Editing J. K. Rowling (section)

=== Early life and family ===
[[File:Platform 9 3-4 (King's Cross station, London, 2014).jpg|upright|thumb|left|Rowling's parents met on a train from [[London King's Cross railway station|King's Cross]]; her portal to the magical world is "Platform&nbsp;{{frac|9|3|4}}" at King's Cross.{{sfn|Smith|2002|pp=1, 39, 224}}|alt=A sign reading "Platform {{frac|9|3|4}}" with half of a luggage trolley installed beneath, at the interior of King's Cross railway station.]]

Joanne Rowling was born on 31 July 1965 in [[Yate]], Gloucestershire,<ref name="AboutJKR" />{{efn|Sources differ on the precise name of Rowling's place of birth. {{As of|2024|July}}, Rowling's personal website said she was born at "Yate General Hospital near Bristol".<ref name=AboutJKR>{{Cite web|title=About|url=https://www.jkrowling.com/about/|access-date=19 July 2024|publisher= JK Rowling}}</ref> She has sometimes said she was born in [[Chipping Sodbury]], which is near Yate.{{Sfn|Kirk|2003|pp=11–12}} [[Tison Pugh]] says she was born in Chipping Sodbury General Hospital.{{sfn|Pugh|2020|p=2}} ''The Scotsman'' lists Cottage Hospital in Chipping Sodbury.<ref name=JKRStory>{{cite news |url= https://www.scotsman.com/arts-and-culture/books/jk-rowling-story-2478095 |url-status=live |title=The JK Rowling story |work= [[The Scotsman]] |date=16 June 2003 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200623012944/https://www.scotsman.com/arts-and-culture/books/jk-rowling-story-2478095 |archive-date=23 June 2020 |access-date= 7 January 2022}}</ref> Biographer Smith describes Chipping Sodbury as "Yate's elegant neighbor", and reproduces a birth certificate that says District Sodbury, but lists the hospital as Cottage Hospital, 240 Station Road, Yate.{{sfn|Smith|2002|pp=4–6}} According to Smith: "...&nbsp;the [BBC Television] documentary still erroneously claimed that Joanne was born in Chipping Sodbury. Yet despite the mistake, the good folk of Yate are pressing for some kind of plaque or feature in their town to record it as her place of birth."{{sfn|Smith|2002|p=271}} }} to a middle-class family.{{sfn|Pugh|2020|p=2}} Her parents Anne ([[née]] Volant) and Peter ("Pete") James Rowling had met the previous year on a train, sharing a trip from [[London King's Cross railway station|King's Cross station]], London, to their naval postings at [[Arbroath]], Scotland. Rowling's mother was with the [[Women's Royal Naval Service|Wrens]] and her father with the [[Royal Navy]].{{sfn|Kirk|2003|p=10}} Pete Rowling was the son of a [[machine tool|machine-tool]] setter<!-- called Ernie --> who later opened a grocery shop.{{sfn|Smith|2002|p=2}} They left the navy life and sought a country home to raise the baby they were expecting,{{sfn|Smith|2002|p=2}} and married on 14 March 1965{{sfn|Pugh|2020|p=2}} when both were 19.<ref name="OldBio" /> The Rowlings settled in Yate,{{sfn|Smith|2002|p=4}} where Pete started work as an assembly-line production worker at the [[Bristol Siddeley]] factory.{{sfn|Smith|2002|p=2}} The company became part of [[Rolls-Royce Limited|Rolls-Royce]],{{sfn|Smith|2002|p=8}} and he worked his way into management as a [[Chartered Engineer (UK)|chartered engineer]].{{sfn|Smith|2002|pp=8, 23, 72}} Anne Rowling later worked as a science technician.{{sfn|Smith|2002|pp=53–54}} Neither of Rowling's parents attended university.{{sfn|Smith|2002|p=79}}

