Richard Leigh 1943-2007

Sad news: Richard Leigh, co-author of The Holy Blood & the Holy Grail and all-round Dan Brown nemesis, has passed away. Apparently he had been suffering from diabetes, and resolutely refused to have anything to do with doctors (given the greed of the pharmaceutical industry, I can't say I blame him). Richard was good enough to meet me when I was writing The Knights Templar and offer me sage advice on some of the more arcane elements in the Templar story; it was a meeting I have fond memories of, and had even hoped to interview Richard in a documentary about the Templars that never quite happened. (He was enthusiastic about the idea of the film, and agreed at once to the interview.)

You can read The Independent's obituary here.

I'm sure Richard would want well-wishers to donate to the Vancouver Institute for Lycanthropic Children. Or, failing that, the Pushkin Trust, of which he was a trustee.

Gnostics Interview

I have just recorded a second interview for the US radio show Coffee Cigarettes and Gnosis, discussing The Gnostics: The First Christian Heretics, which has just been published in the States. The show goes live this Saturday, 17 November. For anyone who missed the first interview, on the Cathars, you can purchase a download of the show here.

I am currently not writing a novel, no surprises there, perhaps, as we approach the third anniversary of this blog, but am writing a book on new wave cinema for Kamera Books and editing the text of The Cathars down for an illustrated edition, which is due out next summer. I am also struggling to get a feature film completed before men in white coats come and take me to the nearest funny farm. As excuses go for not completing Elias, I think that's a pretty good one. Or a pretty bad one, depending on your point of view.

In the Virtual Alexandria

The US radio show Coffee, Cigarettes and Gnosis interviews me this week on the Cathars. Go here, scroll down to the eye, and click on the musical note to hear the show.