My Friend Jane


My Friend Jane

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I think when I'm reading her

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I can't help but smile.

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You feel elegant when you're reading it, I think.

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My ultimate goal is to be able to walk into a ballroom and go,

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"Ah, excellent, all the men are properly dressed."

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She is my hero in every way.

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She's witty, she's brave, she's fond of a good laugh.

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I think that the manners and the courtesies that people

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showed each other then, it was a nice way to live.

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How big of a fan am I?

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I try to explain it this way. On a scale of one to ten, I am a 12.

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I do often think, "What would Jane Austen think of what I'm doing?"

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I should imagine she'd make comments such as,

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"I do wonder what is missing from these people's lives that they

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"should hark back to old days, rather than modern ones."

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When I pick up a book by Jane Austen it is like catching up

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with a really good friend.

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"It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man

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"in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife."

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It's just a brilliant quote. It's such a good opening line.

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I am starting to write my invitations to my ball.

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I've got 40 to get through, so it might take a while.

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I would consider myself a Janeite.

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You've sort of got people like me who have read all the novels,

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the unfinished work, the lesser-known works,

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read her letters, read everything,

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seen all the films.

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But there's not, like, a checklist of things you have to cover

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to be a Janeite.

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If you've just seen Pride And Prejudice, that's fine.

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-I'm not fussy.

-SHE LAUGHS

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Oh, no, don't put that in!

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My name is Sophie Andrews,

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I am one and 20 years old,

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and I have been a fan of Jane Austen since I was 16.

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I quite enjoy the motions of writing with this quill pen,

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although I can't imagine writing a whole novel like this.

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It would take forever.

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This is my bedroom.

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I'm not allowed to have too much of my Austen stuff

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around all of the house, so I have to limit it to just my bedroom,

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plus I've spread into my sister's old bedroom as well.

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I've got this lovely artwork,

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and then Mrs Bennet Bear,

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made for me by my friend.

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These are very pretty editions of my Austens.

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They're my personal favourites.

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These are my older editions that I've collected of her works.

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No first editions. I wish. Far too expensive.

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Artwork done for me by a friend for my 18th birthday.

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Cross-stitch done for me by a friend for my 21st birthday.

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Oh, there's all sorts of things going on.

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That's all my gloves, that's my fans, that's my shawls.

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Some more bonnets going on.

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That's all my jewellery.

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Anything that comes up on eBay that I just, I don't know,

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I just have to grab it.

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I could probably open up my own museum, I think.

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I always had a bit of a hard time at school, being a bit

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sort of "different",

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and struggled with bullying and all sorts.

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My home life at that time was just not nice,

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not enjoyable at all.

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It was not somewhere I wanted to be,

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and not something I like to remember.

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It was amazing to have Jane to escape into.

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A quote was, "Let other pens dwell on guilt and misery."

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And that's what she does,

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she doesn't include all of that in her stories.

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It's very nice to imagine yourself there

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and forget about the rest of the world.

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Through Jane Austen I found myself, I found who I'm supposed to be.

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When people do look, I mean, I really don't notice it any more.

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When I'm with other people they notice, simply cos it's unusual.

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The thing I particularly like about the Regency period has got

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to be the sheer elegance of it.

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People say, "Does it take you long to get dressed in the morning?"

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And I go, "No, it's just part of my routine."

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My name is Zack Pinsent, I'm 22, and I'm from Brighton,

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well, Hove, actually, down in Sussex,

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and I'm a period tailor.

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The only time people ever stop me is to sort of

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comment or ask, you know,

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"Are you in a play? Are you in a film?"

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And I'm just like, "No, this is just me generally."

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And they never believe me!

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What cup do you want?

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-Do you have my dog mug?

-Your dog mug?

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The one with the Chihuahua.

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People will say,

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"Well, don't you ever feel like throwing on jeans and a T-shirt?"

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And I go, "You know what? No.

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"I'd much rather wear an 18th-century banyan

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"if I'm going to slum it at home."

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Why dress up in jeans and a T-shirt when you can go along to Tesco's

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dressed as, you know, Napoleon or something?

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-Milk?

-Yes, please.

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I've always loved period clothing and all of this.

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From a very young age I've been fascinated with vampires,

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you know, the old Christopher Lee Draculas.

