Author JK Rowling has been honoured for outstanding achievement at the South Bank Show Awards and told how saying goodbye to Harry Potter was more painful than getting divorced.The multi-millionaire was teary-eyed as she accepted the prize.
Last year saw the publication of the seventh and final book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.
“It has been the worst break-up of my life - far worse than splitting up with any man,” Rowling, 42, told the audience at London’s Dorchester Hotel.
“But it has also been wonderful to stop and draw breath and think, ‘My God, look what’s happened with an idea I had 17 years ago on a train’.”
Director and actor Lord Attenborough presented the award. He joked that he would have loved a role in the Harry Potter films: “I’ve got a great complaint against the recipient. I joined Equity in 1941 and I have been a regular member ever since, therefore I am due a certain amount of respect in these circumstances.
“I think I must be the only English actor of my generation who has got absolutely bugger all out of this extraordinary series that has been read by millions and made into movies.
“Surely there must have been something I could have played? Even just a few lines here and there? Don’t think I didn’t try!”
Rowling joked that he could take the role of Albus Dumbledore in the next film, saying: “Michael Gambon will shortly be having a hideous accident.”
The Harry Potter books have sold more than 400 million copies worldwide and earned the author an estimated £545 million fortune. She wrote the first book while a struggling single mother in Edinburgh, having split from first husband Jorge Arantes.
Source: http://ukpress.google.com/
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