Wizard author JK Rowling admits she's scared of spiders
- 00:01:34
- ITN
Wizard author JK Rowling admits she's scared of spiders
Harry Potter author JK Rowling has said it was demand from the young wizard's fans that prompted her to publish her latest work The Tales of Beedle the Bard. Proceeds from the collection of fairy tales, which has a global print run of 7.5 million copies, will go to a charity for vulnerable children in Eastern Europe co-founded by Rowling. The 43-year-old originally hand-wrote and illustrated seven copies of Beedle the Bard, six of which she gave away as gifts and one which she sold at auction for the charity. It fetched £2.7 million a year ago. "The idea actually came from you, by which I mean Harry Potter fans," Rowling told around 200 primary school children gathered at Edinburgh's Parliament Hall for a tea party that officially launched Beedle the Bard. "There was quite a lot of high feeling from Harry Potter fans that only someone who had £2 million could afford to read the book. I thought 'fair point', so I thought 'I'll publish it and then the charity can have that money too'." During a question-and-answer session, the writer spoke about her favourite authors as a child and her love of Christmas, and revealed she has had a fear of spiders ever since she was young. "What's funny is, as you probably know if you've read Harry Potter, I gave Ron that fear. He's terrified of spiders, and Rupert Grint, who plays Ron in the films, is absolutely petrified of spiders. "I feel so sorry for him because I kept putting Ron in these situations where he had to encounter them." Net profits from Beedle the Bard go to The Children's High Level Group, which campaigns to protect and promote children's rights. It began work in Romania before going to Moldova, Georgia, Armenia and the Czech Republic. In July 2007, Deathly Hallows became the fastest selling book ever. Between them the Harry Potter books have sold over 400 million copies and turned Rowling into the world's wealthiest writer.
ITN | December 5, 2008
