Harry Potter Turns 20! Here's 20 Things You Might Not Know About The Series...

It's official peeps! The Harry Potter first entered our lives a whopping 20 years ago today!

Yep, the very first book in the series and the one that had us all hooked, 'Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone' was first published today back in 1997. Don't worry we've checked the dates and despite only feeling like a few years ago, 1997 is now in fact 20 years ago. Let that settle in for a moment...

To honour the beginning of Harry’s magical journey, we're now giving you guys 20% off ALL Harry Potter Merchandise on our site using code 'HARRY20'. Limited time only peeps! Yep this code will stop working at midnight Tuesday 27th June so be quick!

Celebrating this spellbinding occasion, we thought we would take a little walk through the magical world of Harry Potter and pluck out our favourite 20 facts about the Harry Potter book series you might not have heard before. Enjoy!

1. There are only 500 first-edition copies of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone in existence: around 350 hardback copies, and 150 proof copies.

2. The conductor and driver of the Knight Bus – Stan Shunpike and Ernie Prang – are named after Rowling's grandfathers.

3. Dumbledore is an old English word meaning "bumblebee". Rowling said she named the character that because she "always imagined him as sort of humming to himself a lot".

4. Harry and Ginny named their children after Harry's parents, Lily and James, as well as Albus Dumbledore, Sirius Black, Severus Snape, and Luna Lovegood.

5. When he-who-must-not-be-named dies in the Battle of Hogwarts, he was 71 years old.

6. Drawing the cover art for the British edition of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone was illustrator Thomas Taylor's first ever professional commission. The illustration took two days to complete, and Taylor never got a hardback copy of the book.

7. The Harry Potter book series has a page count of 4,224 pages.

8. J.K. Rowling and Harry Potter share the same birthday (July 31).

9. Professor McGonagall was once a talented Quidditch player herself. She was the one who discovered Harry’s Quidditch talents and cheered on the Gryffindor team at every game. Turns out, McGonagall played on the Gryffindor team during her years at Hogwarts, but stopped after an ugly fall during a Quidditch Cup finals game between Slytherin and Gryffindor.

10. The Dementors became unemployed. When Kingsley Shacklebolt was made the permanent head of the Minstery of Magic, he banned the use of Dementors to guard Azkaban, and everywhere else in the wizarding world.

11. According to Rowling, the death of Hedwig in the final book symbolises the loss of Harry's innocence.

12. J.K. Rowling created Quidditch down the pub after an argument with her then-boyfriend.

13. A propose title for the American version of the Philosopher's Stone was 'Harry Potter and the School of Magic'.

14. J.K. Rowling had to learn a lot about alchemy and folklore while writing the Harry Potter books. The Hand of Glory, for example, is inspired by folklore dating back hundreds of years.

15. Ron Weasley’s character originally swore a lot, but Rowling’s publisher wouldn’t let her use that sort of language because it would’ve been inappropriate for young readers.

16. Contrary to popular belief, the ‘t’ at the end of ... he-who-must-not-be-named's name is silent. The name comes from the French words meaning “flight of death.”

17. Probably the most impressive of Harry Potter facts is that J.K. Rowling is the first person to become a billionaire (U.S. dollars) by writing books.

18. People had trouble pronouncing Hermione’s name, so Rowling had her sound it out for Viktor Krum in “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.”

19. When “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban” was released in Great Britain, the publisher asked stores not to sell the book until schools were closed for the day to prevent truancy.

20. J.K. Rowling has admitted that she regrets the relationship between Ron and Hermione.

So there you have them folks! Hopefully you've learnt some cool new Harry Potter trivia to bust out down the pub perhaps... or maybe wow someone on the train who's reading one of the books.

Don't forget to snap up a bargain with 20% off official Harry Potter TShirts, Harry Potter Gifts and more with code HARRY20.

Know any more cool facts? Let us know by posting below in the comments box.