DaVinci code is a good book for drunk campfire read-alouds. Or for starting campfires so long as you give it time to dry out after you use it to line your cat box.
I spent my summers as a kid near Albi, my father a historian who was always digging through archives. In fact, when I was a kid, a friend of mine and I made a treasure map, in Napoleonic French on period paper, found it, asked a neighbor about it, and were thrilled when the neighbor smashed a hole in a wall we had called out. There was some kerfuffle after that but the neighbor claimed he was just humoring us, and that was how I learned how to lay brick. This whole episode reminds me a lot of Eco's "Foucault's Pendulum" how myths and BS combine and grow. Great stuff!!
Okay I have to add this: You are already discussing the Holy Grail and you brought up Arthur! When Tom asks Dominic his age (19:30), I immediately think of "My name is Dennis. I'm 37". Surely I am not the only one who knows the scene where King Arthur asks the peasants "Who lives in that castle?" I was born in 1960 and grew up as a teen with Monty Python, where it had an inordinate impact on my life and humor. Am I the only one struck by the parallel?!
I’d read blood and grail in the early eighties and was absolutely riveted. And being a geek read more round the subject, and quickly realised it was rubbish. Read Dan brown when it came out and was astonished how bad it was. To the degree that I would frown disapprovingly at people reading it in trains and buses. (Both a geek and a tad pompous 😅)
Another excellent broadcast. I thought, however, there was no need to mention that Dan Brown was schooled at Phillips Exeter Academy (known as PEA). We prefer to keep that a secret. - Robert Plumb, PEA 1972
Interestingly, I read both “Angels & Demons” and “The DaVinci Code” while living in Rome with access to the actual locations described in the books as well as the ability to research some of the significant aspects of the stories.
i never saw the Da Vinci code, but I too read Holy Blood, Holy Grail. I came to the conclusion it was horsepucky before I dragged myself over the finish line. It has long been an annoyance to me, as I keep finding avid Da Vinci code believers, and there"s no way to convince them it is founded on sand.
4:32 I read it in 2003 and couldn't put it down. The prose was terrible but I was just transported from one place I knew to another, having read Henry Lincoln's stuff. The only place mentioned that I have not been inside (walked past s few times) was the Masonic Temple in London...
I couldn’t pick it up after the first page and a half! The turgid attempt at prose was a complete turn-off, despite being on holiday in Cape Town, in a winery.
Dan Brown ruined a great story with his execrable novel lifted in part from Holy Blood and the Holy Grail but in response to his critics and to reference Liberace ‘they had him crying all the way to the bank’ 😂
Richard Leigh Michael Baigent & Henry Lincoln authors of HBHG sued Random House the publisher of BOTH books Da Vinci Code & HBHG. Dan Brown was a witness to the plagiarism trial claimed he only became aware of HBHG on his 3rd draft of Da Vinci Code. BS!
Read 'The Holy Blood and The Holy Grail' back in the 1980s. Tedious doesn't do it justice. The same authors, or two of the three, can't remember, then brought out a book about the mystery of Rudolf Hess. Equally as tedious. Should have learned my lesson.
I read the first third of the book during the hype to see what it was all about, but had to give it up out of boredom. Just such a bland and overrated book. Most overhyped thing I tried to read since Primary Colors (a much "celebrated" book by a then-anonymous author about a faux-Bill Clinton), which was also atrociously dull and I had to give up on midway through. I swear this isn't the norm for my reading habits.
The masters of saying IF before an opinion and then from there referring to what was IF as established fact. How all the phoney pseudo myths get printed.
Grrr. I've heard a lot of people mention the trinity and other words such as trinitarian but nobody ever explains anything. My suspiscion is that actually nobody understands the trinity and everyone skips over it to save embarrassment. What say you?
DaVinci code is a good book for drunk campfire read-alouds. Or for starting campfires so long as you give it time to dry out after you use it to line your cat box.
David and Winston Churchill are hilarious together. Who knew
God I love these podcasts! So interesting but never without a smile. Carry on the great work, much needed in these too serious times! 😍
I spent my summers as a kid near Albi, my father a historian who was always digging through archives. In fact, when I was a kid, a friend of mine and I made a treasure map, in Napoleonic French on period paper, found it, asked a neighbor about it, and were thrilled when the neighbor smashed a hole in a wall we had called out. There was some kerfuffle after that but the neighbor claimed he was just humoring us, and that was how I learned how to lay brick.
