Dan Brown Testifies

[Brown] insisted the claimants' work "was not a crucial or important text" in the creation of the framework of The Da Vinci Code, published in 2003, adding that he was "shocked" by the claims. He said "many" books dealt with the idea that Jesus had been married to Mary Magdalene, that the couple had had a child and that the bloodline survives to the present day. He said he had read almost 30 other books relevant to the subject and more than 300 documents.

"I had never heard of it [The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail] until I'd seen it mentioned in some of our other research books," he said; allegations that he had plagiarised the book, or "hijacked and exploited" it, were "simply untrue".

Mr Brown said he had gone out of his way to mention the book's authors, who he admitted had "brought the [Mary Magdalene] theory to mainstream attention". In his novel, Mr Brown said he named a character after the authors: Sir Leigh Teabing, an anagram of "Baigent" and "Leigh".

He said he inserted the names in his novels only of people whom he respected or cared for. Other authors whose works he mentioned had sent letters of thanks, Mr Brown said, but the plaintiffs had made allegations that contained "numerous sweeping statements which seem to me to be completely fanciful". Mr Brown, dressed in a dark suit and yellow tie, said his novel had been written after joint research by himself and his wife at their home in Exeter, in his native New Hampshire. The couple met in California when he was a songwriter, before he became a full-time author. They married in 1997.

Today the author appeared composed on the stand, only occasionally showing traces of impatience with the questioning of Rayner James, the counsel for the claimants, about documents and dates. "It is as if you have asked me to go back five years or 10 years and asked me not only what I got for Christmas, but what order I opened the presents," Mr Brown said, admitting he could not recall the date he "learned that Mary Magdalene was not a prostitute".