Witch: Harry Potter's got it wrong

As if it isn't bad enough having to deal with fake quotes in movie ads, a Hollywood studio now has a different sort of a headache. Warner Bros. has had a spell cast on it by witches in Britain, reports People magazine.
At issue is the fact that the film Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, whose trailers are now appearing in theaters, shows apprentice wizard Harry Potter riding his broomstick with the brush part at the back. This just isn't form, says a high priest of British White Witches, who insists that broomsticks should be ridden the other way around. He now wishes for the film, which opens in November, to do badly at the box office -- unless the studio admits its mistake.
``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, whose own coven is in Sussex. ``It's a common mistake,'' he says. ``Even the '60s TV series Bewitched showed broomsticks being ridden backward, but this is not correct.''
Carlyon says he knows firsthand the proper way to ride a broomstick. He has three, though they are currently grounded.
``The CAA [Britain's Civil Aviation Authority] won't give me permission to fly,'' he says.

"Witch: Harry Potter's got it wrong"

("Miami Herald," July 10, 2001)

	"Witch: Harry Potter's got it wrong" ("Miami Herald," July 10, 2001)
As if it isn't bad enough having to deal with fake quotes in movie ads, a Hollywood studio now has a different sort of a headache. Warner Bros. has had a spell cast on it by witches in Britain, reports People magazine. At issue is the fact that the film Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, whose trailers are now appearing in theaters, shows apprentice wizard Harry Potter riding his broomstick with the brush part at the back. This just isn't form, says a high priest of British White Witches, who insists that broomsticks should be ridden the other way around. He now wishes for the film, which opens in November, to do badly at the box office -- unless the studio admits its mistake. ``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, whose own coven is in Sussex. ``It's a common mistake,'' he says. ``Even the '60s TV series Bewitched showed broomsticks being ridden backward, but this is not correct.'' Carlyon says he knows firsthand the proper way to ride a broomstick. He has three, though they are currently grounded. ``The CAA [Britain's Civil Aviation Authority] won't give me permission to fly,'' he says.