A TV comedian has been named ambassador of a Hampshire charity. David Baddiel - who made his name as one half of The Mary Whitehouse Experience - will take on the role at Jane Austen's House Museum. The popular actor and writer is a long-standing admirer of Jane Austen’s writing style and wit and has said in the past that the author of Pride and Prejudice "single-handedly created the modern English novel."

Of his appointment as Jane Austen’s House Museum’s 2019 Ambassador, he added: "Jane Austen, often depicted as just a sparky spinster, is in fact one of the greatest geniuses in English literature, the mother of the modern novel.

"The reason her work is still read and filmed today is that she created a type of storytelling that was at once eternal and centuries ahead of its time. I’m proud - as a much lesser storyteller - to be the ambassador for Jane Austen’s House Museum in 2019. Also it’ll really upset Giles Coren."