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A lot of the time when I'm out with the family they'll sort of forget

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that I'm dressed in period clothing and go, "Why is everyone staring?

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"Oh, yeah. You're wearing a top hat."

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I went through a phase of wanting to be an undertaker,

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which was weird.

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There aren't many seven-year-olds who are saying,

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"I want to be an undertaker!"

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I think it was more the pomp and ceremony that I enjoyed.

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Well, a lot of people would say what I make is costume,

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and, in the very essence, they're correct, in a way.

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But I'd say what I do is I make period clothing.

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I'm using 200-year-old tailoring systems to draft patterns

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and then using historical cloth and construction methods as well.

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Jane Austen's interesting, and she's funny.

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She's a very, very funny lady.

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And she describes what people are wearing in such detail.

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Well, you realise that this woman knew what she was on about

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when it came to fashion.

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BELL RINGS

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I still get really nervous whenever a client's coming over.

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Even if it's the toile fitting, you know, the first stages.

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-Hello.

-Hello. How are you?

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You're putting yourself on the line there.

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It's your work they're wearing.

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Gosh, thank you very much.

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-Oh, are these from your garden?

-Yes.

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You need to make sure it's right because once you cut the cloth

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there isn't really much going back from it.

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I've got the tail coat laid out over here.

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-It's in bits, clearly.

-Yeah.

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I think my clientele, the reason they come to me is

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because I will do it accurately, and they trust me to do that.

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-So we're going for three-button closure.

-Nice.

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If you're going to spend money on an outfit,

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why not do it properly?

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I think you've lost a little bit of weight.

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It's like you wouldn't build a Formula 1 car

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and not use carbon fibre.

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You know, I wouldn't make a Regency tail coat without using broadcloth superfine.

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-It's got the great big puff going on it.

-Yes.

-Yeah.

-Yes.

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Because you wanted the puff.

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-It's always easier to take things off than add.

-Yes.

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I've got a lot to thank Jane Austen for because without her

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we wouldn't have the sort of focus on the Regency period that we do in this country.

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You've got decorative flaps.

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-I love the collar.

-Oh, thank you very much.

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-Do you want to have a look at the buttons as well?

-Yeah, sure.

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We've got some lovely, lovely brass buttons from Savile Row!

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That fits quite nicely under there.

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He's got to get it right!

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Cos every single eye in the room will be on me.

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It is important, because if you roll up looking like you've

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made something out of curtains...

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Yeah.

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How's that feeling weight-wise?

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-Nice.

-Yeah?

-Nice. Balanced.

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Balanced. Thank you. I do try.

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"I'm not fond of the idea of my shrubberies being always approachable,

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"and I should recommend Miss Elliott to be on her guard

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"with respect to her flower garden."

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He's just such a snob.

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And taking the arms up above the head,

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if that's OK for you.

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My name is Yasim Zaman,

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and I work as a mindfulness and yoga teacher.

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Expanding the breath with this wide-focus lens of attention.

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My understanding of a Janeite is someone who really enjoys

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everything that she's written,

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her family, where she lived,

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how that had an influence on her writing.

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She has a way of getting people to just expose

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themselves as being ridiculous or hypocritical

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or totally heartless.

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"Being the means of bringing persons of obscure birth into

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"undue distinction, and raising men to honours which their fathers

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"and grandfathers never dreamt of."

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You always get to know them better with each reading.

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It's like watching a rerun on TV, you know,

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you just come across the same scenes and really look forward to it.

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I used to have a job that took me all over the world

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and sometimes I would be sent into quite difficult situations,

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quite tense or politically fraught.

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One particular posting I had, it was to North Korea.

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My room in the hotel I stayed in, it had, probably, a two-way mirror.

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You knew you were always been spied on.

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Um, and just for comfort, I used to just get into bed

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and just open my complete volume of Jane Austen and just lose myself,

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so I could forget how uncomfortable it was.

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"As it cuts up a man's youth and vigour most horribly,

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"a sailor grows old sooner than any other man."

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I'll always have, if not the complete volume,

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then I'll have something that can fit in my backpack or into my

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handbag, that I can just pull out and find my place, back into sanity.

