The case of the stolen doorknob

We are quite shocked to read this in the Manchester Evening News: (picture source)

THE historic Manchester home of novelist Elizabeth Gaskell has been targeted by thieves.
A brass doorknob on the front door of the house in Plymouth Grove has disappeared.
The Friends of the Gaskell House, who maintain the listed building and which is open to the public, believe it has been stolen for its brass content and are appealing for its return. Famous names such as Charles Dickens, Charlotte Bronte and Charles Halle once visited the home.
Ann Waddington, a member of the Friends group, said: "This home is a local treasure which you'd hope would remain untouched by vandals. They will get very little for that amount of brass content and it means much more to those who enjoy visiting the site."
The circular doorknob, with a lined border, is believed to have gone missing last week and was last seen during an open day on September 6. (John Scheerhout)

We don't know what's worst: the stealing per se or the enormous stupidity of the vandals which took the doorknob... for its brass content!

More reviews with bizarre Brontë references: The Globe and Mail defines Kira Salak's The White Mary like this:

A searing tale of obsession, Kira Salak's first novel, The White Mary, reads as though Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights had been transposed to Joseph Conrad's Melanesia. (Chris Scott)

The same newspaper in its review of Sarah Tilley's Skin Room points out a Wuthering Heights reference:

Teresa's default refuge is the fortress of books stacked around her bed, a favourite being Wuthering Heights. (Jim Bartley)

The Yorkshire Post interviews Hilary Robinson, children's author, radio producer and Brontëite:

What's your favourite part of the county and why?
Haworth. The passion that was inspired by the landscape and which ignited the imagination of the Brontë sisters, especially Emily, is still tangible today.

Another writer and Brontëite is Noelle McCarthy according to the New Zealand Herald:

At the moment the pile consists of: Jane Eyre, the most romantic novel I've ever read[.]

The Washington Post publishes a funny article about David Caruso's Horatio Cane character in CSI Miami. Here is one of the rules of the so-called David Caruso Day:

The more the mundane the spoken sentence, the more it must be delivered with the slit-eyed intensity of a man who has just cornered John Dillinger -- or, if you prefer, the slit-eyed intensity of Laurence Olivier as Heathcliff. The goal here is to make William Shatner look well-modulated. Less mundane sentences spoken in the course of the day (example: "Boss, you can take this job and shove it.") may be delivered with only a pseudo-grim look. (Lisa de Moraes)

The thing here is not the reference but the persistence in the collective imaginary of Laurence Olivier's Heathcliff.

Finally, knittering and A Cup of Tea posts about Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre respectively

Categories: Brontëites, Elizabeth Gaskell, In the News, Jane Eyre, References, Wuthering Heights