Harry Potter: Manningtree boy sets character quotes world record

An 11-year-old boy has set a world record for identifying the most Harry Potter characters from film quotes within 60 seconds.

Eli Chmelik, from Manningtree in Essex, got 19 correct answers and said it felt "very strange" to hold the record.

He said he decided to take on the challenge after seeing the same feat completed for the Star Wars franchise.

A spokesman for Guinness World Records said it was "an impressive achievement".

Eli said he "instantly loved the entire series" when he read the first Harry Potter book aged six and since then had "obsessively" read J.K. Rowling's books about a boy wizard "dozens of times each".

The Colchester Royal Grammar School pupil said he prepared for his record attempt by reading them "more than I normally do, which is saying something".

"I got people around me to test me occasionally," he said.

Eli's mother, Bonny Chmelik, 43, said she was "so proud" of her son.

"When he said 'what about doing a world record' I was like 'yeah go for it'," she said.

"I didn't realise quite how much work I was letting myself in for."

She had to secure two independent timekeepers, two independent witnesses and an independent reader for the filmed record attempt in Shimpling in Suffolk, which was then verified by Guinness World Records.

"I had to choose 50 quotes that were not more than four from each person and not fewer than four words each," she said.

She added the list was randomised using a website.

Eli now believes he could better his tally of correct answers as the reader "wasn't very fast".

"I think I could have got a lot more if they'd been very quick at reading it, because when I did it with my parents I got 40 quotes in a minute," he said.

A Guinness World Records spokesman said: "Congratulations to Eli on his new Guinness World Records title, an impressive achievement."

They said they were pleased he achieved the record as "a Guinness World Records title was on his bucket list".

Find BBC News: East of England on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. If you have a story suggestion email [email protected]