Taylor Bradford’s fortune reaches £149m

She has a fortune of £149 million and is behind only JK Rowling who has £580 million, more than the combined wealth of the six authors below her.

Taylor Bradford left school at 15 for the typing pool at the Yorkshire Evening Post. At 16 she was a reporter, at 18 she became the paper’s first woman’s page editor and, at 20, moved to London and became a fashion editor and columnist on Fleet Street.

Fifty Shades Of Grey author EL James has made the Rich List after her racy novels amassed her a fortune of £75 million.

James, 52, is the fourth wealthiest author according to the newspaper, after her tales of a sadomasochistic love affair seduced millions of readers and spawned a Hollywood film, party games and a lingerie line.

She has toppled Jackie Collins as the queen of the ‘bonk-buster’, pushing Collins, who has a fortune of £65 million, into fifth place.

James, who lives with her husband and two sons in west London, could climb higher up the rich list in the future as the second and third films from her novels hit the big screen. The first film, which was directed by Sam Taylor-Johnson, was a box office hit and is the second highest grossing release of the year so far.

Barbara Taylor Bradford, who has sold more than 30 million books worldwide, is the second richest author with £149 million, while Lord Archer is third with £140 million.

Businessmen-turned-presenters Lord Sugar and Dragons’ Den’s Peter Jones are the richest television stars with fortunes of £1.04 billion and £475 million respectively.

Mr Bean star Rowan Atkinson, 60, has £85 million - up £8 million from last year.