The Times: J.K. Rowling a Top Person of the Decade

Dec 14, 2009

Posted by: SueTLC

J.K. Rowling

The Times newspaper has an article now online listing what they call the “Top 50 People of the Decade.” Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling is among those listed in the top ten (US President Barack Obama holds the number one spot). You can now see a high res scan here. Of our favorite author, the newspaper states:

6 J.K. ROWLING Author and philanthropist

Although the Boy Wizard first appeared in the late Nineties, it was in the
Noughties that J.K. Rowling became a Muggle of international renown, when
the first novel in the series, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone,
was released as a film in 2001. By the time the seventh and final book, Harry
Potter and the Deathly Hallows
, appeared, Rowling had sold 400 million
books in 67 languages. Child readers became teenagers along with Harry, Ron
and Hermione.

An unwitting populariser of witchcraft and boarding schools, Rowling agreed to
her publisher’s request to use initials of indeterminate sex so the name
“Joanne” would not put off boy fans, and she controlled her burgeoning £4
billion franchise with an iron hand. She oversaw the film scripts, insisted
on a British cast and tearfully defended herself in court when another
author threatened to publish a Potter “Lexicon”. Rowling has successfully
stayed out of the public eye by never courting personal publicity, and has
two children with her second husband. The Sunday Times Rich List
estimated Rowling’s personal fortune at £560 million, ranking her as the
12th richest woman in Britain. She gives £5 million a year to her charity,
which supports many causes including one-parent families, which she herself
was when she wrote the first Potter in an Edinburgh café with her baby at
her side. Kate Muir





The Leaky Cauldron is not associated with J.K. Rowling, Warner Bros., or any of the individuals or companies associated with producing and publishing Harry Potter books and films.