This is Charlotte Brontë calling from a Haworth phone box. Will you accept the charge?

The actor Peter Bourke recalls an anecdote which happens in Haworth in The Telegraph:

I met Alan [Bennet] through his great friend Patricia Routledge. We had appeared in the BBC version of David Copperfield in 1974 (I was Tommy Traddles, she was Mrs Micawber) and we had remained close. One day, Pat wanted to go to Haworth as research for an audiobook of Wuthering Heights. She invited Alan to the B&B where we were staying for dinner. “Will that be good enough for him?” I asked. “He’ll love it, whatever it’s like. It will be copy for him.” He arrived looking immaculate in his uniform of sports jacket, pullover and grey flannels, and we went into the bar which was all wrought iron threaded with plastic vines. Pat got up to phone her father to say good night, so we combined the few coins we had between us for the payphone in the hall. Eventually, the coins ran out and Alan phoned the operator: “This is Charlotte Brontë calling from a Haworth phone box. Will you accept the charge?” It was a very funny evening and I enjoyed seeing life through the prism of Alan’s mind. Eventually, he said: “No one should live with a writer. It’s such a lonely job and makes people impossible to live with. But I’ve had a good day today.”

The Times lists a re-run of Walking Through History for today, January 3:

Walking Through History (Sky History 2, 8pm)

Tony Robinson tramps across the West Yorkshire moors to trace the stories of the Brontë family. He is an excellent teacher, modest and honest (“I must admit there’s a part of me that does find whole chunks of the books really hard going”), keen to expand his audience’s and his own understanding. (Helen Stewart)

Belfast Telegraph lists several books for 2021:

CJ Carey's Widowland (Quercus, June) is an inventive feminist dystopian novel set in a 1950s Nazi-ruled Britain. Rose, who works at the Ministry of Culture, is tasked with rewriting literature to correct the views of the past, including making Jane Eyre more submissive and Dorothea Brooke less intelligent. (Martin Chilton)

On Eidos, an article on the Ninth Day of Christmas: 

When given a choice between an eternal vision of a great good and a small, temporary vision of a lesser good, we hastily choose the greater over the lesser. This is rational, seemingly, but quite untrue to life.

The great is always greater than the lesser, but the lesser is sometimes appropriate to our status! Hope and I love each other dearly, yet sometimes this love comes from watching Muppet’s Christmas Carol and other times from Jane Eyre. 

Jane Eyre is greater than Muppet’s Christmas Carol, but there are days for the lesser good! (John Mark N. Reynolds)

Bright Star reports how they should like different characters from screen adaptations:

Edward Rochester (Jane Eyre).  The director of the film Cary Fukunaga said that when he was choosing the actor for the part of Rochester, he realized that there were people that looked more like the book character, but he still felt that Michael Fassbender was a better choice. Charlotte Brontë described Rochester as a man with a heavy brow, dark hair and brown eyes, big nostrils, and a stern face.

Diario de Mallorca (Spain) presents Bridgerton but has quite a wrong idea about both the Brontës and Emily Dickinson:

Cuando uno piensa en las hermanas Brontë o en Emily Dickinson siempre vienen a la cabeza imágenes de grandes explanadas verdes al borde de acantilados, elegantes mansiones de color beige y largos vestidos sobre enaguas y corsés. (Carla Melchor) (Translation)

What?

La Repubblica (Italy) quotes an Italian student on the impact of the pandemic:

Le videochiamate, le chat con gli amici. "I libri, sì, i libri mi hanno fatto compagnia. Adoro leggere. In quei mesi ho divorato Jane Eyre e Orgoglio e Pregiudizio". (Maria Novella de Luca) (Translation)

Il Manifesto (Italy) interviews cinematographer Robbie Ryan:

Rita Di Santo: Con il secondo lungo di Andrea Arnold, «Cime Tempestose» (Wuthering Heights) ti sei confrontato con un film in costume. 

R.R.: Ambientato nelle bellissime vallate dello Yorkshire ha richiesto molta energia fisica. Il tempo era piovoso, il terreno scivoloso e fangoso, ho indossata degli stivaletti da rugby per tenermi in piedi. Anche filmare i cavalli in corsa è stata impresa ardua. Ho utilizzato una IMO, una camera militare molto piccola usata negli aeroplani per i bombardamenti, è stata una rivelazione per quelle scene. Ho utilizzato delle lenti Panavision. Ho sempre bisogno di buone lenti sul set. Era ottobre il periodo perfetto dell’anno, con i colori più belli della natura, un paesaggio che da verde diventata giallo, una brughiera spettacolare. Questa luce naturale ha conferito una grande forza evocativa alla storia, ha aiutato le emozioni ad imporsi. (Translation)

Donaukurier (Germany) recommends audiobooks:

Den Anfang machte im Frühjahr - Anlass waren die Corona-Beschränkungen - der viktorianische Roman "Jane Eyre" von 1847. In 44 Folgen wird die Geschichte des Waisenmädchens Jane erzählt, das sich trotz seines schwierigen Schicksals zu behaupten weiß. Dass dieses Buch mehr ist als eine historische Romanze, ordnet WDR 5 Spezial für seine Hörerinnen und Hörer ein: Zu jedem der Bücher gibt es eine ergänzende Gesprächssendung, in der man etwas über seine Entstehungsgeschichte und Bedeutung erfährt. Zum Beispiel, dass es zur Zeit der Autorin Charlotte Brontë für Frauen absolut unüblich war, Bücher zu veröffentlichen - sie erschienen deshalb oft unter einem männlichen Pseudonym. Dennoch schrieb auch Brontës Schwester Emily - und zwar den schaurigen Liebesroman "Sturmhöhe", der auch als Podcast verfügbar ist. Ebenfalls zu den viktorianischen Romanen zählt "Stolz und Vorurteil" von Jane Austen. (Translation)

Tónica (in Spanish) and 45 Seconds (in French) also insists in Villette as a new The Haunting of possibility. BankersAdda posts the English Language Quiz for IBPS 2021 Mains Exams which includes a Jane Eyre-related question. Teresa Smith Writes finds the six degrees of separation between Maggie O'Farrell Hamnet and Jane Eyre.