Harry’s debut is still magic

Boy wizard Harry Potter’s debut is being tipped for the title of Scotland’s favourite book.

Harry Potter And The Phi losopher’s Stone – famously written by JK Rowling in an Edinburgh cafe – is 5- 4 favourite to top a BBC poll of the nation’s most loved reads.

The only close rival , according to specialist bookmaker McBookie.com, is Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Adventures Of Sherlock Holmes at 6- 4.

Sir Walter Scott’s Rob Roy and the cult drugs tale Trainspotting by Irvine Welsh are 8-1 shots.

McBookie spokesman Paul Petrie said: “There are some wonderful and monumental pieces of literature on the list.

“But it feels l ike the country is still in the grip of Pottermania nearly 20 years after The Phi losopher’s Stone first hit the shelves.

“That said, characters like Sher lock Holmes and Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde are f ixtures in the nation’s psyche.

“It will be interesting to see if people vote according to what they’ve read or whether they’re influenced by iconic scenes from film versions of the books.”

The BBC are offering a shortlist of 30 books from which to choose, all of them by Scottish or Scotlandbased authors. Voting closes on August 26.

Rowling’s Harry Potter And The Cursed Child – the script of the new stage show – became the fastest-selling book of 2016 this week.