June 22

This Day in History

Also on This Day

Lead Story
FDR signs G.I. Bill, 1944
American Revolution
Congress issues Continental currency, 1775
Automotive
Blockbuster hit movie "The Fast and the Furious" released, 2001
Civil War
Lee strikes back at Petersburg, 1864
Cold War
Cease-fire established in Angolan civil war, 1989
Crime
Notorious Boston mobster Whitey Bulger is arrested, 2011
Disaster
Mysterious crash in Guadeloupe, 1962
General Interest
Hudson set adrift by mutineers, 1611
Louis becomes champ, 1937
Battle of Okinawa ends, 1945
Hollywood
George Carlin dies, 2008
Literary
Anne Morrow Lindbergh is born, 1906
Da Vinci Code author Dan Brown is born, 1964
Music
Bernstein, Copland, Seeger and others are named as Communists, 1950
Old West
General Santa Anna dies in Mexico City, 1876
Presidential
FDR signs GI bill, 1944
Sports
Hand of God helps out Maradona, 1986
Vietnam War
South Vietnamese fight for Fire Base Fuller, 1971
New troops sent to An Loc, 1972
World War I
Erich Maria Remarque born, 1898
World War II
Germany launches Operation Barbarossa—the invasion of Russia, 1941

Literary

Jun 22, 1964:

Da Vinci Code author Dan Brown is born

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On this day in 1964, Dan Brown, author of the international blockbuster “The Da Vinci Code” as well as other best-selling thrillers, is born in New Hampshire. Brown’s extensively researched novels are known for involving symbols, conspiracies and secret societies.

Brown was raised in New Hampshire, where his father taught math at Phillips Exeter Academy and his mother was a musician. He graduated from Amherst College in 1986 then tried to make it as a singer-songwriter in Los Angeles. When his music career failed to take off, Brown moved back to his home state in 1993 and became an English teacher at Phillips Exeter. He eventually started writing fiction and his first novel, “Digital Fortress,” a techno-thriller about a National Security Agency cryptographer, was published in 1998. It was followed by “Angels & Demons” (2000), in which Brown introduced the fictional Harvard University symbologist and future “Da Vinci Code” protagonist Robert Langdon, and “Deception Point” (2001), which centers on NASA and a meteor found in the Arctic Circle.

The three books initially met with modest commercial success and Brown remained a little-known author until the 2003 debut of his fourth novel, “The Da Vinci Code,” which became one of the world’s top-selling novels. The book, which has been translated into more than 40 languages, follows Langdon and police cryptologist Sophie Neveu as they investigate the murder of a Louvre museum curator. The plot also involves hidden messages in Leonardo Da Vinci’s art, the fabled Holy Grail, and the theory that Jesus had a child with Mary Magdalene and the Roman Catholic Church later covered it up.

A publishing phenomenon, “The Da Vinci Code” inspired fans to flock to its various real-life locations in Europe. The novel also stirred up controversy, and some Catholic Church officials labeled it anti-Christian and protested its negative portrayal of the conservative Catholic organization Opus Dei. A big-screen adaptation of “The Da Vinci Code,” directed by Ron Howard and starring Tom Hanks as Robert Langdon, was released in 2006. Hanks reprised his role for the movie version of “Angels & Demons,” which opened in 2009.

Highly anticipated by fans, Brown’s fifth novel, “The Lost Symbol,” which is set in Washington, D.C., and again features Robert Langdon, debuted in 2009. Its first-day sales topped more than 1 million copies.

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This Week in History, Jun 22 - Jun 28

Jun 22, 1906
Anne Morrow Lindbergh is born
Jun 22, 1964
Da Vinci Code author Dan Brown is born
Jun 23, 1929
Michael Shaara, author of The Killer Angels, is born
Jun 24, 1935
Pete Hamill is born
Jun 25, 1857
Baudelaire's Les Fleurs du Mal is published
Jun 26, 1892
Pearl Buck's birthday
Jun 27, 1953
Alice McDermott's birthday
Jun 28, 1888
Robert Louis Stevenson sets sail for the South Seas

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