Withering slights… or how Radio 4’s Nick Robinson left red-faced after mixing up Jane Austen with a Bronte

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Everyone knows a husband who isn’t informed will face his wife’s disapproval.

Nick Robinson found himself in trouble on Tuesday’s Today programme – and even with his wife! – after accidentally confusing Jane Austen with another famous female author while discussing the 250th anniversary of Austen’s birth.

During a conversation about Jane Austen Day with his colleague Anna Foster, 62-year-old Robinson volunteered to perform a dramatic reading of Austen’s novels on the Today Programme, and even offered to wear period costumes.

He mistakenly mixed up Jane Austen with Emily Brontë, jokingly saying he’d go get his Heathcliff costume.

The presenter, who makes £410,000 at the BBC, quickly received many complaints pointing out that Heathcliff is actually a key character in Emily Brontë’s 1847 novel, Wuthering Heights.

Adrian Hilton was puzzled by a comment made by Nick Robinson during a Jane Austen event. Robinson apparently said he’d “pop out and get his Heathcliff,” leading Hilton to wonder if Robinson mistakenly believed Austen had written Wuthering Heights.

Later on in the program, Robinson mentioned that his wife, Pippa Robinson, who he’s been married to for 34 years, was upset with him for accidentally sharing the information. She had contacted him to express her displeasure.

He mentioned his wife, and many others, had all sent him the same message: “Please don’t dress up as Heathcliff!”

Robinson made another mistake by asking listeners to consider this: if a program was highlighting BBC standards, would it be appropriate for someone celebrating Jane Austen to then announce they’d be dressing as a character from a novel by Charlotte Brontë?

Mixing up Charlotte, who wrote Jane Eyre, with her young sister Emily.

Robinson jokingly referenced Donald Trump’s legal action against the BBC while apologizing for his mistake. He sarcastically offered to pay five billion dollars to a Jane Austen charity to make amends for the offense he caused to both the charity and Austen’s fans.

Thousands of Jane Austen fans gathered in Bath in September to celebrate the author’s 250th birthday and participate in the annual Jane Austen Festival.

Jane Austen, the author of famous novels like Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, and Emma, became closely associated with the city of Bath because she lived there from 1801 to 1806.

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2025-12-17 02:51