David Farnor | On 06, May 2020

Daniel Radcliffe, David Beckham and Noma Dumezweni are among the stars joining together to read the first Harry Potter book online during the coronavirus pandemic.

All 17 chapters of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone will be read on camera by a range of household names between now and the summer. The initiative is part of Harry Potter at Home, a project by Bloomsbury and Scholastic, Pottermore Publishing, OverDrive and Audible, to bring JK Rowling’s popular series to people in their homes via WizardingWorld.com and Spotify. The readings will be streamed every week, one chapter at a time. The first seven of the 17 chapters will be read by Stephen Fry, David Beckham, Dakota Fanning and Claudia Kim, plus three stars of the Potter franchise: Noma Dumezweni, Eddie Redmayne and – kicking it all off – Daniel Radcliffe.

It’s only fitting that the Boy Who Lived should take on the chapter with that title, releasing a video yesterday with him introducing the Dursleys, describing their home on Privet Drive and detailing everything from cats reading maps to owl-filled skies. Each video is accompanied by drawings sent in by fans.

The videos are being posted weekly at harrypotterathome.com, with an audio-only version also available for free on Spotify.

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