During her appearance on the BBC children’s television show Blue Peter, which airs today at 4:30 p.m. British time, J.K. Rowling was presented with the program’s highest honor, a gold Blue Peter badge. Pictures of Jo on the show are viewable at the Leaky Gallery.

World famous author JK Rowling appears on Blue Peter for one of only two UK television interviews prior to the release of the seventh and final book in the Harry Potter series. The programme, recorded earlier this month, will be shown today, Friday 20 July 2007, at 4.30pm on BBC One.

Blue Peter's Gethin Jones awards JK Rowling her gold Blue Peter badge. The author, surprised and delighted to have been presented with the programme's highest honour, said:

"You have no idea what that means ... Thank you very, very much."

JK Rowling met 25 lucky children who won the Blue Peter competition to interview their favourite author. Entrants drew a portrait of themselves as a witch or wizard and included the question they would most like to ask JK Rowling.

Dressed as wizards and witches, the young fans descended on the Blue Peter studio for what was an amusing interview with their favourite author:

Eleanor, 10, from Milton Keynes: "If you were the Sorting Hat, which house would you choose for Gordon Brown and David Cameron?

JK Rowling: [Laughs] "Ooh, I suppose, because Gryffindor is the red house, then Gordon Brown would have to go into Gryffindor. And by that logic, we'll have to put David Cameron into Ravenclaw because it's the blue house."

Harry, 11, from Trowbridge:"Why did you decide to kill Dumbledore in the sixth Harry Potter book?"

JK Rowling: "Not because I'm horrible, but because it's an important part of the story. And he is dead."

Natasha, 9, West Wickham: "Will I cry when I read book seven?"

JK Rowling: "Have you ever cried before at a sad book?"

Natasha: "Well, I cried before when Dumbledore died."

JK Rowling: "I think you'll probably cry at this book."

Sarah, 8, from Harpenden: "If you were my mum I'd be pestering you to find out what happens in your next Harry Potter book. Do your children pester you?"

JK Rowling: "Well, my two-year-old definitely doesn't know that I write Harry Potter and doesn't know what Harry Potter is. And my, my four-year-old he says 'What does mummy do?' and he says 'HARRY POTTER!' and then that's it, there's nothing more. But my nearly 14-year-old, it's better for her not to know, because it's a big weight for her to bear if she knows secrets that other people don't."

Hayley, 10, from Newcastle: "Now you've finished the Harry Potter series, what new exciting projects can your millions of fans look forward to?"

JK Rowling: "I'm not going to promise anything, I think, at the moment, because I really do want to take some time off. I've loved the writing of Harry Potter, but I think it's healthy for me to take a bit of a holiday now.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2007/07_july/20/rowling.shtml

Original page date 20 July 2007; last updated 20 July 2007.