King's Cross: The Platform That Wasn't There

King's Cross Station in London, designed by Lewis Cubitt and opened on October 14, 1852, is a Victorian railway terminal famously linked to the Harry Potter series and built on a former smallpox hospital site. Author J.K. Rowling chose the station because her parents met on a train departing from it. During movie production, a fake wall cover was installed to protect Cubitt's brickwork from luggage trolleys.

London · from the walk “Muggle London, Wizarding Secrets” · audio ~3 min · Generated

King's Cross Station, Euston Road, London N1 9AL

Why did J.K. Rowling choose King's Cross Station in London for the Harry Potter series?

Welcome to King'S Cross... a station with more secrets than meets the eye.......... You're standing at one of London's great Victorian railway terminals, designed by Lewis Cubitt and opened on the fourteenth of October, eighteen fifty-two. But here's a detail most people walk right past... this entire station was built on the site of a former smallpox hospital. And before That, the area had long been known as Battle Bridge... because the location was traditionally associated with the final conflict in which Boudicca was vanquished.......... There's an old legend that says the warrior queen Boudicca herself... is buried right beneath platform nine or ten. This outlandish suggestion was probably invented in the twentieth century, but stems from much older folklore. In nineteen thirty-seven, author Lewis Spence published a book arguing that the pivotal battle may have taken place right where King'S Cross now stands. Nobody has ever found a shred of proof. But it's a Wonderful coincidence, isn't it? A warrior queen supposedly sleeping beneath platform nine... and a boy wizard catching his train from platform nine and three quarters.......... Now, about That platform. Here's what most fans don't realize. In a two thousand and one interview with the B-B-C, J. K. Rowling admitted she was actually thinking of Euston station when she wrote those scenes. She was living in Manchester at the time and couldn't check! The real platforms nine and ten at King'S Cross aren't separated by a brick wall at all... they're on opposite sides of railway tracks. So the film crew simply renumbered platforms four and five.......... And here's a detail even hardcore fans miss. A fake replica cover was used to cover the original wall to increase its width and prevent damage to the Victorian structure from the impact of the luggage trolley. They literally built a protective shell over Cubitt's hundred-and-fifty-year-old brickwork so that actors smashing trolleys into it wouldn't wreck the heritage!......... But Rowling had a deeply personal reason for choosing this station. Her parents actually met on a train from King'S Cross to Arbroath. So this place wasn't just a random backdrop. It was, for her, where love stories Begin.......... And the station bookended the Entire film series... providing the setting for the very first shot captured for Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, and then, ten years later, for the last shot of the series in the Deathly Hallows Part Two.......... Oh, and one more thing. Those beautiful exterior shots of the station in the films? That's Not King'S Cross you're seeing. That's actually Saint Pancras station next door... with its grand Gothic spires. Cubitt's honest, no-nonsense façade just wasn't dramatic enough for Hollywood.

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