There are a lot of authors of similar conspiracy theory books also crammed in there. You had journalists fighting over chairs today. RUSHTON: Well, I mean, it's a small courtroom, it's a modern courtroom. NORRIS: What's the scene in the courtroom like? And he was even signing books outside, so he appeared fairly relaxed. He, you know, at times he was laughing and even cracking mild jokes. He had ditched his tweed jacket and the black polo necks, the beloved of the lead character in THE DA VINCI CODE, Robert Langdon, and instead he was wearing a sober suit and a tie. He doesn't speak to the media, he's not someone who really likes to go out and sell his own work. NORRIS: Now Dan Brown is known as a recluse. RUSTON: The defense claims that actually Dan Brown's wife, Blythe, annotated the book after THE DA VINCI CODE became a best seller, basically to help Dan onto his critics, who sort of accused him of slamming the church, and that sort of thing. NORRIS: But the book itself, his heavily annotated version of this book, has been, a sort of key piece of evidence in this trial. He says that in actual fact he didn't look at THE HOLY BLOOD AND THE HOLY GRAIL until very late on in writing his novel, and he says he still hasn't read the whole book. KATHERINE RUSTON (Reporter, Book Seller Magazine): Well, he defended his claim. He finally got a chance to speak for himself. Katherine, Dan Brown has been sitting in this courtroom watching all this. She was at the court today when Dan Brown took the stand, and she joins us now. Katherine Rushton is a reporter from Book Seller Magazine. Since the court case began, both books have been flying off the shelves here and abroad. Both books explore the controversial theory that Jesus married Mary Magdalene and produced a child whose bloodlines survive to this day. They claim Brown, an American, stole the central theme for his religious thriller from their 1982 book, THE HOLY BLOOD AND THE HOLY GRAIL. Two British authors, Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh, are suing THE DA VINCI CODE publisher, Random House, for copyright infringement.
In London's high court today, Da Vinci Code author Dan Brown took the stand for the first time to defend his work and his reputation.