Polly Toynbee: what my privileged start in life taught me about the British class system

It wasn’t just luck that steered the Guardian columnist to Oxford and into a media career ... She reflects on the subtle mechanics of class (and an early encounter with a naked future PM)Children know. They breathe it in early, for there’s no unknowing the difference between nannies, cleaners, below-stairs people and the family upstairs. Children are the go-betweens, one foot in each world, and yet they know very well from the earliest age where they belong, where their destiny lies or, to put it crudely, who pays whom. Tiny hands are steeped young in the essence of class and caste. In nursery school, in reception they see the Harry Potter sorting hat at work. They know. And all through school those fine gradations grow clearer, more precise, more consciously knowing, more shaming, more frightening. Good liberal parents teach their children to check their privilege – useful modern phrase – but it swells up like a bubo on the nose. There’s no hiding it.I can summon up the childhood shame at class embarrassments. Aged seven like me, Maureen, with her hair pinned sideways in a pink slide, lived in a pebble-dashed council house by the water tower. They were at the other end of Lindsey, more hamlet than village, half a mile down the road from my father’s pink thatched cottage set in the flat prairie lands of Suffolk, where I spent half my time, the other half in London, shuttling between divorced parents. I envied Maureen for what looked to me like a cheerful large family... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'

[ The Guardian | 2023-05-20 12:00:56 UTC ]

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Children's literature is a fast-growing genre thanks to 'Potter' & Co.

The success of 'Harry Potter, 'Twilight' and other has created a halo effect for the entire genre. And kids aren't the only ones doing it.For years, the book industry has been mired in debates about the plight of independent booksellers, the rise of Amazon and the fate of print as it struggles... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2012-08-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Sony Reader gets a new design, Evernote integration and a free Harry Potter book for $129

In the market for a new e-reader? One could certainly do worse than Sony's Reader line. The company's been packing features onto its devices, and the already leaked latest entry is no different, with upgrades over its predecessor, packed into a newly redesigned body with bigger, better looking... Continue reading at Engadget

[ Engadget | 2012-08-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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'Fifty Shades of Grey' is bestselling book ever in Britain

'Fifty Shades of Grey' has passed the 'Harry Potter' books and 'The Da Vinci Code' to become the country's bestselling book. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor

[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2012-08-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Hunger Games finale split in two

The final book in The Hunger Games trilogy is coming to the big-screen in two parts starting in 2014. Lionsgate Films announced today that The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 1 will be released November 21, 2014, and The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 2 will follow on November 20, 2015. The... Continue reading at Stuff

[ Stuff | 2012-07-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Harry Potter 'Book of Spells' will come to life via Sony

J.K. Rowling's 'Book of Spells' will allow players to wave wands and cast spells using Wonderbook technology. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor

[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2012-06-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Harry Potter comes to Kindle

All the books in the Harry Potter series will arrive in the Kindle lending library – free for Amazon Prime members – on June 19. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor

[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2012-05-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Alohomora! Free Harry Potter books coming to Kindle

Harry Potter has joined the Kindle lending library.Amazon.com announced Thursday that on June 19, the ebook editions of J.K. Rowling's seven Potter novels will become part of the Kindle service available to Amazon Prime subscribers. Members can download a book for free once a month. Amazon's... Continue reading at Crains New York

[ Crains New York | 2012-05-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Media Decoder Blog: Amazon Program Offers "Harry Potter" Series to Kindle Owners

Members of the Amazon Prime subscription program will be able to read "Harry Potter'' ebooks for free through the Kindle Owners' Lending Library, a move intended to encourage consumers to buy Kindle devices. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2012-05-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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From Harry Potter to the dark side

JK Rowling's first book for adults will be a "blackly comic" novel set in an idyllic English town where all is not what it seems, her publisher says. Continue reading at Stuff

[ Stuff | 2012-04-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Wizarding World of Harry Potter: dispatches from a diehard fan

The Harry Potter theme park in Orlando, Fla., more than lived up to its hype for this fan. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor

[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2012-04-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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'Harry Potter' ebooks go on sale on Pottermore

The "Harry Potter" series, which has conquered mediums from books to movies, is finally available in ebook format. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2012-03-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Studios gorge on young-adult fiction amid success of 'Hunger Games'

The literary genre is white-hot in Hollywood, with filmmakers bidding on unpublished books and paying as much as $1 million for the rights to relatively modest sellers.The back-to-back blockbuster successes of "Harry Potter," "Twilight" and now "The Hunger Games" have turned the hunt for fresh... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2012-03-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Harry Potter ebooks coming to schools, libraries around the world

Pottermore has partnered with ebook company Overdrive to bring electronic versions of the 'Harry Potter' series to libraries and schools in five languages. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor

[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2012-02-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Sony offers first Harry Potter book free with new reader

Written By: Graeme Neill Publication Date: Thu, 01/09/2011 - 08:51 Readers will be able to download the ebook of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone for free with the limited edition model of the new Sony Reader. Further details have emerged about the Reader, which is set to go on sale in... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-09-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Titan buys Harry Potter movie guide

Written By: Katie Allen Publication Date: Thu, 18/08/2011 - 15:17 Titan has acquired an accompaniment to the Harry Potter film franchise, which drew to a close this summer with “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II”. Harry Potter: Page to Screen: The Complete Film-making Journey will... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-08-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Harry Potter's Pottermore E-Book Site is Now Open--for Scammers

Scam artists are selling fake early access to the Pottermore Web site or asking for personal data to register an "account." Either way, you're going to be sorry if you interact with them. Continue reading at PC World

[ PC World | 2011-08-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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