Editing King's Cross, London (section)

==In popular culture==
[[File:Harry Potter-platform.JPG|thumb|upright|The Platform {{frac|9|3|4}} sign at [[London Kings Cross railway station|King's Cross station]]]]
In the ''[[Harry Potter]]'' books, King's Cross station is where the protagonist boards the train for [[Hogwarts]]. However, author [[JK Rowling]] later admitted she had confused it with nearby [[Euston railway station|Euston station]].<ref>Mason, M. (2013). ''Walk the Lines: The London Underground, Overground''. London: Arrow Books. p.33 {{ISBN|978-0-099-55793-7}}</ref> The railway station has put up a sign for the fictional "[[Platform 9 3/4|Platform {{frac|9|3|4}}]]" described in the books, and embedded part of a luggage trolley halfway into the wall. Film adaptations have used platforms 4 and 5, with the nearby St Pancras station and hotel acting as exteriors.<ref>{{cite web |title=Harry Potter's London |url=http://www.visitlondon.com/things-to-do/sightseeing/london-attraction/harry-potters-london |publisher=Visit London |access-date=21 July 2017}}</ref>

King's Cross and its surrounding streets were the setting for the 1955 [[Ealing comedy]] ''[[The Ladykillers (1955 film)|The Ladykillers]]'',<ref>{{cite news |last=Shoard |first=Catherine |date=7 December 2011 |title=My Favourite Film: The Ladykillers |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2011/dec/07/my-favourite-film-the-ladykillers |department=My Favourite Film (story series) |work=[[The Guardian]] |location=London |access-date=21 July 2017}}</ref> two British drama films starring [[Max Bygraves]]—''[[A Cry from the Streets]]'' (1958) and ''[[Spare the Rod (1961 film)|Spare the Rod]]'' (1961)—and [[Mike Leigh]]'s ''[[High Hopes (1988 film)|High Hopes]]'' (1988).<ref name="auto"/> [[Anthony Minghella]]'s 2006 film ''[[Breaking and Entering (film)|Breaking and Entering]]'' is also set in King's Cross.<ref>{{cite web |title=King's Cross Stars in Minghella's Homage to London |url=http://filmlondon.org.uk/news/2006/november/kings_cross_stars_in_minghellas_homage_to_london |publisher=Film London |date=28 November 2006 |access-date=21 July 2017 |archive-date=17 December 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101217100333/http://filmlondon.org.uk/news/2006/november/kings_cross_stars_in_minghellas_homage_to_london |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Iin 1972 it was the setting for ''Kings Cross Lunch Hour'', one of four plays set in different parts of London, written by [[John Mortimer]] for the BBC drama series ''[[Thirty-Minute Theatre]]''.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Lawson |first1=Mark |title=John Mortimer's Britain through the years |url=https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2009/may/04/john-mortimer-britain-tv-drama |website=The Guardian |date=4 May 2009 |access-date=18 March 2024}}</ref>

"Vale Royal", an epic poem in 700 triads by Aidan Andrew Dun, probes into this zone of London; "Vale Royal" was launched at the Albert Hall in 1995. A triad of Dun's, excerpted from another poem, "The Brill", has been installed at the western end of Granary Square in a small grove of trees beside the new Central Saint Martins. It reads: "Kings Cross, dense with angels and histories, there are cities beneath your pavements, cities behind your skies. Let me see!"<ref>{{cite web |title=The triad in granary square |url=https://aidanandrewdun.com/the-triad-in-granary-square/ |publisher=Voice of Kings Cross |access-date=1 February 2020 |date=20 July 2019}}</ref>

The [[Irish rock]] group [[the Pogues]] was founded in King's Cross.<ref>{{cite news |last=Jelbert |first=Steve |date=28 April 2012 |title=Here Comes Everybody: The Story of The Pogues, By James Fearnley |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/here-comes-everybody-the-story-of-the-pogues-by-james-fearnley-7687289.html |location=London |work=[[The Independent]] |access-date=21 July 2017}}</ref>

The British [[Popular music|pop music]] duo [[Pet Shop Boys]] recorded a song featured on their 1987 album ''[[Actually (album)|Actually]]'' named "[[King's Cross (song)|King's Cross]]": the melancholy track discusses the hopelessness of the [[AIDS epidemic]] during that time and uses the King's Cross area as the "backdrop" of the story, trading on the area's associations with drug use and prostitution.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Rogers |first1=Jude |title=Pet Shop Boys – 10 of the best |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2017/mar/29/pet-shop-boys-10-of-the-best-neil-tennant-chris-lowe-pop |website=The Guardian |access-date=1 February 2020 |date=29 March 2017}}</ref> [[Tracey Thorn]] [[cover version|covered]] the song in 2007. Songwriter [[David Gedge]] also wrote a song called "King's Cross" while recording under the name [[Cinerama (band)|Cinerama]].<ref>{{cite web |title=King's Cross |url=https://gedgesongs.wordpress.com/2015/11/25/kings-cross/ |website=Songography for The Wedding Present and Cinerama |access-date=1 February 2020 |language=en |date=25 November 2015}}</ref>