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SHE CHUCKLES

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So I'm very excited, because I've got my first ball

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which I'm hosting myself

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coming up soon.

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It is a big year for Jane Austen, 200 years since she passed away,

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so I wanted to link into that a celebration of her life.

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I kind of feel obliged to wear it, you know...

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Having attended many myself now, I know what's involved,

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and what should be expected of me as host.

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-LAUGHTER

-I'm quite nervous.

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A cushion.

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We are here at Basildon Park in Berkshire,

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and I'm having a picnic with all my friends.

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-..the pineapples fancy or pineapples delight.

-Aawww!

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A bit of a pre-get-together before the ball in a couple of

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weeks' time.

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Just talking about the dances and what everyone's going to wear.

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-Oh, the bonnet's off!

-Bonnet's off!

-LAUGHTER

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Basically, the idea with the ball is that we're trying to dance

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-dances that were Jane's period.

-Can we dance cat in pattens?

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-We are dancing cat in pattens. Yes. We are.

-CHEERING

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But we did a dance at your birthday which had a little...

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-Ship's cook!

-That's the one.

-Yeah, it was great fun.

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We just want to come here and have fun and talk Jane Austen among

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other people that really appreciate Jane and love her in the same way.

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-Are you making a new dress for it?

-No, I'm just... I'm adjusting...

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REGENCY ERA DANCE MUSIC PLAYS

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-We're all really close.

-LAUGHTER

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It is quite surprising how close I feel to some of them.

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The fact that we've got the Austen love in common,

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that immediately connects us.

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-Oh!

-LAUGHTER

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I'm so sorry.

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You wanted some outtakes, right?

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You did want some outtakes, didn't you?

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All of her characters are still totally relatable today.

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I know plenty of flirts like Lydia Bennet

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and chatterboxes like Mrs Bennet, I know all of those.

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TYPING

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"Darcy sighed.

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"The task before him was as daunting as he had anticipated.

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"But at least she was not feigning ignorance as to his meaning."

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Jane Austen fan fiction, or JAFF for short,

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is a huge number of books, written by

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and for people who just can't have enough of Elizabeth and Mr Darcy.

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So far, I've written seven Austen-related novels,

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I'm working on my eighth now.

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One thing I can...I can say about myself is that I never thought

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I would do what I do now.

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I started off with a career in the sciences.

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I had trained as a doctor, worked as a data analyst in clinical trials.

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The career break after my son's birth changed all that.

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"She stopped and turned towards him, waiting.

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"He did not keep her waiting long."

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The genre is absolutely huge.

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Something in the region of 30-60 new ones are published every month,

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either on Amazon or on other platforms.

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I literally can't wait for the day to start.

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On a couple of occasions, I stayed up at night,

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caught into this scene, and before I knew it, it was actually daylight.

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I've been writing all through the night.

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It's absolutely...

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tremendously exciting.

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-Oh, maybe a coffee.

-OK.

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Yeah, yeah.

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My definition of a Janeite is someone who passionately

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loves Jane Austen and makes a conscious decision to live

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with Austen in his or her life in a purposeful way.

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CAMERA CLICKS Ooh!

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How big of a fan am I? I try to explain it this way.

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On a scale of one to ten, I am a 12.

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My name is Claudine Di Muzio.

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I am from Long Island, New York.

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I am an elementary school principal.

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And I am an avid reader and a Janeite blogger.

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I choose to blog about Jane Austen and think about Jane Austen

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and connect with other people who love Jane Austen in so many

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different ways that carry, really, many threads throughout my life.

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Look at that wallpaper. That is pretty, isn't it?

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Jane Austen fan fiction really appealed to me

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because I always wondered, "What happened to Darcy and Elizabeth?

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"What was their story after they were married?"

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We know how Jane brought them together,

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but I really wanted to read about them as a couple.

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We first came across each other online about two years ago,

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when she wrote to tell me how much she enjoyed my first book.

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I then discovered that she had many other books,

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so I started devouring all of her variations.

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I think I read them all consecutively.

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And I thought, "Wow, this is top-tier JAFF,

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"I want to reach out to this author

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"and just let her know she is amazing."

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We started communicating on social media,

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and for a long time I was hoping that she'd come over

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and we can do a Pride And Prejudice pilgrimage tour together.

