Flying off the shelves faster than Dan Brown

A British academic has sold more than 100 million copies of his English textbook, equivalent to twice the global sales of Dan Brown's blockbuster The Da Vinci Code .

But unlike Mr Brown, who became a multimillionaire thanks to his bestselling novel, Westminster University lecturer Russell Stannard made just £30,000 from his teachers' guide to an English course for Chinese children.

Mr Stannard, a senior lecturer in multimedia at Westminster, is one of the highest selling UK academic authors ever thanks to his guide, which is published by Macmillan and Chinese firm FLTRP and sells for about 50p.

In the four years since it first appeared in classrooms, the guide, New Standard English , has become a favourite in Chinese primary schools as a result of its drama, poetry and story-based approach.

In it, Mr Stannard describes aspects of British culture such as our love affair with curries and coffee bars and the custom of buying a hamburger at half-time at a Sunday football match.

He said: "If the pupils are more interested in the culture of our country, they will be more motivated to learn the language and grammar.

"I was commissioned to write the book by the publishers, but I suggested having more tips on British society.

"There will soon be more Chinese who speak English as a second language than native English speakers in the world. New Standard English will have contributed a great deal to this."

He said that one reason for the success of the book was that teachers in China were consulted.

"We got lots of feedback from them about what they wanted and what they didn't like about the first edition of the book."

He added: "The books are sold very cheaply so that as many people as possible can buy them. Much of the money is ploughed back into training, so I haven't really made that much."

Mr Stannard has written ten other books on teaching English as a foreign language and was the director of a Spanish language school before he joined Westminster in 2000.

Although his textbook has not made Mr Stannard as wealthy as Mr Brown, it has changed his life. "It has led to lots of other work. I now write for an English newspaper in China marketed at university and college students, I give talks and do consultancy work," he said. "I have been to China about ten times. I am learning Chinese and plan to go there this summer to study in a language school."

Although it has far exceeded The Da Vinci Code success, New Standard English has some way to go before it beats the Harry Potter series.

Worldwide sales of J. K. Rowling's books on the wizard have topped 250 million and have been translated into 61 languages.

But the publisher Penguin believes The Bible is still the best-selling book of all time.