The Da Vinci con

Author Dan Brown has been accused of merging fact and fiction in his best-selling thriller The Da Vinci Code.

But now it seems a young actress has taken a leaf out of his book to land herself a part in the big screen version of his runaway hit.

Seven-year-old Daisy Doidge-Hill convinced the film's director, Ron Howard, that she was fluent in French at her audition - yet she can barely speak a word of the language.

When she met Howard to audition for the part of a young Sophie Neveu, who is French, she simply repeated parrot-fashion the one phrase she learned in the car on her journey there.

She said: 'Je m'appelle Daisy. J'ai sept ans et j'habite a Falmouth,' which means 'My name is Daisy, I am seven and I live in Falmouth.'

She then told Howard her father was French. In fact, the nearest he ever got to France was when he worked on a cross-Channel ferry.

Daisy's mother, Karen, said: 'I couldn't believe she actually lied to Ron Howard. Daisy has been to France a few times but that's it.

'He obviously believed her because he didn't ask to hear any more.'

Daisy is now feverishly learning French with her drama teacher to prepare for the part of Mlle Neveu, shown as a schoolgirl in flashbacks.

The blockbuster, starring Tom Hanks as Prof Robert Langdon and Audrey Tauto as the grown-up Sophie, will be released next May.