7 December 2013 - DAN BROWN


DAN BROWN


G'day folks,

Here are some facts about Dan Brown, renowned for his best selling novel The Da Vinci Code.

He was the eldest of three children in Exeter, New Hampshire. Dan did his schooling from Phillips Exeter Academy, which was considered to be a highly exclusive school. His father was a mathematics instructor in the same school. His mother on the other hand was a music professor; chiefly involved in practicing very revered music. Even though Dan Brown attended open-enrollment schools, till he entered 9th grade, he nevertheless lived with his family and also pro-actively took part in college related activities, which were also influenced greatly by Christian norms and traditions; such as singing carols in the Church and going to College Camp.



After graduating from school, Brown then went to Amherst College to obtain a degree in English and Spanish. He graduated in the year of 1986 and then later spent numerous years trying to get himself established as a singer cum songwriter and pianist, but unfortunately was met with very minimal success. 

Notwithstanding, these attempts did allow him to relocate to Los Angeles where he took up the profession of teaching Spanish at Beverley Hills Preparatory School; in order to get a steady income. He also met his lady love, Blythe Newlon over there, who was actually twelve years his senior and served as the Artistic Director of the National Academy of Songwriters. With the development of their relationship, Newlon used the power of her position to promote Dan’s career. 



However, it so happened that despite Brown’s talent, four of his music CD’s were produced and backers started speaking of him as the next Barry Manilow. But because of his slightly reclusive nature, he was unable to garner sufficient acclaim for his talent and further his musical career. Therefore during the year of 1993, he decided to return back to England and managed to get an English teaching job at Phillips Exeter Academy. Newlon also accompanied him. 

In 1997, Dan Brown came out with his first thriller, Digital Fortress. He went on to write Angels and Demons and Deception Point. His masterpiece, The Da Vinci Code was published in March 2003 and sold nearly 6000 copies on its very first day and reached the New York Times’ Best Seller List in its very first week.


Court case:

The court case against the American author claimed that Dan Brown had plagiarised some of the material he used in his hit novel, the 'Da Vinci Code'. The case, which was also filed against Dan Brown's U.K. publisher, Random House, claims that Dan Brown actually copied a large amount of information from the book, 'The Holy Blood and The Holy Grail'.

Richard Leigh and Michael Baigent, the authors of the historical book called, 'The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail', brought Dan Brown to court. 'The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail' is a non-fiction book that looks into the history of some of the themes presented in the 'Da Vinci Code'. The only similarity found between the two books is that their theme revolves around Jesus being married to Mary Magdalene and that they had a child and the family bloodline is still in existence today. Both books also suggest that when Jesus was crucified, Mary Magdalene escaped to France.

The non-fiction book researched and written by Leigh and Baigent was fist published twenty-four years ago, in 1982. To date the book has sold some 2 million copies. It has also become popular in recent years as the publication of the 'Da Vinci Code' sparked a mass interest in the theme.



The London appeal court case was dismissed by three senior judges. This is the second rejection that Richard Leigh and Michael Baigent have received on their case. Previous their case was taken to the High Court where it was also dismissed.

It is thought that the historians, Leigh and Baigent are facing up to three million dollars in legal fees. The case against Dan Brown is likely to stop here. There is one more legal route that the historians can take and that is to file for permission to take their case to the House of Lords. However as of yet no application has been filed.

For the initial case against Dan Brown his wife Blythe, who did much of the research for the book, was said to have known she was basing much of her research on just the historians' book.



After the historians brought the appeal case against Brown one of the judges, Lord Justice John Mummery said, "In my judgement, the judge rightly held that the claimants have not established that a substantial part of 'The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail' has been copied."


Clancy's comment: I am led to believe that The Da Vinci Code sold more than 25 million copies during the period of the court case. Mm ... Don't ask me about my conspiracy theory.

I'm ...








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