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How Much Does He Earn?: No 51: Jonathan Dimbleby

Saturday 22 October 1994 23:02 BST
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No 51: Jonathan Dimbleby Age: 50 Salary: Fat and getting fatter. The blockbuster book on his friend the Prince of Wales has already earned him an estimated pounds 1m from assorted publishing and serialisation deals. And that's not including the royalties from sales of The Prince of Wales: An Intimate Portrait, which is published next month. His income so far from the book stacks up as follows: A reported pounds 100,000 advance from Little Brown, a subsidiary of America's Time-Warner conglomerate. The Sunday Times reportedly paid pounds 500,000 for first British and Irish serial rights - although Dimbleby representatives claim this figure is grossly exaggerated. Publishing sources say Mr Dimbleby should have made around pounds 400,000 from the sale of rights to foreign publishers. The television documentary which foreshadowed the book will probably earn up to pounds 300,000 from overseas sales, though no one is saying what Dimbleby's cut will be.

A film project focusing on another friend, the Hong Kong governor Chris Patten, will yield a further pounds 1m for a production company owned by Dimbleby and his wife, Bel Mooney.

It was also announced this week that he has been appointed as successor to Brian Walden on LWT's flagship Sunday lunchtime programme.

Hours: Long. Writing a biography is bad enough, but then there's all that liaising with your agent over selling the newspaper serialisation rights.

Deals have been made with 16 newspapers world-wide including Points de View in France, the Telegraph in Holland, Bunte in Germany.

Perks: Open invitation to high tea at Highgrove.

Travel: Open invitation to tea in Hong Kong.

Education: Charterhouse, Surrey; Royal Agricultural College, Cirencester; University College, London (BA Hons Philosophy).

Interests: Music, sailing, tennis, making friends.

(Photograph omitted)

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