Quidditch: the game that enchanted the world

Quidditch is the sport invented by author J.K.Rowling for the Harry Potter books. But now it's a real international sports competition...


Quidditch at Hogwarts
In the Harry Potter books, pupils at Hogwarts School don't play traditional English sports like hockey or cricket. They play Quidditch! It is a rough contact sport played between two teams of seven players who fly around on broomsticks. Harry Potter plays an important position for his team: he is their Seeker and his job is to catch the Golden Snitch.

Quidditch World Cup
By 2007, Quidditch was so popular that a World Cup tournament was organised by the IQA, the International Quidditch Association. Every year, 80 of the world's 300 Quidditch teams compete in a two-day championship. You must be 13 to participate but most of the athletes are older. Just like in the books, girls and boys play together on the same team: Quidditch teams are always mixed.



Quidditch for Muggles
Harry Potter fans loved the game so much that in 2005 Quidditch became a real sport! It was created at Middlebury College in Vermont, USA. Players don't fly around the pitch - The game was adapted for play on the ground. But they do ride broomsticks which they hold between their legs as they run!

The snitch problem
In Muggle Quidditch, the Golden Snitch is not an enchanted ball that flies around the pitch! This role is played by a person who places a tennis ball inside a long sock! The "Snitch runner " attaches the sock onto the back of his or her shorts and has to run fast so that the Seeker cannot take the Snitch. It looks hilarious!

Quidditch fans
In 2014, the Quidditch World Cup was in Florida, USA. It's a fun event for all the family. Fans don't just come to watch the games, they come for the Harry Potter atmosphere. They can try the famous butterbeer and listen to music by the group Harry and the Potters. Some dress up as wizards and witches with cloaks, scarves and hats!

Did you know?
In 2001, J.K.Rowling worte a book about the rules and history of Quidditch. In the book, she says that Quidditch is a fictional sport for wizards only and that nobody really plays it. She never imagined that one day it would become a World Cup competition!

A delicious dress

You might love chocolate, but would you like to wear chocolate clothes? This model is wearing a dress painted with 50 kg of chocolate. It took two weeks to make for a chocolate show in London last year. But wearing it is not easy: you have to keep cool or the dress melts!

Jeans... 140 years old and still so cool!

Every day, you get up in the morning and put on your jeans. On 20 May, it's the official birthday of the world's favourite trousers. But how much do you know about them?

Mini pocket
This used to be called a watch pocket - people put their watches here to keep them safe. It has got smaller with time, and is now called the coin pocket.

The rivets
In 1872, a tailor called Jacob Davis used copper rivets to reinforce the pockets of Levi's jeans. He and Levi Strauss became business partners. They patented their method for making jeans on 20 May 1873. The next year, "501 jeans" went on sale.

The belt loops
Levi's first belt loops on their 501 jeans in 1922. Before then, people wore braces: jeans had suspender buttons to attach the braces. Until 1960, jeans were called "waist overalls".

The denim
Levi Strauss imported cloth from France called serge de Nîmes to make his jeans. In the USA, it was easier to call it "denim" (de Nîmes). Today "denims" is another word for "jeans". Denim fades with time but it looks really cool!

Zip or buttons
The first pair of jeans had a button-fly. In 1954, Levi's made its first pair of jeans with a zip.

Skinny jeans
Punks wore skinny jeans in the 1970s. And British top model Kate Moss made them popular again in 2002. Today, people all around the world wear skinny jeans!

The stitching
On jeans is often in orange thread. This tipe of thread is very strong. The colour matches the copper rivets.

An internet forum

Hello.

My name's Elisenda and I live in south London. I like the area where I live, so I want to improve it.

In my opinion there isn't anywhere for young people to go and there aren't any facilities for them. They spend all their time hanging around on the street. As a result, there is some vandalism and graffiti.

I think the council should do something about this. I'm sure they have a place that young people can use as a youth café.

Thank you.

Elisenda Veciana.

My trip to Madrid

On Tuesday the 8^th of April we went by bus to the Girona's train station. There, we took the AVE to Madrid, the capital city of Spain. While waiting, we did a luggage race.

The first place we visited was the “Congreso de los Diputados”. We had lunch at “El museo del jamón” in the city center. After that, we visited the Prado Museum and relaxed walking around the Retiro park. Finally we saw the “Puerta de Alcalá”. At the end of the day, we returned to the hostel and unpacked the luggage.

On the second day we had breakfast and then we visited a lot of places: la plaza del Sol, la plaza Mayor, el Palacio Real, la Almudena cathedral, the Xi'an army... and also la plaza Neptuno, Cibeles and the Madrid Council. We wanted to eat something local, so we went to have dinner at la Plaza Mayor and had a “bocata calamares”.

On the last day we saw the Gran Vía's shops and flats. We visited la plaza España and el Templo de Debod too. We ended the trip seeing the Madrid's senado. We returned to Girona by AVE. There we took a bus, again, to Banyoles.

We had a lot of fun during this trip and interviewing the local people. We also had some free time to enjoy ourselves and buy souvenirs. We learnt a lot of new things in three days.