What an incredible week that was. Starting at 3am on Thursday 7th July...
I awoke after 2 hours sleep and got myself ready for the longest day of my life. A taxi was waiting outside by 3.30 which took me and my cinema buddy to Brighton train station. We were catching the 3.50am train to London. We slept most of the 1hr 30min journey and arrived at Victoria train station around 5.20am. I've never seen a London train station so quiet and deserted. It was really quite eerie. We made the most of the facilities knowing that toilets and places to freshen up would be hard to come by later in the day, and grabbed a much needed coffee. We arrived in Trafalgar Square just before 6am. There was already a queue of people stretching past The National Gallery so we joined the end of the queue and began 'the wait'.
As we weren't able to take time off work to camp out (and to be honest, I don't do camping so I wouldn't have done this even if I'd been able, but massive respect goes out to those who did) we were just grateful to have a chance at getting in the square.
Five hours later, and around 30 people away from the front of the queue, we were turned away from Trafalgar Square as it was full. Less than five minutes later the heavens opened in a way never before experienced. We got drenched and took shelter under a nearby doorway and waited for the rain to stop. When the rain eventually did stop we decided the only thing for it would be to go to Leicester Square, where the stars would be coming to watch the movie after the main Trafalgar Square event had taken place.
So we headed to Leicester Square where it poured down again. We were turned away from the small Odeon at Leicester Square and told in no uncertain terms that it "was not a waiting area!" We then took shelter again under the hood of the Empire cinema and again waited for the rain to subside. When it eventually did we decided to head to MacDonalds and attempt to dry off.
Eventually, around 2pm, we found an available spot outside the big Odeon in Leicester Square and stood our ground. We were pushed and pulled in all directions as the barriers were put in place but somehow found ourselves on the barrier.
And then began the wait. The enclosed area that contained us filled up. Ladders were put up to fix bulbs, vans were moved, people walking through Leicester Square were diverted and the red carpet was rolled out before our very eyes.
Some 5 hours later, an hour after I'd read on Twitter that the stars had started to arrive at Trafalgar Square, the D list celebrities started to filter their way through. We saw Alexandra Burke, Lorraine Kelly and Peaches Geldof. Oh and the boys from McFly and Graham Norton, who were lovely and signed for everyone.
And then finally another hour after that we got the Potter people and the A listers!
Clemence Poesy ~ Fleur Delacour
David Bradley ~ Argus Filch
Ciaran Hinds ~ Aberforth Dumbledore
Helen McCrory ~ Narcissa Malfoy (and real life hubby Damian Lewis)
X-Men First Class actor Nicholas Hoult
Devon Murray ~ Seamus Finnigan
Timothy Spall ~ Peter Petigrew & David Thewlis ~ Remus Lupin
Robbie Coltrane ~ Rubeus Hagrid & Warwick Davis ~ Professor Flitwick
The gorgeous, sweet and ever so kind Evanna Lynch ~ Luna Lovegood
I must just take a moment to say that I am a little bit in love with Miss Lynch. Not only did she sign for EVERYONE, and I really mean EVERYONE, she was so sweet too! She signed my picture and the picture I was holding for my friend and when I said thank you for doing that she replied "Oh it's no problem" in that cheerful Irish accent of hers. I always loved Luna but now I know how sweet Evanna is I love her a little bit more.
Helena Bonham Carter ~ Bellatrix Lestrange & Ralph Fiennes ~ Lord Voldemort
I was lucky enough to get Mr Fiennes signature as he walked past, he must have taken a liking to the photo I was holding out as he didn't sign for anyone else near me. Helena managed to sneak in and we only saw her when she made a brief appearance on the balcony.
And last but by no means least was...
Rupert Grint ~ Ron Weasley
Rupert was the last to arrive and unfortunately for us, was so late he had to go straight in to the film. So all we got was this semi burry photo of him dashing off.
Daniel Radcliffe (Harry) and Emma Watson (Hermione) went to the small Odeon and the Empire respectively, so we didn't see them at all.
But all in all it was a good day, we saw lots of famous people, got two of the best signatures we could have and were part of the final Harry Potter premiere!!!
Below are some videos that were taken in Trafalgar Square so you can see what we missed and a nice look behind the scenes of the last day of shooting Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2.
Premiere Highlights
Emma, Daniel, Rupert and JK's Speech
Last Day of Shooting
And finally, here is a link to Empire Magazines 25 best Harry Potter characters:
http://www.empireonline.com/features/greatest-harry-potter-characters/?WT.dcsvid=SilverpopMailing&WT.mc_id=071511%20newsletter%20(1)
I hope you enjoyed the insight into our Harry Potter premiere day! Head over to my film review blog for a review of every Harry Potter film, starting with Philosophers Stone and ending with Deathly Hallows Part 2...
*Special thanks to Blair Holmes for the use of some of his spectacular photo's, listening to my constant moaning about being cold and wet and for the always amazing egg mayo rolls!*
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