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At the beginning of Philosopher’s Stone (the book), Vernon goes to work at Grunnings. This is on Tuesday 1st November 1981.

When he was watching the news that night, the TV weatherman, Jim McGuffin, talks about how people are supposedly “celebrating Bonfire Night early” and announces that said event is “not till next week.”

But since 1st November is on a “dull grey Tuesday,” Bonfire Night would fall on a Saturday, so it wouldn’t be “next week,” but the SAME week.

So what gives?

TheLethalCarrot
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Alex Downs
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    Add this to the colossal list of times that JK Rowling was bad at math. – F1Krazy Jun 01 '21 at 15:12
  • Perhaps the weatherman is a incógnito wizard who timetraveled with a time-turner in order to keep the magical festivities covered, and got his dates mixed up? – IloneSP Jun 01 '21 at 15:44
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    the news was talking about the night before, - Monday, 31, October - Halloween. The newsman said "instead of the rain I promised yesterday - they've had a downpour of shooting stars". Halloween in 1981 was on a Saturday. Bonfire Night that year would was on Thursday (11/5) so the celebrations the previous night were a 'week' early if they were interpreted as being for Guy Fawkes celebrations – NKCampbell Jun 01 '21 at 15:45
  • I had to look up Bonfire Night. I had assumed it was an un-official, local, and often changed holiday like Homecoming in the US. – Aww_Geez Jun 01 '21 at 16:19
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    @Aww_Geez, “Remember, remember, the fifth of November, Gunpowder treason and plot. I see no reason why gunpowder treason should ever be forgot.” – Darren Jun 02 '21 at 05:40

1 Answers1

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November 1st 1981 fell on a Sunday, so the weather man is correct, Bonfire Night (November 5th) is next week. However, the passage from the book states:

When Mr. and Mrs. Dursley woke up on the dull, grey Tuesday our story starts, there was nothing about the cloudy sky outside to suggest that strange and mysterious things would soon be happening all over the country.
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Chapter 1 - The Boy Who Lived

So J.K. Rowling was actually wrong about the day of the week! It seems fictional weather reporters can be correct even if their creator isn't.

Funny how a statement as innocent as "The week starts on a Monday" can be controversial, isn't it?

Joking aside, a comment by Alex has sparked an interesting discussion in the comments about how the start of a week is different in different parts of the world. Here in Blighty, the convention is that the week begins on a Monday, after the weekend of Saturday and Sunday. However, I did like the comment from wizzwizz4 that the week, like a piece of string, has two ends, so starting and finishing on a weekend does make sense.

It is true that this wasn't always the case in the UK, and in fact I have struggled to find when the beginning on a Monday convention did become the norm. I've watched a few weather reports from the early 1980s which have been inconclusive, and looked at some vintage calendars on eBay which can start on either a Sunday or a Monday so also inconclusive. I'm leaving my answer as it stands though, as I do think most Brits would agree with my logic that the weather reporter is correct about Bonfire Night being "not until next week, folks!" if he is reporting on a Sunday.

Either way, I think we can all agree J.K. fluffed this one up.

Ongo
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    Or the days of the week don't match with real life? ;P – TheLethalCarrot Jun 01 '21 at 15:55
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    @TheLethalCarrot Certainly a possibility. Perhaps the passage after the weather report should read "Mr. Dursley sat frozen in his armchair. Shooting stars all over Britain? Owls flying by daylight? Mysterious people in cloaks all over the place? Sundays becoming Tuesdays?" Problem solved! – Ongo Jun 01 '21 at 16:01
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    How does November 1st being a Sunday help? That would mean that November 5th would be a Thursday, which is still in the same week. – Alex Jun 02 '21 at 01:15
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    @Alex Weeks start on Monday, according to international standard ISO 8601. Not to mention the more obvious reason in any culture with a Christian tradition. – alephzero Jun 02 '21 at 02:02
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    @alephzero Do newscasters use that convention? In any case, Wikipedia says that this standard was first published in 1988, while the events in question took place in 1981. – Alex Jun 02 '21 at 02:07
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    @Alex: British newscasters follow this convention, since they are speaking to a British audience that use ISO 8601 in their daily life (without knowing the name of the standard). – Taladris Jun 02 '21 at 02:21
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    Of course weeks start on Monday. That's why Saturday and Sunday are known as the weekend. – GordonD Jun 02 '21 at 09:00
  • @Taladris British dates are generally DD-MM-YYYY or similar rather than ISO 8601's YYYYMMDD, so in that respect British audiences do not follow it. – Henry Jun 02 '21 at 09:47
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    @GordonD Weeks start on Sunday; that's why we have two week ends (earliest end and latest end), and why Wodenstag is Mittwoch. – wizzwizz4 Jun 02 '21 at 10:17
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    @Muzer In Germany, as in most of Europe, weeks start on a Monday. It was obviously a tradition for weeks to start on a Sunday at some point, though, because so much language is built around that assumption. – wizzwizz4 Jun 02 '21 at 11:44
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    @alephzero: “the more obvious reason in any culture with a Christian tradition” — this isn’t as obvious as you might assume! Many traditionally-Christian cultures have seen Sunday as the first day of the week — some rather variably (e.g. the US), some very strictly and deep-seatedly (e.g. Iceland). See list here on Wikipedia. – PLL Jun 02 '21 at 15:45
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    @Alex Weeks start on Sunday in the US, which is quite Christian – Azor Ahai -him- Jun 02 '21 at 15:49
  • But didn't God rest on the seventh day, which is why people go to church on a Sunday? – GordonD Jun 02 '21 at 16:16
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    @GordonD No. Christians mostly go to church on the day of Jesus's resurrection, which was the day after the Sabbath and was called the "first day of the week" in the Bible.. Jewish people (and some Christian sects) are the ones who rest on the seventh day, which starts at Friday at sundown and goes until sundown on Saturday. (Note, I'm not disputing the idea that Monday is now considered the first day of the week in many places.) – trlkly Jun 02 '21 at 16:19
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    Some people might say the week starts on a Monday, some might say Sunday, some might even claim Saturday, but almost nobody would say it starts on a Tuesday. (Except maybe on a week like this one in the US, since Monday was a holiday.) – Darrel Hoffman Jun 02 '21 at 19:23
  • @Henry: you're right. I was unclear. I meant that British newscasters follow that convention (of starting a week on Mondays), independently of it being ISO 8601, because their audience follow it (and certainly don't care of it being ISO 8601 or not) – Taladris Jun 03 '21 at 01:13
  • I'll say one thing more, not connected with any religion: I take tablets to regulate my blood pressure. They come in blister packs which hold two weeks' supply. And the packs are labelled from Monday to Sunday. That said, I'm aware there is no one right answer to this as traditions differ from country to country. – GordonD Jun 03 '21 at 17:25