POTTY York youngsters screamed for joy early today as they finally got their hands on the new Harry Potter book.

Hundreds of people dressed as witches and wizards and formed long queues at Borders and Waterstones at their special midnight openings.

Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix is likely to become the fastest selling book of all time.

It has already broken internet sales records, with more than one million advance orders received by online retailer Amazon worldwide, including more than 350,000 in the UK.

JK Rowling, looking relaxed and happy, paid a visit to a Waterstone's bookshop in her home town of Edinburgh and gave out signed copies of her freshly-delivered book. Bookshops also held special openings in Australia, South Africa and New Zealand.

Updated: 09:32 Saturday, June 21, 2003