1. Rowling’s parent’s met at King’s Cross Station, the site of Platform 9 ¾. Because of that, the station was a special place to Rowling.
2. Despite being multi-millionaires, Rowling and her husband, a doctor, have no plans to stop working. They feel that continuing to hold regular jobs sets a good example for their children.
3. She turned down an offer for the creation of a Harry Potter musical, produced by Michael Jackson. Lucky for us, we still have the fan-made “A Very Potter Musical,” starring Darren Criss.
4. She has the same birthday as Harry Potter, July 31st.
5. Rowling invented Quidditch after getting into a fight with her boyfriend at the time in a Manchester hotel. Some of the elements of the game were created simply because she believed they would be frustrating to men, such as Snitch being worth 150 points, potentially cancelling out points earned with the Quaffle. She filled five pages with made up “Q” words before setting on Quidditch.
6. She wrote her first story, called “Rabbit,” at six years old.
7. Rowling almost appeared in an episode of Doctor Who set in Harry Potter’s world. The episode was never made, as David Tennant (who coincidentally both appeared in Harry Potter and starred in Doctor Who) thought the episode would be too much of a spoof.
8. She once went on a MuggleNet chatroom anonymously, and was told that she didn’t know enough about Harry Potter to be there.
9. J.K. Rowling’s full name is Joanne, and she goes by Jo. She chose to use J.K. as her pen name, because her publisher thought that young boys might be wary of a book written by a woman. The “K” comes from Kathleen, her grandmother’s name.
10. Her favorite food is sushi.
11. She graduated from college in 1986 with a degree in French and the Classics. She wanted to study English Literature, but her parents didn’t think it would lead to a job. She then went on to work as a researcher for Amnesty International.