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Day Two - July 12, 2008

Toni Gras, HPFZ Reporter

The Voice Behind the Books

Attendees of Portus 2008 had the honor and pleasure of hearing “the voice behind the books” (i.e, Harry Potter books, of course!), Jim Dale, MBE (which stands for Member of the Order of the British Empire, an honor he received directly from Queen Elizabeth II in 2003). Mr. Dale hails has a distinct and unique voice that can change into many different voices as his will. He has, in fact, received the Guinness Book of World Records award for creating the most voices in one project for Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows book.

His natural enthusiasm poured forth in the press conference that HPFZ reporter, David Gras, attended that morning. In that conference, Mr. Dale stated that he loved the environment of the symposium and thought that the costumes were fantastic. David learned that the Harry Potter books were the first audio book series Mr. Dale had worked on. He also learned that J.K. Rowling not only approved of Jim doing the readings, but spoke with him on a number of occasions. When David asked him if, after finishing his first book reading of Sorcerer’s Stone, he had any thought of the impact the books would eventually have on the world, Jim stated that he knew the books were going to be the new literary “messiah” on a worldwide scale.

At the plenary session directly following the press conference, Mr. Dale entered the room to a standing ovation. Mr. Dale then proceeded to read various passages from the books, which enthralled the audience and received commanding rounds of applause after each selection. Everyone especially enjoyed his reading from “Goblet of Fire” when Draco is turned into a ferret.

In between readings, Jim told that one book is 27 hours of reading. He also indicated the intenseness of the actual reading of the books and how something as small as a sniff or turn of the head could cause a re-read of the entire section. He told of some inspirations of some of his voices – for example, Dobby’s elf voice came from a dwarf he had actually heard in a crowded elevator; McGonagall’s voice is from his aunt. Dumbledore is initially an inspiration from actor John Houseman. Snape’s voice comes directly from his good friend, Alan Rickman (yes, the actor who actually plays Snape!) Harry is his own voice – just younger, Ron is from an uncle, and Hermoine is an old girlfriend!

A question/answer session followed where around a dozen conference attendees asked questions of Mr. Dale. At the end, Mr. Dale left to another standing ovation. Both HPFZ reporters, David and Toni Gras, felt honored to be a part of this audience.

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