$3m Rowling in every week

BY the time you finish reading this sentence, Harry Potter author JK Rowling will have earned another $136.

The 36-year-old writer, pictured above, is coining it in at the rate of $3,096,153 a WEEK following the worldwide success of her boy wizard creation.

That is equal to $81,480 an hour or $1,360 a minute based on a 38-hour week.

Last year alone she made $161 million—boosting her fortune from $65 million to a staggering $226 million.

That left her 147th in the Sunday Times Rich List of Britain's 1,000 wealthiest people, published today.

Rowling, who wed 30-year-old doctor Neil Murray last Boxing Day, owed much of her fortune to the film Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone.

She received one per cent of its $650million takings, while her books have sold a massive 130million copies.

Another big winner last year was Hollywood beautyCatherine Zeta Jones, 32, who appears on the prestigious list for the first time.

She is ranked 751 with a $50million fortune.

Fellow new entries include David and Victoria Beckham—at number 962 with a combined $35million—and 55-year-old Pop Idol judge and record producer Pete Waterman, who has $45million.

Wealth

Britain's richest person remains the Duke of Westminster, who also topped the list last year.

His wealth grew from $4,400million to $4,700million, thanks to the increase in property prices.

Funnyman Rowan Atkinson, 47, made $25million, rocketing from £35million to £60million to notch equal 595th place on the list.

That was due largely to his popular screen character Mr Bean.

And BHS boss Philip Green, 50 last month, made the fastest fortune of the year—boosting his personal pile to £1.2billion. He is joint 13th in the list.

Meanwhile ex-TV star Chris Evans, 36, saw his wealth PLUNGE.

His fortune fell £32million to £45million after he was fired by Virgin Radio and watched the value of his shares in owners Scottish Media Group slump.

Another to suffer was easyJet boss Stelios Haji-Ioannou, who nosed-dived by £223million to £650million after funding other business losses.

The Queen also saw her fortune fall from £300million to £275million—due mainly to past over-estimates of her wealth.

But the biggest loser of all was Mark Dixon, founder of Regus, the serviced office provider.

A year ago he had £1.4 BILLION—but orders slumped, cutting his fortune to £164million.

List compiler Philip Beresford said Britain's richest increased their combined wealth last year to £159.699 billion, adding: "Women made their mark as never before with a record 74 listed."