Actors, politicians, novelists and poets have written of how they were inspired by the classic works of the Bronte sisters.

Their personal reactions to novels like Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre have been compiled in a special book, which went on show at the Bronte Parsonage Museum in Haworth today.

Among the contributors is pop idol Cliff Richard, whose coat, which he wore in the 1996 rock musical Heathcliff, is also on show at the museum as part of an exhibition called A Passionate Response: From Mrs Gaskell to Cliff Richard.

Among the other contributors are former Coronation Street star Thelma Barlow, Yorkshire authors Alan Bennet and Stan Barstow, and Denis Healey, a former Keighley lad.

Cliff writes: "Had there been no Elvis, there'd have been no Cliff. If there'd been no Emily, there'd have been no Heathcliffe. Elvis inspired my career. Emily provided what for me was my most satisfying and successful artistic achievement."

Thelma Barlow says: "The Brontes affected me as a young girl. It seemed so romantic and sad, but in later years that response has changed and become one of huge admiration for their writings. To bring such understanding and breadth of experience to their work while living in a seemingly uninspiring environment is quite awe-inspiring."

Parsonage curator, Rachel Terry, said: "We wrote to a number of people to get a snap-shop of what the Brontes had meant to them in their creative lives, how they had been inspired by them or attracted to them.

"One phrase which comes through time and again relates to the Brontes' courage in their writing and their lives."

She said the original responses would be kept in the archive and after the exhibition closes in January, the book would be available for people to read.