JK Rowling: How author became campaign's most vocal supporter

Cocktail in hand and puffing on a celebratory cigar onboard her super-yacht, reportedly somewhere in the Bahamas, JK Rowling greeted this week's supreme court ruling that the legal definition of a woman is based on biological sex, by taking to social media.

- Caroline Davies

"I love it when a plan comes together," she posted on X, borrowing the famous catchphrase from the popular 1980s TV series, The A-Team.

She added, referencing the bitter and polarised gender identification debate: "To those celebrating the fact that I'm smoking a blunt [a type of joint]: it's a cigar. Even if it decided to identify as a blunt for the purposes of this celebration, it would remain objectively, provably and demonstratively a cigar."

It was a typical response from the 59-year-old multi-millionaire creator of the iconic Harry Potter franchise, who has over recent years regularly utilised social media in her support of women-only spaces, and who has been a vocal and financial supporter of For Women Scotland, having donated £70,000 to the group's crowdfunding for the legal challenge that culminated in Wednesday's ruling.

The journey has seen her publicly evolve into a fearless figurehead for gender-critical campaigners; someone willing to have battles on X in particular, where she fights fire with fire, and seemingly cannot be cowed.