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And I was just so excited that...

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it's going to happen very, very soon.

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Just knowing that she is going to be right next to me soon,

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and I'll be able to have a real face-to-face conversation with her,

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it's just incredible.

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Today, here, of all places, at Jane Austen's house, it's

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a very good moment.

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People who never would have met otherwise

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and they're brought together by their love of Jane.

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-So wonderful to meet you!

-You're here! Oh, my goodness!

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I'm so excited to see you! So excited!

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I'm never going to let you go.

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We're going to take you with us.

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-Oh, I'm going to keep you here.

-LAUGHTER

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Oh, wow!

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This is incredible. Look at this.

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Wow. Amazing.

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-This is amazing.

-It's wonderful, isn't it?

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Just to think that she lived here, wrote here,

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had her breakfast here.

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Just unbelievable to think she could sit there and write so much.

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My real-life friends who are not Austenites don't really

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get it, but people like Claudine just get it 100%.

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To think that just

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so many of the stories that millions of people loved for over 200

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years were generated at this very place, at this very view.

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I kind of see so many things in my life through this lens of

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how Austen experienced things as a woman.

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She was able to persevere throughout her life, even though she lived in a

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time when the course of her life was really very different

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from what most women either wanted or chose for themselves.

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-The ring.

-The ring.

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Jane's famous ring.

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She didn't have a lot of possessions. Right?

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-I mean, compared to what we have today.

-Mmm. No.

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-Just the average person.

-Absolutely.

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It's very unpretentious jewellery, just...just like her.

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Simple. Beautiful and simple.

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Right, next at the top. One...

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The thing that struck me, reading Jane Austen's novels,

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was that the society she wrote about, the genteel society,

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was exactly like the Bangladeshi Indian society that I grew up in.

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And start again.

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We are at my weekly Regency dance class,

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with the Duke of Wellington's Dancers.

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Ladies, right-hand...

0:18:550:18:58

Men, slide.

0:18:580:19:00

We're really being put through our paces today.

0:19:000:19:02

Garth's being particularly picky about our footwork.

0:19:020:19:06

Ronde, ronde.

0:19:060:19:08

It's a marriage market, when I was growing up.

0:19:080:19:12

And exactly like in Jane Austen's time.

0:19:120:19:16

You were a commodity, passing from your...

0:19:160:19:19

from your father to your husband.

0:19:190:19:23

Reading the books, I just thought, "Wait, I've been there.

0:19:230:19:25

"I know this situation."

0:19:250:19:27

Men, moulinet.

0:19:280:19:31

We've been together a very, very long time.

0:19:430:19:47

As one of my friends once said, "Life's too short to train two."

0:19:470:19:50

-Yeah.

-So, we remain married.

0:19:500:19:53

Yeah, OK.

0:19:530:19:55

We were married in 1980,

0:19:580:20:00

and our courtship was fraught with problems.

0:20:000:20:05

Every time I went along to Ros's flat, thinking,

0:20:050:20:08

"Oh, yes, this is it," there'd be a bloke there...

0:20:080:20:10

-SHE LAUGHS

-..playing the guitar or playing the saxophone,

0:20:100:20:14

-while she played the piano.

-This is true.

0:20:140:20:16

And I used to think, "Well, she's just giving me a bit of a hint,

0:20:160:20:19

"isn't she?" So...

0:20:190:20:20

I would leave it alone for a few months, and then think,

0:20:200:20:22

"Oh, I really do like her."

0:20:220:20:24

I'm a solicitor, and my work is to work in the Crown Courts

0:20:280:20:32

in fairly serious criminal trials.

0:20:320:20:35

These are called front fall breeches, and when the gentleman

0:20:350:20:39

wanted to go to the toilet, he undid these two buttons.

0:20:390:20:42

I'm a bit of a show-off. It's part of my job.

0:20:420:20:44

HE LAUGHS

0:20:440:20:46

I mean, I wear a wig on my work days!

0:20:460:20:49

And this flap folds down,

0:20:490:20:52

enabling him to do what he wants to do.

0:20:520:20:54

SHE PLAYS REGENCY ERA MUSIC

0:20:570:21:00

My passion for music has always been there.

