When some pupils at a primary school were carrying out an “Operation Shoe Tree” project, one pupil was very surprised when they got a reply from famous author, JK Rowling. The project involved writing a day in the life of a pair of shoes, and choosing the Harry Potter author, the pupil thought they'd try their luck!

JK Rowling filled in a questionnaire about the particular pair of boots she wore whilst she was writing The Philosopher's Stone and she even sent these boots to the primary school too!

It read as follows:

“Dear Shoes,

• If you are a pair of sneakers, what have you done that is sneaky?

  Of course I've never done anything sneaky. I am an extremely hard-working pair of old boots which have carried my owner all over Edinburgh in search of good cafés to write in. I have occasionally annoyed her by being tricky to do up, but that's her problem.

• What other famous shoes do you know?

  I am disgusted to say that she has never worn me to meet other famous shoes. Her lame excuse is that I am too worn and shabby – and after all I've done for her! I happen to know that her black sandals have met Kirk Douglas's shoes, Donny Osmond's shoes and Rosie O'Donnell's shoes. Naturally, I don't talk to them any more.

• Tell me about the best or worst event that your owner has worn you to.

  My owner was wearing me when she wrote several chapters of 'Harry Potter and the Philopsher's Stone' , and I liked that because it gave me a rest. She also wore me when she was a teacher, and one boy made fun of me, which I didn't appreciate. He said I was “kinky”.

• From this century, what pair of shoes would you trade places with and explain why.

  I would like to have carried Jessica Mitford around for a while. She was a writer and human-rights activist who lived in Oakland, California, and she was my (and my owner's) heroine.

• If you could give yourself as a present to someone or something, who or what would it be?

  I would give myself to anyone who appreciate stout footwear which will brave the wet and cold Scottish winds.

• To “fill you”, as well as your owner has, what character traits would I need to posses?

  Hmm...you will need to like walking, and then sitting around for long periods and concentrating hard. You will be determined but also disorganised (a lot of my exercise has come from rushing back home to fetch things my owner has forgotten).”