Da Vinci Code author says rip-off claims are 'completely fanciful'

DAN BROWN, one of the highest paid authors in history, said yesterday accusations that he had stolen the ideas for his blockbuster, The Da Vinci Code, were "completely fanciful".

He went into the witness box at the High Court in London to defend his publisher against claims that his internationally successful novel lifts from The Holy Blood And The Holy Grail, a bestseller itself after it was published in 1982.

Mr Brown agreed that his novel had been written after joint research by himself and his wife, Blythe, at their home in Exeter, New Hampshire.

But he said The Holy Blood And The Holy Grail was just one of many books he studied and from where he took the idea that Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene, they had children who survived and married into a line of French kings and that the bloodline survives until the present day.

That idea is part of the central theme of the book, whose co-authors, Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh, are suing Random House, the publisher of both books.

In a statement put before the court, Mr Brown said: "Messrs Baigent and Leigh are only two of a number of authors who have written about the bloodline story and yet I went out of my way to mention them for being the ones who brought the theory to mainstream attention."

He added: "I have been shocked at their reaction. Furthermore, I do not really understand it."

Mr Brown said the two authors had made serious allegations against him in their statements to the court.

"The documents contain numerous sweeping statements which seem to me to be completely fanciful."

He said he had been accused of lifting the overall design of The Holy Blood And The Holy Grail - its logic and its arguments - and using them in The Da Vinci Code.

"This is simply not true."

He concluded his witness statement: "I would like to restate that I remain astounded by the claimants' choice to file this plagiarism suit.

"For them to suggest, as I understand they do, that I have 'hijacked and exploited' their work is simply untrue."

Mr Brown said he grew up on the campus of Phillips Exeter Academy, where his father was a teacher and where he graduated and taught English before turning to writing full time.

He said he viewed creative writing as "a discipline" that required constant practice and honing of skills.

"For this reason, I write seven days a week. So my routine begins at around 4am every morning, when there are no distractions."

He said favourite themes - included in his four novels to date - are codes and treasure hunts, with the Holy Grail being the quest in The Da Vinci Code.

"It was wonderful fun - for me codes and treasure hunts have always been a passion."

He said before he began on the book he was not enjoying writing for a living, had no money and considered giving up.

Encouraged by his wife and parents, he went on to write his blockbuster which took in all the themes he loved - a treasure hunt for the Holy Grail with a storyline taking in historical fact, legend, myth and fiction.

One of the themes in The Da Vinci Code was "secret history' - those parts of the past which had been lost or twisted by historical revision or subversion, Mr Brown said.

He said: "There is a huge amount of information in The Da Vinci Code that is not in The Holy Blood And The Holy Grail, and I find it absurd to suggest that I have organised and presented my novel in accordance with the same general principles as those in The Holy Blood And The Holy Grail or that I have plundered not only the facts in The Holy Blood And The Holy Grail but also the relationship between the facts, the evidence to support the facts. It is simply not true."