Rowling is two years older than her sister, Dianne,{{sfn|Pugh|2020|p=2}} whose birth was Rowling's earliest memory.<ref>{{Cite web |title=JK Rowling|url=https://www.bloomsbury.com/ca/discover/harry-potter/jk-rowling/# |access-date=13 August 2024 |publisher=[[Bloomsbury Publishing]] }}</ref> When she was four, Rowling's family moved to [[Winterbourne, Gloucestershire]].<ref name=OldBio/>{{sfn|Smith|2002|pp=7–8}} She began at St Michael's Church of England Primary School in Winterbourne when she was five.{{sfn|Pugh|2020|p=2}}{{efn|St Michael's Primary School headmaster, Alfred Dunn, has been suggested as the inspiration for the ''Harry Potter'' headmaster [[Albus Dumbledore]];{{sfn|Kirk|2003|p=28}} biographer Smith writes that Rowling's father, and other figures in her education, provide more likely examples.{{sfn|Smith|2002|pp=19, 27–32, 51–52}} }} The Rowlings lived near a family called Potter – a name Rowling always liked.{{sfn|Smith|2002|pp=22, 29, 109}}{{efn|Rowling denies that her young playmate Ian Potter represents Harry.{{sfn|Smith|2002|pp=22, 29, 109}} }} Rowling's mother liked to read and the family's homes were filled with books.{{sfn|Smith|2002|pp=9–10; 39}} Her father read ''[[The Wind in the Willows]]'' to his daughters,{{sfn|Smith|2002|p=10}} while her mother introduced them to the animals in [[Richard Scarry]]'s books.{{sfn|Pugh|2020|p=6}} Rowling's first attempt at writing, a story called "Rabbit" composed when she was six, was inspired by Scarry's creatures.{{sfn|Pugh|2020|p=6}}

When Rowling was about nine, the family purchased the historic [[Church Cottage, Tutshill|Church Cottage]] in [[Tutshill]].{{sfn|Smith|2002|pp=22, 25–27, 39}}{{efn|Smith describes Tutshill as "staunchly middle class",{{sfn|Smith|2002|p=25}} and Parker describes Church Cottage as a "handsome [[Gothic Revival]] cottage".<ref name=Parker2012/> In 2020, it was reported that a company listing Rowling's husband, Neil Murray, as director had purchased Church Cottage and renovations were underway.<ref>{{cite news |title=Harry Potter: JK Rowling secretly buys childhood home |date=14 April 2020|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-gloucestershire-52286400|publisher=[[BBC News]] |access-date=12 January 2022}}</ref>}} In 1974, Rowling began attending the nearby Church of England School.{{sfn|Smith|2002|p=27}} Biographer Sean Smith describes her teacher as a "battleaxe"{{sfn|Smith|2002|p=28}} who "struck fear into the hearts of the children";{{sfn|Smith|2002|pp=27–30}} Rowling's teacher seated her in "dunces' row" after she performed poorly on an arithmetic test.{{sfn|Smith|2002|pp=28–30}}{{efn|Pugh writes that "Rowling reportedly modeled the strict pedagogical style of [[Severus Snape]] after [Sylvia] Morgan's methods."{{sfn|Pugh|2020|p=2}} Kirk states that "Jo has admitted modeling Professor Snape on a few of her most memorable and least favorite people from her past, and she has said that Mrs. Morgan&nbsp;... was definitely one of them."{{sfn|Kirk|2003|p=31}} According to Smith, "Aspects of Mrs Morgan's fearsome character are embodied in the Hogwarts' Potions master, Professor Severus Snape."{{sfn|Smith|2002|p=21}} }} In 1975, Rowling joined a [[Brownies (Scouting)|Brownies]] pack. Its special events and parties, and the pack groups (Fairies, Pixies, Sprites, Elves, Gnomes and Imps) provided a magical world away from her stern teacher.{{sfn|Smith|2002|pp=36–38}} When she was eleven{{sfn|Pugh|2020|p=3}} or twelve, she wrote a short story, "The Seven Cursed Diamonds".{{sfn|Kirk|2003|p=37}} She later described herself during this period as "the epitome of a bookish child – short and squat, thick National Health glasses, living in a world of complete daydreams".{{sfn|Smith|2002|pp=40–41}}