HARRY Potter author JK Rowling said last night she was baffled by reports that she is being stalked.

The writer arrived at the National Railway Museum in York an hour late on the second leg of her steam train whistle-stop tour of Britain.

As she set to work signing copies of her sell-out work Harry Potter And The Goblet of Fire, the organisers laid on the kind of security normally reserved for royalty.

Reports yesterday claimed the 34-year old single mother was being pestered and trailed by a fan, said to be a Scottish teacher in his thirties.

But when asked if she was worried, she replied: "It's wishful thinking. I haven't a clue who they are or what they are doing."

JK Rowling added: "I have heard about it, but only today. I'm a bit confused, I wish somebody would tell me who he is."

She said: "I wrote this book from my imagination. It looks as though someone might have more invention than me."

But at the National Railway Museum, no chances were being taken.

Several minders, both men and women, in dark suits and wearing earpieces and body armour, mingled with the hundreds of youngsters who had turned up with "golden" tickets entitling them to an author's signature, following their book purchase on Saturday.

The museum had its own security men and women on duty too, and keen eyes scanned the crowds who had came to catch a glimpse of the creator of Harry Potter.

One female bodyguard would not he drawn on whether they were on "stalker patrol". All she would say was: "We are here to make sure the crowds keep in order and in line." She was coy about the role she and her fellow minders were really playing.

Rosamund Delaham, a spokesman for the book's publishers, Bloomsbury, said it would be tomorrow before sales figures were collated.

She added: "What I can say, however, is that bookshops across the land have sold out. It is a publishing sensation."

JK Rowling will be in Newcastle today, followed by Edinburgh and Perth.

She said: "I'm tired but coping. Using the train Hogwarts Express has helped tremendously." The author arrived in York on platform nine and three-quarters.

Young fans give their verdict - Page 3