model goblins were made for the series.

Harry's birthdate in the books is 31st July 1980. So today he'd be 39!