Inside the life of a Jane Austen fan who embraces Regency era living

Jessica Bull, 46, from London, is a Janeite - a term used to characterise devotees of Jane Austen's work.

Transcript

00:00My name is Jessica Ball and I'm a huge Jane Austen fan. I first fell in love with Jane

00:05Austen when I watched the BBC Pride and Prejudice in 1995. After that I read all her books and

00:11I became obsessed with watching all the adaptations and reading everything that I could about

00:16her and visiting every location where she lived. I'm so in love with Jane Austen I even

00:22wrote my own murder mystery series starring her as my sleuth Miss Austen Investigates.

00:27I love the whole look of the Regency period so much so that I got out my old sewing machine

00:33and I made my own Jane Austen costumes and I even made my husband a Captain Wentworth

00:37jacket which he looks very handsome in and together we went to some of the Regency balls

00:42which are held all over the UK to celebrate Jane Austen and learn how to Regency dance

00:46and I'm ashamed to say that he turned out to be much better at it than me.

00:50This year's really special because it's the 250th anniversary of Jane Austen's birth.

00:55It's hard to believe that she lived that long ago and that her books were published

00:59over two centuries ago and yet they're still as relevant, still as funny, still as fresh

01:03for us today and as one of many Jane nights across the country, in fact across the whole

01:08world, I'm going to be going to as many events to celebrate her birth as possible. So all

01:14over the country there's going to be balls, there's going to be special exhibitions, there's

01:18going to be parties in honour of Jane.