Sunday Mercury feature: Mystery of the REAL Harry Potter

Nov 21 2010 by Jonny Greatrex, Sunday Mercury

A SEARCH has been launched for the family of Harry Potter – the fallen British Tommy whose grave has become an international tourist attraction.

Private Potter, who came from Kidderminster in Worcestershire, was killed in action in Israel while fighting an Arab uprising in 1939.

The 18-year-old hero had lied about his age at a Birmingham recruitment office just a year earlier, so he could join up and serve his country with the Worcestershire Regiment.

His grave proclaims that he was 19 years and ten months old, maintaining the myth.

Now, more than 70 years after his death, the young soldier’s headstone has become a site of 21st century pilgrimage for fans of the record breaking Harry Potter movies.

The latest film in the hit series – Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – arrived in Midland cinemas on Friday, and is reviewed in today’s 7 Days magazine.

Ron Peled, a tour guide in the Israeli town of Ramla where the Midland soldier with the wizard’s name is buried, has taken dozens of groups of sightseers to the cemetery.