Potter's progress

The film of the first book cost around £100 million to make and has taken more than £620 million worldwide since opening in November 2001. On the opening weekend alone, it grossed £16 million in Britain; 1.25 million DVDs sold on the day of release.

Steven Spielberg was expected to direct but pulled out; Chris Columbus stepped in and auditioned 40,000 children for the various parts. Rowling was offered the role of Harry's mother, but declined on the grounds that she can't act.

Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets
Published in July 1998, the second Potter novel was number one in the adult hardback bestseller charts for its first month.

The film, released in 2002, took £19 million over its opening weekend in Britain; worldwide box office takings are £500 million.

Radcliffe grew eight inches and his voice broke during filming, raising the question of how many more movies he could make.

Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban
The third Potter instalment was published on 8 July 1999. This book, too, spent four weeks at the top of the adult hardback bestseller charts, with Philosopher's Stone at the top of the paperback chart.

JK won the prestigious Whitbread Children's Book prize.

Alfonso Cuaron took over directing from Columbus for the £143 million movie and Michael Gambon replaced Richard Harris as Dumbledore. Ian McKellen and Christopher Lee were both also considered for the part of the Head of Hogwarts.

Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire
On 8 July 2000, it broke all previous records for books sold on the first day of publication; a record first print-run of one million copies for the UK alone.

The fourth Potter film is now shooting, directed by Mike Newell, for release in 2005; budget is reported to be £130 million.

The actor to play Harry's arch enemy, Voldemort, is yet to be announced: rumours of John Malkovich were recently scotched; Rowan Atkinson has also been in the frame.

Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix
Harry Potter's fifth was the fastest-selling book of all time when published in June last year; 1.8 million copies in 24 hours. It topped the charts in France - the first time a foreign book had reached number one while still in its original language.

At £16.99, it was the costliest children's book ever published. Weighing in at 3lbs, it caused "Hogwarts Headache" in children reluctant to put the book down.

A release date of 2007 is pencilled in for the film version.

Book six
With no publication date yet, and no title, the sixth instalment is "well under way". On JK's new website (www.jkrowling.com), she admits that the first chapter will be an early discarded one from the Philosopher's Stone.

JK Rowling
Born in 1965, she is worth a reported £430 million. She has sold 256 million books in 200 countries and overtaken Agatha Christie as most-published female author. Her books have been translated into over 60 languages, from ancient Greek to Gaelic. She is said to earns one per cent of the box-office and five per cent of merchandising.

She pops up from time to time on the Mugglenet chat room as Squidward.