A simple train delay in 1990 can be held partly 
responsible for the creation of one of the most 
successful book series of all time, J. K. Rowling’s 
Harry Potter books. Of course, the groundwork 
was laid long before. Without Rowling’s passion 
for stories and writing, cultivated since her youth, 
as well as her extensive education (as a student 
at Exeter, a teacher in Europe, and an employee 
at Amnesty International, among other jobs), 
the stories never would have come together in the 
same way.