The Enid Blyton Society

I read "The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail" about 20 years ago and found it fascinating. I believe the authors of that were under the impression that Dan Brown pinched some of their ideas... I seem to remember some controversy about it after the Dan Brown books appeared.

Dan Brown openly acknowledged the influence, calling one of his main characters Leigh Teabing. Richard Leigh and Michael Baigent were two of the authors of The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail, and Dan Brown used Richard's surname and an anagram of Michael's surname to create his character's name.

That's very interesting Anita.. thank you.

Didn't Leigh and/or Baigent try to sue Dan Brown for pinching their ideas without permission, or am I getting mixed up there?

They tried to sue him but failed. Although Dan Brown had written about some of the same themes, his plot and wording were judged to be original.

Daisy wrote:I read "The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail" about 20 years ago and found it fascinating. I believe the authors of that were under the impression that Dan Brown pinched some of their ideas... I seem to remember some controversy about it after the Dan Brown books appeared.

I remember reading The Holy Blood And The Holy Grail * and I think it needs treating with the kind of enormous pinch of salt normally reserved for Erich Von Daniken and his ancient astronauts who built the pyramids.

I always rather like finding reference points and homages in books so I don't think any the worse of an author who uses such things. Not out and out plagiarism of course!

I've read two Dan Browns and it mystifies me how they ever got so popular.




* or at least the Yorkshire version: T' Oly Blood n'' Oly Grail

burlingtonbertram wrote: I've read two Dan Browns and it mystifies me how they ever got so popular. * or at least the Yorkshire version: T' Oly Blood n'' Oly Grail

Perfect long-haul reads burlingtonbertram, chunky enough to last the journey but no close attention required

burlingtonbertram wrote: I remember reading The Holy Blood And The Holy Grail * and I think it needs treating with the kind of enormous pinch of salt normally reserved for Erich Von Daniken and his ancient astronauts who built the pyramids.

* or at least the Yorkshire version: T' Oly Blood n'' Oly Grail

Well, exactly. It might make a ripping good read, but the scary part is when people seriously believe it's all based on fact. (By the way, I have incontrovertible evidence that Elvis is alive and well and living in a top-secret location in the Australian outback. Princess Di contacted me from the other side and told me.)

A few years ago I was doing an editorial internship with Australian Geographic and wrote an article about the recently-completed project to sequence the genome of the zebra finch. My suggestion for the title - which of course wasn't accepted, but it gave my colleagues a laugh - was Cracking da Finchi Code.

burlingtonbertram wrote:I remember reading The Holy Blood And The Holy Grail * and I think it needs treating with the kind of enormous pinch of salt normally reserved for Erich Von Daniken and his ancient astronauts who built the pyramids.

* or at least the Yorkshire version: T' Oly Blood n'' Oly Grail

Baigent, Leigh and Lincoln based The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail (and sequels) on documents faked by Pierre Plantard. Plantard was trying to pass himself off as some great king foretold by Nostradamus and other prophets (or something like that, anyway).

If Baigent et al could have sued Dan Brown, Pierre Plantard could have sued them!

Courtenay wrote:A few years ago I was doing an editorial internship with Australian Geographic and wrote an article about the recently-completed project to sequence the genome of the zebra finch. My suggestion for the title - which of course wasn't accepted, but it gave my colleagues a laugh - was Cracking da Finchi Code.

May I say that is a headline of sheer genius.

Thanks, but in the end I had to settle for the much more prosaic "DNA blueprint of zebra finch gives human language clues". At least we couldn't get sued by Dan Brown for that.

I just loved the romance in the end between Robert and Sophie,it was an excellent description! I wished there was more of it

The Holy Grail thing was very interesting but I guess Dan Brown got too far with it,considering the Mary Magdalene and Jesus thing.

Anita Bensoussane wrote: ↑20 Jun 2011, 08:42 I read The Da Vinci Code a few years ago and was disappointed by it. The puzzles weren't very intriguing (a few times I found myself one step ahead of the main protagonists) and much of the controversial religious speculation was taken from another book called The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail by Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh and Henry Lincoln. However, I've heard from several people that Angels and Demons is a more interesting read so I might give it a go one of these days. I think Stephen, Lucky Star and Nigel have said in the past that they enjoyed it.

I was absolutely thrilled with "The Da Vinci Code". In December 2019 we spent 10 days in California and I ran out of books (I don't like e-books), so we drove to a small bookstore in Carmel-by-the-sea, but none of the newly published books sounded intriguing. Finally I discovered "The Da Vinci Code" and thought I'd give it a try. We had watched the movie around 2006 or 2007 and enjoyed it very much.
The book was even better (I have the illustrated version with lots of color photos from Paris).
I think it's a fascinating novel for everybody who went to Paris.

I also enjoyed "Angels & Demons" and recognized many places in Rome where we have been in 2008. But I didn't like the movie as much as I liked "The Da Vinci Code".