Fans of The Da Vinci Code rejoice! Dan Brown expects its main character, the debonair Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon, to provide him with "potentially limitless adventures in exotic locales" over the years ahead.

Brown made the promise in a fascinating 69-page witness statement released today at the High Court in London, where the American author is defending his worldwide bestseller against a charge that it lifts its key ideas from a speculative history published 20 years earlier, The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail.

In the statement, Brown spends relatively little time denying the "astounding" claims of Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh that he stole the "architecture" of their book. He does not even mention the book by name it until the 39th page of his statement and later states that he has still not read of all of it because he finds it "extremely detailed and hard to read".

Instead, the famously reclusive 41-year-old gives a potted autobiography, describing his early artistic endeavours as a musician and composer, his love of science, history and art, and the difficult genesis of his literary career. The message throughout is clear: I am a serious professional writer; I don't steal other people's ideas.

The Da Vinci Code, published in 2003, has sold around 40 million copies around the world. But Brown's first three novels sold only in the thousands and until he received his publisher's advance for DVC, at it has been referred to in this case, Brown continued to work as an English teacher to "pay the bills".

That meant 4am starts and a rigid seven-days-a-week routine that Brown still adopts. Brown's wife Blythe, an art historian, helps him with much of his research, making notes in the margins of books and helping distil the complicated historical jigsaws featured in his novels.

"For me, writing is like a discipline; it requires constant practice and honing of skills. For this reason, I write seven days a week. So, my routine begins at around 4am every morning, when there are no distractions," Brown wrote in his statement to the court.

"By making writing my first order of business every day, I am giving it enormous symbolic importance in my life, which helps keep me motivated. If I'm not at my desk by sunrise, I feel like I'm missing my most productive hours.

"In addition to starting early, I keep an antique hour glass on my desk and every hour break briefly to do push-ups, sit-ups, and some quick stretches. I find this helps keep the blood (and ideas) flowing."

In the statement, released as Brown took the stand to testify against Baigent and Leigh, the author examines the process of inspiration and research for The Da Vinci Code and the three novels which preceded it, Digital Fortress (1998), Angels & Demons (2000) and Deception Point (2001).

He also reveals that his first published book was a wide-eyed list of Los Angeles freaks entitled 187 Men To Avoid, published under the pseudonym Danielle Brown. The book, published in 1995 and long out of print, is ranked number 1,269,342 on Amazon.com, where its entry gives no clue as to the real identity of its author and one of only three reviewers declares: "This book sucks."

It was in Angels & Demons, his second novel, that Brown introduced the character Robert Langdon, named after the artist/philosopher John Langdon, a friend of Brown's father, and inspired by the religious historian Joseph Campbell, whom Brown saw interviewed on a television programme.

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