REAL-LIFE HARRY POTTER

The similarities are there - right down to a scar on the forehead.

But the biggest thing they share are eleven letters spelling out two short names. Harry Potter.

And as the dark-haired young man (the one without the glasses) pictured here can testify: being a real-life Harry Potter is not quite as magical as it might seem.

Mr Potter has endured taunts from the public, police, phone companies and even a football referee - all because he shares a name with arguably the world's best known wizard.

Mr Potter, who was born in 1989, had eight peaceful years of being a schoolboy with a fairly ordinary name before JK Rowling released a book entitled Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone, and everything changed.

Then Daniel Radcliffe, who at 20 is the same age as Mr Potter, brought the boy wizard to life and suddenly introducing himself as 'Harry Potter' became something of a minefield.

Mr Potter even had to show his girlfriend his passport so she would believe him when they first met and a bus company refused to issue him with a pass because they didn't believe he was telling them the truth when he tried to sign up.

Mother Tracey Shaw, 47, never dreamed that when she picked a name for her first child, that it would one-day be a global phenomenon.

'People used to assume that he was named after Prince Harry, and that was his nickname when he was very young - we called him Prince Harry,' she said.

'There was no such thing as Harry Potter at the time so I didn't have a clue the name would become so famous.'

Last night Mr Potter, from Portsmouth, in Hampshire, said he wished author Rowling had never used his name for her books.

'My life has changed completely since the books were written,' he said. 'At first I thought it might be quite a good thing to have the same name.

'But now it is like someone has cast a bad spell on me, the reactions I get from people range from making fun to plain aggressive.

'Sometimes I wish JK Rowling had never used my name.

'People seem to forget that I was Harry Potter before the character. I was nine when the books first came out.'

It was Mrs Shaw who brought the first Harry Potter book home for her son to read. Neither she nor her son realised how it would take off.

'Whenever I was playing up at school, the teachers would make some joke about my name, which soon shut me up,' said Mr Potter.

'After 12 years of it I couldn't count the amount of times I've heard "You're a wizard Harry". It does wear a bit thin after a while.

'And I've heard all the puns about my wand.'

Apart from the joke, Mr Potter has a far more humdrum life than his fictional counterpart from Hogwarts School of Wizardry.

He works in the more mundane surroundings of Lloyds TSB.

Mr Potter said: 'When I got my job in the bank, they couldn't believe that I was telling the truth on my application form.

'I'm the only person in the building who doesn't have to use my full name when I'm talking on the phone.

'Beginning a phone conversation with the mention of my name is never a good start - it distracts people too much.'

And while the young stars of the film series have snapped up a string of multi-million properties, Mr Potter will be happy when he and girlfriend Philippa Hall, 18, manage to buy their first house together.

The young man, does however, share one key feature with his namesake, a scar on his forehead.

Film Harry gained his in a battle with arch enemy evil Lord Voldemort. Mr Potter ran into a lamppost aged 15.

The seven Harry Potter novels shot British author JK Rowling to stardom, with his adventures being snapped up by 400million eager fans.

Since the books were released they have spawned blockbuster films and spin-off merchandise, making the brand worth an estimated £15billion.

But the mega-money made by the wizard with the same name as him, provides little comfort to Harry.

He said: 'No one ever believes that I'm telling the truth about my name. I had to show my girlfriend my passport, my bank card, and my driving licence to convince her that I wasn't lying.

'Even getting my season ticket for Portsmouth FC was a bit of a pain - I'm a massive football fan, but I had problems at the ticket office.

'First they didn't believe that my name was genuine, and when I convinced them, they thought it was hilarious. It's never-ending.

'I play a lot of football as well in a local league, and the match reports are always full of puns - 'Harry Potter cast a spell on the opposition and that kind of thing.'

Rowling has told how 'Harry' was her favourite boy's name, so if her daughter had been a son she would have been called 'Harry Rowling'.

Questioned about the choice Rowling has said in the past: 'Then I would have had to choose a different name for "Harry" in the books, because it would have been too cruel to name him after my own son. "Potter" was the surname of a family who used to live near me when I was seven years old and I always liked the name, so I borrowed it.'

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