For England, the arrival of a new Beater for their Quidditch team has come just when it's needed. For Jason Stonem 'the whole thing's taking place without me in it. It's the only thing I've done in my life when I haven't thought about it.'
Really? 'Sure,' he tells me, his wholesome face softly creasing into a relaxed smile and his golden-brown eyes alive, his delivery rapid. 'Definitely. Quidditch has always been an enormous part of my life and it's always been quite personal. I feel now that everything is public and it's on fast forward. Signing contracts, organising the transfer of schools, meeting the team, press releases. There's a journey here and it's not mine- I'm just going along with it.'

Having trained with the team three times now, and his first match last Saturday- a friendly against Scotland bringing in a record crowd, WW sat with England's new hotshot Beater Jason Stonem to find out exactly how he feels.

It must be amazing?
Yes, it's very strange being a part of something so popular. Being part of team that is so beloved, and has such high expectations from the public… it's a very difficult thing to try and slot into. So when people respond, in mass, in such a positive way, you have to enjoy that.

And you've recently been nominated for the International Quidditch Association's Best Newcomer?
It's lovely, and very nice, and confusing, it's just a very nice strange thing.'

Does he have a speech prepared?
Absolutely not. I'm not going to win! I haven't given it too much thought. At the moment I'm just very excited to be a part of a group of people who are so fantastically talented and to be considered to be in the same category as them is celebration enough.

So it's a dream come true then, to play for your country? To be seen on a broom my millions of fans around the world?
Yeah, it's wonderful in theory isn't it? You obviously think, this is the dream- it's going to be great. But in practice it's a great deal of hard work and pressure…. But wonderful, yeah it's really an incredible honour.

And have you been in contact with Dawn Withey who has had such a long and successful career as a Beater for England, and who you are in effect replacing? Are you friends with her, have you met her?

I've never met her, um. She sent me a lovely message through a mutual friend and he gave me her support. And it meant a great deal, and- of course, because, you know part of the reason why I love Quidditch is because of Beaters like her. When I've seen England matches in the past, she's the one I was always watching and to step into her shoes is no mean feat. It was very generous of Dawn to contact me, so I'm very thankful.

Currently heralded as 'Boy Wonder,' there was a time at Durmstrang when you were known as 'Boy Bonkers,' can you tell us more about that time?
Did Viktor Krum tell you that? [He laughs] I suppose I was a bit bonkers at that time. Especially after Viktor became so successful. It really spurred me on to do the same.
I would train, obsessively, crazily. I would have our coach to conjure up more and more rigorous regimes so that I could always be the one on the team who would do the best in the horrifically demanding physical tests we underwent.

And you did muggle sports too?
Yes, the team crucified me at first, they thought I was insane. A lot of muggle sport requires the same if not more physical demand than Quidditch so I made sure that I was incorporating that into my training. If practice started at seven am then I would be out on the lake at six, rowing.

For those of us with no idea, rowing is a muggle sport performed on a small boat- the rower uses his arms to move 'oars' to propel the boat across the water. Stonem's school trend has caught on…

I believe they all do it now, especially the Beaters. It builds so much muscle and is great for relieving stress. I was always quite wary of water, but being out on the lake- when it wasn't frozen of course- is a great thing.

Coming back to your friendship with Viktor Krum, do you think there is a reason that so many great Quidditch players have come out of Durmstrang School recently? Is Quidditch the main reason for your friendship?
I don't know, maybe it was something in the tap water there?
Quidditch was a large part of it, yes. We bonded over flying from our first day. We shared a dorm for almost six years. We would sit around for hours, frequently miss our evening meals discussing strategy and how my influence as a Beater could help him as a Seeker.
We constantly made each other better players. We both come alive on broomsticks, we both want to win more than anything.
We both have something to prove out on the pitch that neither of us can explain, and with each other we've never needed to. It's just a mutual understanding.

Unfortunately, with a busy schedule that's all we had time for. We're sure that England vs Bulgaria is a match a lot of people would like to see!