Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone was the first novel by the British author J. K. Rowling and was published by Bloomsbury in London in 1997. It introduces Harry, an orphan raised by unsympathetic relatives, who learns on his eleventh birthday that he is a wizard and is invited to attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. There he makes friends, discovers the circumstances of his parents' deaths and confronts the dark wizard Lord Voldemort. The first print run was small, but word of mouth made it a bestseller. In the United States it appeared the following year as Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. The book launched a seven-volume series, a film franchise and a worldwide publishing phenomenon.
Before and after
- from 31 March 1997 to 11 November 2022Premiere of Teletubbies
- 29 April 1997Founding of Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons
- 11 May 1997Deep Blue defeats Garry Kasparov
- from 15 May 1997 to 9 June 2012Premiere of Bob the Builder
- 26 June 1997Publication of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
- from 2 July 1997 to 1 January 19991997 Asian financial crisis
- 4 July 1997Mars Pathfinder and the Sojourner rover
- 29 August 1997Founding of Netflix
- 31 August 1997Death of Diana, Princess of Wales
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