Also on this day

James II, right, flees England after being deposed in favour of his nephew, William of Orange.

North Tower of the World Trade Center becomes the tallest building in the world at 1,368ft. literature (now appearing on the £10 note) but at the time her name was largely unknown because her works were published anonymously.

Sense And Sensibility was written “by a lady”. It sold well and later works were attributed to “the author of Sense And Sensibility”. This was common. Others female authors such as the Brontë sisters used pseudonyms: Emily, Anne and Charlotte became Ellis, Acton and Currer Bell. Women were not expected to write.

Austen was only revealed after she died, when her brother Henry wrote a preface to her posthumous novels. Her position at the head of the literary table has long been confirmed and she sits alongside male counterparts as one of the great English writers.

A century after Jane’s death, Virginia Woolf wrote: “Here was a woman writing without hate, without bitterness, without fear, without protest, without preaching.” From Colin Firth’s iconic Darcy to the 1995 Alicia Silverstone hit movie Clueless, based on Emma, reworkings show how timeless she is. There could be worst ways to de-stress this Christmas than settling down with one of her novels.

Last week I asked which composer was born in Bonn in 1770. It was Beethoven. This week: which much-loved Scottish poet was born this day in 1955?

Watch Shaun and his colleagues on The Chase on ITV at 5pm every day of the week.