0:21:020:21:05

I always wanted to play the old instruments, and I don't know why.

0:21:050:21:09

I just knew I always wanted to.

0:21:090:21:11

I managed to buy a spinet, which I absolutely love

0:21:130:21:16

and is like a baby harpsichord.

0:21:160:21:19

I just adore it.

0:21:190:21:21

Having the sounds of that echoing round the house is absolutely

0:21:210:21:24

-wonderful, isn't it?

-Mmm.

0:21:240:21:26

This is the only piece of music that's referred

0:21:280:21:32

to in the Jane Austen books at all, and that's Robin Adair.

0:21:320:21:37

My father was an engineer.

0:21:430:21:45

I've had a practicality inherited from him.

0:21:450:21:49

And I always liked the idea of having something to

0:21:490:21:51

show for my efforts.

0:21:510:21:53

Well, I'm the luckiest woman in the world,

0:21:540:21:56

cos my husband makes my clothes.

0:21:560:21:58

I started making the first one.

0:22:010:22:03

Well, yes.

0:22:030:22:05

Because I do know how to make clothes from normal modern patterns.

0:22:050:22:08

And you said... You looked at it, and you didn't actually say it,

0:22:080:22:11

but you obviously thought, "Crikey, she's making a mess of that!"

0:22:110:22:15

To me, it was no more than engineering with cloth.

0:22:170:22:20

But then, of course, Ros can't wear the same thing twice,

0:22:220:22:24

can she? So we had to have new dresses all the time.

0:22:240:22:28

And now we've got several.

0:22:280:22:30

What do you think Jane Austen would think of this passion?

0:22:320:22:35

It's a brilliant question. I don't know.

0:22:350:22:37

-It's a very good question.

-LAUGHTER

0:22:370:22:39

She'd probably think we were a bit sad, really, wouldn't she?

0:22:390:22:42

She probably would.

0:22:420:22:43

I mean, if you read some of the things she says in her novels,

0:22:430:22:46

they're very cutting.

0:22:460:22:47

I should imagine she'd make comments such as,

0:22:470:22:49

"I do wonder what is missing from these people's lives that they

0:22:490:22:53

"should hark back to old days rather than modern ones."

0:22:530:22:55

SHE LAUGHS Yeah, she may well say that.

0:22:550:22:58

I have to say, the balls are what I enjoy the most.

0:23:120:23:17

So, it's a big day today.

0:23:210:23:23

The ball has arrived.

0:23:230:23:26

I can't believe it's here.

0:23:280:23:30

It's been a long time, sort of all the preparations and everything.

0:23:300:23:34

I just hope it all comes together today.

0:23:340:23:36

It's going to be different to the sort of, you know,

0:23:370:23:40

the hostess in the centre of attention.

0:23:400:23:43

Mostly I just want everyone to enjoy themselves.

0:23:430:23:46

The hair I am going for today is inspired by Jennifer Ehle's

0:23:480:23:52

hairstyle in the 1995 production of Pride And Prejudice.

0:23:520:23:56

We'll welcome them in with a bowl of negus, which is

0:23:570:24:00

a traditional Regency era sort of punch.

0:24:000:24:04

Just got to get the hair finished, get the dress on,

0:24:040:24:07

and then I'll be...

0:24:070:24:09

ready to hostess.

0:24:090:24:10

Going to balls is really an amazing experience.

0:24:160:24:20

It's completely different from normal life.

0:24:200:24:22

Welcome.

0:24:220:24:24

When you introduce yourself to people,

0:24:240:24:25

you just kind of automatically curtsy, and the men bow back to you.

0:24:250:24:29

-LAUGHTER

-I'm going to hug you.

0:24:290:24:31

I suppose my ultimate goal is to be able to walk into a ballroom and

0:24:310:24:35

go, "Ah, excellent. All the men are properly dressed."

0:24:350:24:40

Nice to see you again.

0:24:400:24:42

People will start to talk, as well, in a more Regency way.

0:24:420:24:45

Hello! Welcome.

0:24:450:24:48

I think that the manners and the courtesies that people showed each

0:24:480:24:52

other then, it was a nice way to live.

0:24:520:24:54

It's just amazing that all these people are stepping back in time.

0:24:570:25:02

I actually find it quite bizarre.

