BRIDGEPORT, Pa. — Some of the biggest books of the early 2000’s had a water polo connection in character Professor Robert Langdon of the book series: Angels & Demons (2000), The Da Vinci Code (2003), The Lost Symbol (2009), Inferno (2013) and Origin (2017). The character is a Harvard University professor of history of art and “symbology” (a fictional field related to the study of historic symbols).
Tom Hanks portrayed Langdon in the Robert Langdon film series, starting with the 2006 film adaptation of The Da Vinci Code, reprising the role in the 2009 film adaptation of Angels & Demons, and again in the 2016 film adaptation of Inferno.
Author Dan Brown created the character as a fictional alter ego of himself or “the man he wishes he could be”. Brown himself was born June 22, 1964, in Exeter, New Hampshire, and the fictional Langdon is described as having been born on June 22, also in Exeter, and attending the same school as Brown did, Phillips Exeter Academy. Initially it is established that Langdon is a successful scholar who Brown named after John Langdon, a professor of typography at Drexel University who is known for his creation of ambigrams. An example of Langdon’s ambigrams appeared on the cover of the first edition of Brown’s novel Angels & Demons, and other ambigrams featured throughout that novel were also designed by Langdon. On the acknowledgments page, Brown calls Langdon “one of the most ingenious and gifted artists alive … who rose brilliantly to my impossible challenge and created the ambigrams for this novel”.
The character of Landon is described as looking like “Harrison Ford in Harris tweed”, with his standard attire being a turtleneck, Harris Tweed jacket, khakis and cordovan loafers, which he wears in all instances, from lectures to social events. A frequently referred to accessory is his Mickey Mouse watch, a gift from his parents on his ninth birthday. He drives an automatic Saab 900S.
The water polo connection comes about as Langdon is described as a diver at Phillips Exeter Academy in prep school who played water polo at Princeton University where he went for college.
Known for a brilliant problem-solving mind and his genius, Langdon has an eidetic memory. As professor at Harvard University, he teaches religious iconology and the fictional field of symbology. As a hobby it is specifically mentioned that Langdon is a great swimmer and swam laps (50) daily, a “morning ritual,” at Harvard’s athletic facility (hence the lap swimming scene in Angels & Demons). However, the movie does not use what would be the appropriate facility of Blodgett Pool (thus using creative license and giving the water polo/swim teams more time in the pool).