This whole episode reminds me a lot of Eco's "Foucault's Pendulum" how myths and BS combine and grow. Great stuff!!
Okay I have to add this: You are already discussing the Holy Grail and you brought up Arthur! When Tom asks Dominic his age (19:30), I immediately think of "My name is Dennis. I'm 37". Surely I am not the only one who knows the scene where King Arthur asks the peasants "Who lives in that castle?"
I was born in 1960 and grew up as a teen with Monty Python, where it had an inordinate impact on my life and humor. Am I the only one struck by the parallel?!
I'm very surprised by how this became one of my absolute favorite episodes 😂
I’d read blood and grail in the early eighties and was absolutely riveted. And being a geek read more round the subject, and quickly realised it was rubbish. Read Dan brown when it came out and was astonished how bad it was. To the degree that I would frown disapprovingly at people reading it in trains and buses. (Both a geek and a tad pompous 😅)
Another excellent broadcast. I thought, however, there was no need to mention that Dan Brown was schooled at Phillips Exeter Academy (known as PEA). We prefer to keep that a secret. - Robert Plumb, PEA 1972
Was your school mascot a pea?
Interestingly, I read both “Angels & Demons” and “The DaVinci Code” while living in Rome with access to the actual locations described in the books as well as the ability to research some of the significant aspects of the stories.
i never saw the Da Vinci code, but I too read Holy Blood, Holy Grail. I came to the conclusion it was horsepucky before I dragged myself over the finish line. It has long been an annoyance to me, as I keep finding avid Da Vinci code believers, and there"s no way to convince them it is founded on sand.
I only saw the movie, so I wasn't aware of Brown's insistence on the factual accuracy of the novel.
I loved The DaVinci Code - rollicking good fun.... It was a great page turner.
I thought that the study of symbols is called semiotics.
it is
I’m wondering if this podcast came out on April 1st.
I had been everywhere mentioned in the book DVC before I read it (Because I had read THBATHG as a kid...
4:32 I read it in 2003 and couldn't put it down. The prose was terrible but I was just transported from one place I knew to another, having read Henry Lincoln's stuff. The only place mentioned that I have not been inside (walked past s few times) was the Masonic Temple in London...
I couldn’t pick it up after the first page and a half! The turgid attempt at prose was a complete turn-off, despite being on holiday in Cape Town, in a winery.
Love it!
This was brilliant, thank you so much.
Dan Brown ruined a great story with his execrable novel lifted in part from Holy Blood and the Holy Grail but in response to his critics and to reference Liberace ‘they had him crying all the way to the bank’ 😂
Richard Leigh Michael Baigent & Henry Lincoln authors of HBHG sued Random House the publisher of BOTH books Da Vinci Code & HBHG. Dan Brown was a witness to the plagiarism trial claimed he only became aware of HBHG on his 3rd draft of Da Vinci Code. BS!
I want to be a person like you guys.
Why weren’t our history lessons at school like this?
Read 'The Holy Blood and The Holy Grail' back in the 1980s. Tedious doesn't do it justice. The same authors, or two of the three, can't remember, then brought out a book about the mystery of Rudolf Hess. Equally as tedious. Should have learned my lesson.
absolutely riveting and funny. Infinite regress of conspiracy driven marketing 😂
It's like Hercule Poirot was there in the room.
Not going to lie, I bought the heck out of some tartan in Scotland. No regrets😂
Don Revie...😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
I read the first third of the book during the hype to see what it was all about, but had to give it up out of boredom. Just such a bland and overrated book. Most overhyped thing I tried to read since Primary Colors (a much "celebrated" book by a then-anonymous author about a faux-Bill Clinton), which was also atrociously dull and I had to give up on midway through. I swear this isn't the norm for my reading habits.
I read the Holy blood in 83 and found it so Indiana Jones like felt a work of fiction so never read code as already saw the same rubbish
The masters of saying IF before an opinion and then from there referring to what was IF as established fact. How all the phoney pseudo myths get printed.
Grrr. I've heard a lot of people mention the trinity and other words such as trinitarian but nobody ever explains anything. My suspiscion is that actually nobody understands the trinity and everyone skips over it to save embarrassment. What say you?
"My suspiscion is that actually nobody understands the trinity and everyone skips over it to save embarrassment" huh? What is their not to understand?
it's just a suspiction.