The Brontës did well at the writing game

There's always something going on at the Brontë Parsonage Museum. See today's example from The Telegraph and Argus, together with a cartoon (by Spencer):

Stand-up comedian Arthur Smith took to lying down when he paid a call to the Bronte shrine at Haworth.
In his latest assignment for the BBC’s The One Show, he spent a night sleeping in the Reverend Patrick Bronte’s bedroom at Haworth Parsonage.
His billet was a reproduction of the bed the clergyman slept in every night until his death, aged 84, in 1861, and where his son Branwell died, aged 31, ruined by drugs and alcohol.
The comedian’s hope for a ghostly visitation never materialised – his sleep disturbed only by the chiming of the clock on the landing – the same one wound every night by Mr Bronte, said Bronte Parsonage Museum collections manager, Ann Dinsdale.
Mr Smith was at the Parsonage as part of his series of reports for the show on the homes of famous literary types.
He has also been at Thomas Hardy’s birthplace in Dorset and to the home of Jane Austen in Bath.
Before retiring for the night, he interviewed Bronte Parsonage Museum director Andrew McCarthy for the show, learning about how the three literary sisters, Charlotte, Emily and Anne, spent their lives there.
Then, holding a candle, he went upstairs and got into the bed based on the painting by Branwell called Summoned From Sleep.
It shows Branwell in bed being approached by death in the form of a skeleton,” said Mrs Dinsdale.
Next morning Mr Smith got up and had porridge in the kitchen where the Brontes would have eaten.
“He was very funny and extremely interested in the Brontes, especially the poetry,” Mrs Dinsdale added.
The filming over, the comedian asked for a map of Haworth moors and went off alone towards Top Withens – reputed to be the location of Emily’s classic Gothic novel, Wuthering Heights.
His visit is expected to be shown on the topical weekday evening show, fronted by Adrian Childs and Christine Bleakley, next Thursday.
On Saturday, February 20, Bronte guardians are holding an open day when the Parsonage Museum will be thrown open free to people who live in the BD20, BD21, and BD22 postcode areas. (Clive White)

So, that's a date to write down: next Thursday (February 18) keep an eye on the telly (BBC One, 19:00). Two dates to write down actually if you happen to live in one of those postcodes and are free on February, 20th. Or three dates to write down if adventure racing is your thing as Haworth will be home to it this Sunday, also according to The Telegraph and Argus.

EDIT: A YouTube video with a clip from the show can be found here.

Fu Ying, the Chinese Ambassador in the UK, is leaving after three years and writes a bittersweet farewell letter in the Telegraph, where she shows she wanted to be/was once a visitor in Haworth too.

British literature was part of my education, as it is for most Chinese. Being here has given me the luxury of tracing the roots of some of the famous names I have read and loved. I can still picture the little round table under the window where Jane Austen wrote Pride and Prejudice; the open moor that inspired the Brontë sisters gave me much to think about, too. I spent many happy hours in Wordsworth's lakeside home. British culture is such a magnet for countless Chinese.

And The Independent, talking about the forthcoming The Secret Diaries of Miss Anne Lister, says that there is more to Brontë country than meets the eye.

'The Secret Diaries of Miss Anne Lister', will trace her extraordinary life as a prototype modern lesbian, said Brian Robinson, from the BFI, adding, "There was more going on in bonnets and Brontë country than we ever imagined." (Arifa Akbar)

Well, perhaps the Brontës are not everyone's cup of tea, but the Herald (Ireland) stating openly that Patrick Brontë is a person ' you've probably never heard of' might be going too far.

Amidst telling you things you already know -- flares were fashionable in the 70s -- the meat of the magazine [Ireland's Own] are articles about people you've probably never heard of: Brian Gamlin, who designed the modern dartboard; Francis Crosby, America's most prolific hymn-writer; and Patrick Bronte, the man from Co Down whose daughters, Charlotte, Emily and Anne, eventually did well at that writing game. (Tom Dunne)

Talk about 'telling you things you already know'!

The New York Review of Books takes a look at the book The Accidental Billionaires: The Founding of Facebook, A Tale of Sex, Money, Genius, and Betrayal by Ben Mezrich. The early days of Facebook are descibed as follows:

... the early Facebook nonetheless appeared as a natural extension of the atmosphere of college, where everlasting friendship often seems as simple as making another late-night dorm-room acquaintance, and whether one names Jane Austen among one's favorite authors, or removes Charlotte Brontë from the list, can seem enormously important, deeply representative of one's shifting personality. (Charles Petersen)

The Covington Reporter suggets a trip to the library for Valentine's Day inspiration:

Whatever Valentine's Day means to you, visit the library for great new ideas, good role models, bad role models (think “Wuthering Heights” or “Fatal Attraction”), or additional perspectives on the idea of love. (Marsha Iverson)

A good idea too might be giving to your loved one a copy of Wuthering Heights featuring the beautiful cover by Ruben Toledo, which is among the items included in The Washington Post's Trend Report.

As for blogs, Bookish reviews Wuthering Heights and The Little Musings of LV posts about the 2009 screen adaptation. Maddalo writes at length about Jane Eyre and Wallpaper discusses both Jane Eyre and its prequel, Wide Sargasso Sea. Archiviste de jour writes in French about the famous Pillar Portrait. And Another Binkley Sister Blog reviews Elizabeth Newark's Jane Eyre's Daughter.

Categories: Books, Brontë Parsonage Museum, Brontëites, Haworth, Movies-DVD-TV, Wuthering Heights