· The book has 768 pages, 38 chapters and more than 255,000 words. It weighs 1kg

· There will be two covers, one for children and one for adults

· Since the publishing date was announced on January 15, Amazon has taken more than 1m advance orders with 300,000 in the UK alone, making it the most pre-ordered book in history

· It will be launched simultaneously in Britain, the USA, Canada, Australia and in English in other countries

· The book begins with the sentence: "The hottest day of the summer so far was drawing to a close and a drowsy silence lay over the large, square houses of Privet Drive ..."

· JK Rowling has confirmed the rumour that one of the main characters will die, saying that writing the death scene had moved her to tears

· The first four novels have sold almost 200m copies in 55 languages and 200 countries

· The previous book, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, was the fastest-selling book in history on the first weekend of its publication in July 2000.

· Hogwarts becomes Rokfort in Slovenia and Ron Weasly is called Ronny Wiltersen in Norway