Harry Potter creator J.K. Rowling persuaded security staff at a New York airport to let her breach baggage restrictions – because she refused to be parted from the manuscript of the final ‘Potter’ book.

The author was given special treatment on her transatlantic flight – where heightened security measures are still in operation following the recent uncovering of a terrorist plot to blow up planes using explosives carried in hand luggage.

Rowling wrote on her website diary: “The heightened security restrictions on the airlines made the journey back from New York interesting, as I refused to be parted from the manuscript of book seven. A large part of it is handwritten and there was no copy of anything I had done while in the US. They let me take it on thankfully, bound up in elastic bands. I don’t know what I would have done if they hadn’t – sailed home probably.”