From the Times (UK): The

From the Times (UK): The phone rings. It is Denis MacShane, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office Minister and not, as I had hoped, Mike McShane, the Canadian comedian. It is a good story nonetheless. On Armistice Day last year MacShane was chosen to accompany Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother. “I remember she talked a lot about Harry Potter,” MacShane tells me. “She was very excited. She said, ‘It’s wonderful how children are reading books again rather than just watching television’.”

A 17-year-old Romanian schoolgirl, who reads Charles Dickens and wants to study graphic design, is believed to be the youngest translator of Harry Potter books in the world. (Thanks to IHP for the link.)