STUDENTS did a double-take when one-half of the red-headed twin wizard brothers of the equally flame-haired Ron Weasley in the Harry Potter films paid a surprise visit to their campus.

James Phelps, who dyed his hair red for 10 years while portraying Fred Weasley, looked completely unlike his onscreen persona with his natural brunette hair, on his low-key visit to Carlisle yesterday.

There were no screaming fans at the gates to the University of Cumbria campus in Brampton Road, but that didn't phase the 180 performing arts students who whooped and cheered as James, now 30, miraculously appeared on the stage.

The 'A'-lister had been smuggled into the campus by one of the university's professional director's, Adam Morley, who just so happened to have directed James in the play 'The Boy Who Was Woody Allen' in 2013.

Students had only been told of the visit that morning, and were sworn to secrecy. "No tweeting until James has left the campus. We don't want 9,000 screaming Harry Potter fans outside," said James Issitt, senior lecturer in drama.

Now, some 16 years and eight Harry Potter films later, 30-year-old James, arrived in Carlisle to answer some searching questions about his role as Fred Weasley, his life as an actor, and about the film industry.

As Hogwart's resident pranksters, Fred and George Weasley, dressed the same, acted the same and even finished each other's sentences. But in the flesh, they are very different: James, wearing a dark blue polo shirt, black jeans and leather jacket, and with a smattering of stubble across his face, described himself as the quieter of the two.

Looking slightly uncomfortable at first, James answered a number of questions put forward by the students during his hour-and-a-half visit.

Earlier he had given the News & Star an exclusive interview backstage, when he said he was "excited" to travel out of London to see the facilities that the university had for students and the passion they have for their chosen career paths.

Oliver and James were just 14 years old when they auditioned for the roles of the Weasley twins, ostensibly, said James, ‘to get a day off school’.

A couple of months prior to the auditions, their drama teacher had advised them not to bother with acting, ‘because you won’t do anything … you should try something else’, James confided.

"When we got the parts we told a couple of our close friends, and they thought we were joking until we turned up with dyed ginger hair," said James.

But is anything like his character, Fred? "I do like a little prank every so often, but not to the extent of blowing toilet seats up," he said.

The opening question from one of the students was 'Beside acting, was there any other job you would have wanted to do?' "Search and Rescue Mountain person, but not the dog," joked James.

'How are you feelings towards Voldemort?' "He is a horrible bloke. One of the most evil character's in English literature," answered James. 'What is the most challenging thing you have faced?' "Dyeing my eyebrows ginger."

James told his audience he didn't have any professional training before joining the cast of the Harry Potter films. The brothers' auditioned for the role in an open-casting session a friend had heard about. They seemed to have fallen into acting by accident, rather than it being a burning passion.

"We were the only twins who turned up not wearing identical clothing. We rushed out to the nearby BHS store and picked two shirts the same off the rack. When our names were called out we went through the sliding doors and saw the top person who was doing the casting. We were asked if we had a headshot, and we said 'what is that'. A polaroid camera had to be produced," laughed James.

At the end of the session, James obligingly posed for selfies, minus, of course, broomsticks and the magic-themed beverages, including Butterbeer.

"We were so excited when we were told James was coming here," said Demi Burns, 20, a third-year student from Manchester. "He didn't sugar-coat it," said Caitlin Deanna, 19, a second year student from Glasgow. "It was great to hear about the serious side to his life as an actor, and to hear how humble he was, and how admirable it was learning about his charity work," said Zoe Gadd, leader for performing arts, from Carlisle.