Potter author on Forbes list
26/02/2004 22:36  - (SA)  

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London - JK "Joanne" Rowling is the 552nd richest person in the world with a personal fortune of about a billion dollars, making her debut on Thursday on Forbes magazine's billionaires list.

Rowling's five novels featuring the young wizard, Harry Potter, have sold 250 million copies, and the two films out thus far have made about two billion dollars.

Merchandising has brought in further millions for the author, who penned her first novel as an impoverished single mother working on scraps of paper in Edinburgh tea shops as she could not afford to heat her home.

The Duke of Westminster, Gerald Cavendish Grosvenor, is Britain's richest citizen, with $8.7bn, at No 36 on the list. There are 17 Britons on the list of almost 600.

For the 10th year running, Microsoft founder Bill Gates tops the overall list with a net fortune of $46bn. - Sapa-dpa

- SAPA

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