Loan from friend helped JK Rowling make magic
March 22, 2004 at 11:22 AM ET
Cheeser
The Scotsman (via BBC Radio 4)
Author JK Rowling revealed in a BBC radio interview
Saturday that a friend loaned her £4,000 to pay for her daughter's childcare while she studied to become a teacher:
The episode occurred when Rowling, now 37, was living on benefits in a rundown flat in Edinburgh after leaving her first husband. She had won a place to become a student teacher but could not afford childcare for her daughter, Jessica.
With just £70-a-week income, Rowling believed she could never afford to pay back the money, but the gift was to change her life, allowing her to graduate and teach part-time as she wrote the first Harry Potter novel.
Rowling has since become the first billionaire writer and repaid her benefactor with a £200,000 flat in Edinburgh.