Happy birthday J.K. Rowling and Harry Potter! Today, Rowling celebrates her 47^th birthday, while her beloved fictional character, Harry Potter, turns 32. Where does the time go?

J.K. Rowling

J.K. Rowling was born in Yate, Gloucestershire, England on July 31, 1965. She was a bright and curious child, and began penning fantasy stories at a young age. In fact, Rowling loosely based the character of Hermione on herself, saying “she's a caricature of me when I was eleven, which I'm not particularly proud of.”

Rowling’s adult years were a bit rocky at first - her mother died, she and her husband divorced, and she found herself an unemployed mother on government assistance. However, Rowling refused to give up on her writing and finished Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone in 1995.

Given the phenomenal success of the Harry Potter books, one would think Rowling had no trouble selling the first novel in the series. However, twelve publishing houses rejected the manuscript, and Bloomsbury, the small London publisher that did pick it up, told Rowling to get a day job because she’d never make money selling children’s novels. Oh, how wrong they were. The Harry Potter books sold over 400 million copies worldwide, inspired the highest-grossing film series of all time, and made J.K. Rowling the only author to become a billionaire from her work. Rowling’s rag to riches story continues to serve as inspiration to writers everywhere.

Harry Potter

Harry Potter was born in England on July 31, 1980. As fans of the series know, Harry’s parents were stricken down by an evil wizard when he was just a baby, though he somehow managed to survive the attack. This miraculous event made Harry a legend in the wizard world, and “The Boy Who Lived” ultimately went on to defeat the wizard who killed his parents and tried to take over the world.

The births of J.K. Rowling and Harry Potter aren’t the only significant events to occur at the end of the July. Here are three other important July 31 happenings in the Harry Potter universe.

July 31, 1991: Harry Potter discovers he’s a wizard

July 31, 1992: Harry sees Dobby the house elf watching him from aunt and uncle’s backyard.

July 31, 1997: Harry becomes a legal adult and leaves his aunt and uncle’s house for the last time.

Happy birthday to Harry Potter, J.K. Rowling, and everyone else celebrating a birthday on July 31!

Sources: Wikipedia, Tumblr

Photo: Wikimedia