0:25:020:25:04

It's wonderful, but it's bizarre.

0:25:040:25:06

Hello!

0:25:070:25:09

I am just so excited and a little nervous,

0:25:090:25:12

because it's my first time at an event like this.

0:25:120:25:16

Hello! Oh, my gosh, hello!

0:25:160:25:19

It's going to be such fun.

0:25:190:25:21

It's the first ball that we are going to together,

0:25:210:25:23

and hopefully one of many.

0:25:230:25:24

Everybody, to a certain extent, is trying to recreate 200 years ago.

0:25:260:25:31

APPLAUSE

0:25:310:25:34

I'm thrilled to welcome you all here today,

0:25:340:25:36

to my "Gilder Of Every Pleasure" ball.

0:25:360:25:39

My sincere thanks to all of you for coming here,

0:25:390:25:43

and enjoy your dancing as we honour our friend Jane.

0:25:430:25:47

APPLAUSE

0:25:470:25:50

THEY PLAY REGENCY ERA MUSIC

0:25:500:25:52

To the right. And turn to the left.

0:25:520:25:55

And back again.

0:25:570:26:00

First couple, down the dance.

0:26:000:26:03

And back.

0:26:070:26:09

And pass.

0:26:090:26:10

A lot of dress-comparing and "Who's got the biggest fashions

0:26:100:26:14

"and things?" goes on.

0:26:140:26:16

The first thing you do is look at what everybody's wearing.

0:26:160:26:18

I mean, that is the first thing.

0:26:180:26:20

Well done.

0:26:200:26:21

So, I've been talking to the chap who's really keen on clothes,

0:26:210:26:24

and of course it makes me feel completely inadequate,

0:26:240:26:26

wearing this, you know.

0:26:260:26:28

You really put yourself on show,

0:26:280:26:30

and you open yourself up to a lot of criticism.

0:26:300:26:33

I wouldn't say it's quite as malicious or competitive...

0:26:330:26:38

Hmm, no, competitive, it can be competitive.

0:26:380:26:41

He came up to me and he said,

0:26:410:26:42

"Oh, no, that's a Laughing Moon pattern, isn't it?"

0:26:420:26:44

Just... "How did you know?"

0:26:440:26:46

"Oh, you can tell them a mile off."

0:26:460:26:48

You need to be all-inclusive, you know, which is exactly what we do.

0:26:480:26:51

You know, we don't discriminate against anyone in this hobby.

0:26:510:26:54

It's fantastic.

0:26:540:26:55

It all seems to be going really well.

0:26:570:26:59

Everyone seems to be having a really good time.

0:26:590:27:01

I still get that real thrill each time, with everyone dressed like

0:27:010:27:03

this and the music, and it feels, you know, a little bit like you're

0:27:030:27:06

200 years ago, in one of her novels.

0:27:060:27:08

It's great.

0:27:080:27:10

I loved it.

0:27:110:27:13

I loved the dancing so much more than I ever expected to,

0:27:130:27:16

even though I am not nearly as refined or as practised

0:27:160:27:19

as the ladies and gentlemen inside.

0:27:190:27:21

I think Jane would be absolutely amazed that, 200 years later,

0:27:340:27:39

we're all dancing jigs and having a wild time.

0:27:390:27:44

You know, she said she was wild for dancing.

0:27:440:27:47

So here we are, wild for dancing as well.

0:27:470:27:50

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

0:27:520:27:56

Thank you all for coming.

0:27:560:27:58

"The person, be it gentleman or lady,

0:28:010:28:03

"who has not pleasure in a good novel must be intolerably stupid."

0:28:030:28:08

LAUGHTER

0:28:080:28:09

I think Jane would be thrilled that her novels are still

0:28:090:28:13

enduring as much as they are.

0:28:130:28:16

I think she would approve of the way that we celebrate it,

0:28:160:28:19

and think that we're just having a good time.

0:28:190:28:22

What we do now, having picnics, going to balls, all of this,

0:28:220:28:26

it's all escapism.

0:28:260:28:29

It's your little sort of happy world to jump into.

0:28:290:28:33

You know, pop along to a ball every now and then

0:28:330:28:36

and just forget the modern world.

0:28:360:28:37

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