Little-known fact about Jane #3

Following the Panorama programme in which he investigated the most humane ways in which to execute a criminal, former Conservative MP Michael Portillo has now begun filming a new South Bank Show documentary Being Jane Austen, in which he dresses up as the novelist for two months, and lives the life she would have lived. “Michael has become a dab hand at petit point, and is proficient at the clavier, but he is finding his bodice a little cramping,” reveals the film’s editor, Lord Bragg.

By Craig Brown The Telegraph 26/01/2008 http://www.telegraph.co.uk