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The Da Vinci Code declared Britain's book of the year
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-04-21 09:10

"The Da Vinci Code", the global best-seller which has been condemned as a pack of lies by the Vatican, was named book of the year at the British Book Awards.

Copies of Dan Brown's 'The Da Vinci Code.' 'The Da Vinci Code', the global best-seller which has been condemned as a pack of lies by the Vatican, was named book of the year at the British Book Awards. [AFP]

US author Dan Brown's conspiracy thriller has enjoyed worldwide sales of more than 25 million copies, been translated into 44 languages and is due to become a Hollywood blockbuster starring Tom Hanks.

But it has also sparked a furious religious debate -- a fact that Brown said caused him much delight.

"For the record, it is a novel," the former teacher, who rarely makes public appearances, said in a videotaped acceptance speech at the literary awards ceremony in London.

"The Da Vinci Code" is a quasi-historical thriller which claims Leonardo Da Vinci's painting "The Last Supper" holds the key to the Holy Grail.

It sets out that the Grail is not a chalice, as traditionally believed, but Mary Magdalene. It also claims Jesus and Mary married, had a child and that their bloodline survives to this day -- a secret kept by the Catholic Church.

Senior figures in the Vatican have widely condemned the novel.

"Don't read it, and above all, don't even buy the Da Vinci Code," Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, Archbishop of Genoa and right-hand man to the new Pope Benedict XVI, told Vatican radio last month.

Also among the winners at Britain's 16th annual book awards, held at the Grosvenor House Hotel, was former US president Bill Clinton whose memoirs "My Life" won biography of the year.

Footballer Paul Gascoigne scored with his autobiography "Gazza: My Story", which was named the year's best sports book.

Actress Sheila Hancock won the title of author of the year for "The Two Of Us: My Life With John Thaw", in which she wrote frankly about her marriage to the late Inspector Morse star.

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