Charlotte Brontë did NOT die of TB

One more reminder of the sad times we live in when figures matter more than people. Keighley News reports that the local people in Haworth are fighting to save to Haworth Post Office.

Residents have rallied round after it was revealed that the branch at the top of Haworth Main Street is earmarked for closure.

Devastated manager Sammy Ahmed, who has run the post office on a temporary contract with wife Samira for nearly three years, has been given notice it will shut on August 26.

Post Office Ltd confirms it is proposing to relocate facilities to the new Co-op store in the village and has begun a public consultation – which ends on August 27.

Mr Ahmed, 59, said: “When I got the call to say it was closing I was absolutely devastated – and a lot of people are upset about it.

“I love the local people and the village and we’ve made some wonderful friends.

“The backing we’ve had from customers following this announcement has been fantastic – I’ve been quite overwhelmed.

“A lot of individuals and businesses rely on us. We provide a whole range of services to the community.

“We also cater for the many tourists who come to Haworth. We help them out with maps and they call here for change – they’re not going to want to walk over half a mile to the Co-op post office to get change.

“There’s also the heritage. There has been a post office at the top of Main Street since Bronte times.”

Post Office Ltd says the move to the Co-op would mean longer opening hours, with the same range of products and services on offer. (Alistair Shand)

A contributor to The Reviews Hub writes about the stage adaptation of Jane Eyre at the Blue Orange Theatre, Birmingham giving it 3 1/2 stars out of 5.

This engaging, modest production has little to be modest about. An emerging spiky protagonist is allowed to breathe-in Brontë’s energy and passion without labouring under the imposition of any identity politic appropriation gender-agendas. Me Rochester, you – sweet, sweet Jane. That’s the way she wrote it. The Blue Orange Theatre crew are pushing the boat out with serious intent, launching an ambitious programme of shows in equally serious need of punters getting on board. Use them or lose them. (John Kennedy)

The Irish Times features Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons.

While it’s true that Gibbons was mocking the novels of country life by writers such as Mary Webb and Sheila Kaye-Smith that were enormously popular in the 1920s, and indeed was parodying in a sophisticated and intricate way very much bigger fish such as Hardy, Lawrence and Emily Brontë, Cold Comfort Farm can be enjoyed for the lively and funny read it is without knowledge of this literary background. (Brian Maye)

We don't agree with the view M Night Shyamalan has of Emily Brontë. From an interview in Times of India:

It’s important for me to not concentrate on criticism and talk. Emily Brontë died thinking she was a failure, and after she passed away, people milked Wuthering Heights. (Rachana Dubey)

As far as we know Emily didn't care about that at all and Wuthering Heights wasn't 'milked' until many, many years later.

Tomorrow marks the centenary of the first successful vaccination against tuberculosis and Echo Live (Ireland) lists some of the most famous victims of the disease:

Famous people who had their lives cut short by TB included writers George Orwell — who finished 1984 before succumbing to it — DH Lawrence, and Robert Louis Stevenson, poet John Keats, aged just 26, actress Vivien Leigh, and all three of the Brontë sisters within six years of each other. (John Dolan)

Charlotte Brontë did NOT die of TB.

And that clarification is again needed for this article from The Boston Globe:

In the 18th and 19th centuries, tuberculosis (also called consumption) was praised as a sign of culture and refinement. Charlotte Brontë called the sickness, which would end up killing her and all her siblings, “a flattering malady.” (Jeff Jacoby)

We insist: Charlotte Brontë did NOT die of TB.

A columnist from Guerrillero (Cuba) is a fan of Jane Eyre. The Times lists the Brontës among 'unschooled genius' but we know that this is not really true. The part of unschooled, not the genius one.