well done and congratulations to mr. dale :):):):):):)

Professor – I was being discrete in not mentioning that the interview with Jim was part of a podcast on Mugglenet !

I am sure you will be able to find it on their site.

It was a bit of a surprise to learn just how little contact, help, assistance, feedback he gets from Jo about his versions. I felt a bit sorry for him actually. he hardly knows her at all. He operates under severe time constraints, unlike Stephen Fry, bit still does a good job, albeit, as I said before, by some distance very inferior to Fry. The perfomace by Fry of “Hallows” and in particular, his “Voldemort” is a tour de force.

Oh, i get your drift M Jones. I’ll go there and check it out though Mugglenet is not really my cup of tea but I’m sure Leaky wont mind us mentioning them :)

Since Jim Dale is base in US, would it not be surprising that Dale did not have much collaboration with Jo? And regards to the time constraint, no wonder his narrative delivery is high speed!!

Stephen Fry’s reading is far superiour. His reading and his voice make the books come to life, his interpretation is the real story for me, no film can ever do this. Stephen gives the characters inredible voices, something Jim Dale is utterly incapable of. Fry’s Severus Snape IS Severus Snape, with his low, sarcastic, vulnerable voice, Fry’s Slughorn IS Slughorn as he lives and breathes .. and even the female voices are very very good, in particular Hermione’s and Professor McGonagalls. (Jim Dale can’t do female voices at all. ) A particular highlight on the funny side in Fry’s performance is the dialogue between Slughorn and Hagrid in “After the Burial”, on the sad side there is Aberforth’s moving account of his sister’s fate, Dumbledore’s pain in the cave scene and the dialogue between Dumbledore and Snape in “The Prince’s Tale. I wish Fry all the awards on earth for his incredibly moving and passionate reading.

As someone who is married to an American, and who takes a vacation there at least once each year, and who really does admire so many things about that great country, and who has also listened to all of Jim Dale’s readings and those of Stephen Fry, I feel that I am reasonably (no more than that) able to offer a objective view.

As I said above, Jim operates under so many disadvantages that it is not really fair to expect the range and variety of voices used by Stephen (even if Jim could) not to mention the narrative pacing so brilliantly varied by Fry.

What does astonish me is yet again we have yet another example of the prime Amercian market really getting the second best version and/or treated so condescendingly by Scholastic. From that first cringe-making decision that the word “Philosopher” would be too confusing for American readers (can you believe that ?) a decision that Jo so bitterly regrets, to the lack of Stephen Fryreadings, the Amercian market is treated so badly it makes me furious. By the way, its not just things Potter that the American market suffers. Remember the embarrasing sub title ” rat-o-too-ee” lasyt year ? How about when the use a caption in a film saying “London, ENGLAND ” (Oh really Is that where London is ?) I assure you, my American spouse will explode in rage one day if this continual assumption that Americans are stupid is continued in the wold’s media. PT Barnum said that you can never lose money underestimating the intelligence of the public. Well, this cynical point of iew should cease.

If I was an American, I would , to quote Peter Finch from Network, say ”..Thats it ! I am as mad as hell ! I have had enough and I won’t take it anymore !”

To be fair to Scholastic, I believe their books are some of the most beautiful of the Potter books and very superior to the UK editions.

It HAS to be Stephen Fry, he gives Potter this deeper emotional atmosphere and gets the tone and emphasises words at exactly the right time. Listening to Dale’s HBP example on Random house… good God that was awful! The amazing Stephen Fry (and if you knew anything of Stephen Fry you’d know how of an amazing and accomplished man he is) has such a soothing voice. He’s perfect at narrating anything

Thank you for this, Kiwi Mc I – I totally and utterly agree ! ! Stephen Fry’s voice is not to be missed !! His writing and his comments on life and society in general are highly intelligent and thoughful, he never hurts anyone although he is critical, he does it in such a witty, cheeky but polite way !! It’s a shame this man isn’t involved in politics.

Not a shame at all! If he was involved in politics he would be another drab, corrupt politician instead of the brilliant artist, comedian, and intellectual he is!