Few Yorkshire people are likely to object to the idea of an extra bank holiday being created specially for the county. Even those who have never read a novel by a member of the famous Haworth literary family would gladly celebrate Bronte Day if it was given to them.

Britain currently has fewer bank holidays than most other European countries. With leisure time increasingly at a premium for many people, an official extra annual day off would help to give a boost to tourism.

It is an interesting idea from the Institute for Public Policy Research to suggest that the Brontes should provide the inspiration for the extra holiday it clearly feels we need and deserve. It also makes sense for the proposed extra day to be created on a regional basis, with different parts of the country celebrating their own days off at different times of the year, thereby staggering the breaks rather than having the whole country shut down at the same time.

However, the suggested timing of the extra holiday for Yorkshire - June 6, which is when the Japanese celebrate their Bronte Day - might raise a few eyebrows. We already enjoy several bank holidays around that time of year, with Easter being followed by May Day and Spring Bank Holiday.

That date was chosen apparently because it was when Branwell Bronte, as a six-year-old, was given a set of toy soldiers by his father and the sisters began writing miniature books for them. Perhaps the Bronte archives could be scoured for another significant moment in the lives of the family, away from the cluttered late spring/early summer period.