The Brontës' actual claim to fame

The Brontë sisters were a repository of illness. After having Emily recently diagnosed with Asperger's we now find out that she, Charlotte and their elder sister Maria were famous dyspraxics. We were tipped off by this reference on Mess and Noise:

I then reveal my total lack of ability on a number of fronts and he kindly diagnoses me with dyspraxia. Up until this point I have never heard of this ailment though on further inspection I discover some telling signs. Apart from the Brontë sisters apparently having this there are very few selling points. (Jamie Hutchings)

And sure enough, here's what Wikipedia has to say about it:

Developmental dyspraxia is a chronic neurological disorder beginning in childhood that can affect planning of movements and co-ordination as a result of brain messages not being accurately transmitted to the body. Up to 50% of dyspraxics have ADHD. It may be diagnosed in the absence of other motor or sensory impairments like cerebral palsy, muscular dystrophy, multiple sclerosis or Parkinson's disease. [....]
Writers suspected to have had the condition include Emily Brontë, Charlotte Brontë, poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge, G.K. Chesterton, Ernest Hemingway, Jack Kerouac and George Orwell.
Helen Burns, a character from Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre, is alleged to have been based on the author's dyspraxic elder sister Maria Brontë.

Unfortunately no source is given. Although probably it comes from Julie Noble's novel Talli's Secret. But we find it funny that the Brontës' collection of conditions and illnesses hasn't made them even more famous in medicine than they are in literature.

Anyway, on to something else. The third season of Downton Abbey has come to an end and Radio Times wonders what the characters' future may hold. BEWARE OF SPOILERS, though.

Series three was tough for poor Edith, what with being abandoned at the altar and all. But now, commuting between London and Downton, she's something of a successful career woman. And with her dreamy new editor clearly stating that he enjoys her company, it's surely only a matter of time before the youngest Crawley sister embarks on an illicit affair.
She'd be wise not to forget the wife in the asylum though. She wouldn't want to find herself being the Jane Eyre in a mad woman in the attic kind of situation... (Ellie Walker-Arnott)

Always Watch Good Movies gives 3 out of 5 stars to Wuthering Heights 2011. Les chroniques d'Erenella (in French) posts about the novel. Raj za rogiem (in Polish) reviews The Professor.