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I've always been fascinated in where
I come from, who my ancestors are and my heritage.
The country I'm from has many cultural influences, so to make any guess at where
my roots lie I'd have to include the Romans, the Vikings, the Saxons, the
Normans and various other races, some ancient and some not so ancient. I'm
from North-east England which probably hints at a Celtic background - probably
more Scottish than Irish - like many other people in my part of the world. I've
been told I've got "Irish genes" because I have pale skin and red hair, but this
is just a myth.
 Red
hair and pale skin is usually a sign that either you or your ancestors come
from the Northern Hemisphere, because of the lack of melanin in your hair and
skin. Melanin is the substance which colours your hair and skin - the more of it
you have, the darker your hair and skin. Melanin is also attributed to
protection against the sun, That is why Scandinavians are stereotyped with
blonde or red hair and pale skin, for example, and also why Africans have very
dark skin and hair.
However, recently I looked up my name in a book of surnames and apparently I'm
from Scandinavian descent, and my ancestors were Viking settlers. Literally, my
name is habitational and means, 'a small village with a church'. This means my
ancestors lived in such a village, living particularly near to a church or
working in one.
 I've
lived on the North-East coast all my life, and so the sea has had its
influences on me. Although I'm not interested in boating or joining the navy, I
love the sea because of its calmness and also because of its terrifying power.
There's nothing more invigorating than walking on the sea front with the wind
howling in your ears and the waves crashing at the sea wall, with the occasional
one splashing above and almost wetting you! The sea also stands for a lot of
things I believe in, freedom, beauty, individuality and also being one of many -
'a drop in the ocean'. I discovered that this is one of the meanings of my
Christian name.
The North-east of England is an inspiring place, despite our reputation as
football hooligans - which is mostly untrue. Most recently the North-East has
been a popular destination for filming, some of the best movies of the last 5
years have been filmed up here. For example, Brassed Off, which is about
the closure of a pit in a Yorkshire village, and the highly acclaimed Billy
Elliot about a northern boy who dreams of becoming a ballet dancer.
 I
was actually very surprised and pleased to discover that the first and second
Harry Potter films were partly shot in the North-East too, how wicked!
Professor McGonagall's classroom at Hogwarts is actually the chapter house at
Durham Cathedral, and the Cloisters were also used for a lot of corridor shots.
The grounds of Hogwarts (and the Quidditch shots) are the grounds of Alnwick
Castle, which is in Northumberland. You can still see the cloisters of Durham
Cathedral in overhead shots of Hogwarts in the third and fourth films.
I also recently discovered that Hogsmeade station in the first film is actually
Goathland station on the North York Moors Railway line, upon which steam trains
run between Grosmont and Pickering. Of the four stations on the line, Goathland
is the second, and the village surrounding it was also used for the filming of
the TV show Heartbeat. My family used to visit this living museum a lot when I
was younger. I recognised the station when I first saw The Philosopher's Stone,
and I wouldn't be surprised if they actually used one of the trains for the
interior train shots of the films. It's pretty cool to think that at one time I
was on the Hogwarts Express!
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