THE PHILOSOPHER’S STONE
Who wouldn’t want to find the secret to eternal life? Voldemort certainly did. But the Philosopher’s Stone was far from a whim of JK Rowling’s imagination, nor was the stone’s maker in Harry Potter, Nicolas Flamel.
In real life, Flamel made his fortune as a landlord in medieval Paris but after his death in 1418 rumours began to circulate that he was an alchemist who had discovered the Philosopher’s Stone.
Sadly he didn’t exactly leave a recipe behind, not that it stopped people coming up with their own.
The 16th-century Ripley Scroll is a six metre-long manuscript that allegedly describes how to make the stone and it takes its name from George Ripley, a priest and alchemist from Bridlington Priory, East Yorks.
Unfortunately it wasn’t quite as simple as a Revelio spell and some of the images were purposefully hidden to obscure the meaning.
And if anyone hoped Flamel’s grave would hold the secret they were out of luck. His tombstone is on show in the British Library along with the Ripley Scroll, but when it was discovered it was being used as a cutting board in a Parisian grocery store.