Harry Potter is mobbed by the muggles

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Review: Fights, frights and an old-fashioned sense of fair play

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Harry Potter would have hated it but Daniel Radcliffe had no choice but to mix with the muggles yesterday. The ordinary mortals were there in their thousands to see Daniel, the 12-year-old who plays J K Rowling's hero, arrive for the première of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.

The front of the Odeon cinema in Leicester Square, London, had been flamboyantly transformed into what resembled a film set, with giant red flares and fizzing lights as Harry saved the world from the dark arts on the big screen, and the excitement of children and adults alike was palpable. Camera crews hung off balconies, photographers stalked on nearby roofs. Little wonder Daniel found it hard to take in.

"I really can't believe I'm in a film with such stars. It makes you believe in the power of magic and all that it can achieve," he said.

Children and adults in an impromptu grandstand whooped and hollered in triumph at every autograph they could snatch. One group held a banner brandishing the glittery words "Harry Potter for Prime Minister".

Even David Copperfield, the world's most successful magician, paid homage. "I hear Harry works some good witchcraft so I thought I could learn a thing or two by watching the film," he said.

The film's British actors were there in force, among them Julie Walters, Richard Griffiths, John Hurt and Robbie Coltrane. Basking in the reflected glory were Cher, Sting, Jerry Hall and Ben Stiller, who embarrassingly admitted never having read a word of the books.

And the woman who made it all possible? Dressed in a glittery black trouser-suit, J K Rowling discreetly signed a few autographs before sneaking into the première almost unnoticed.