Remembering Adrian Mole and Sue Townsend on their birthdays today

[OneBusyFinch]

oh these wonderful wonderful books, still make me laugh and I do re-read frequently!

Adrian would have been 58 today and the superb Sue Townsend would have been celebrating her 80th birthday.

I’m enjoying it so far, I’m only on page 71, but can see it’s a book that will stay with me. There is one bit so far that has really resonated with me, I won’t say what as don’t want to give any potential spoilers.

Pm me if you want to talk about it! It's dark isn't it?

I’ve not read Ghost but The Woman who went to bed for a year is one of my favourite books.

I’ve just been re-reading the books thanks to this thread. There’s always something new to discover that I missed before.
Pandora’s initials are PLEB (Pandora Louise Elizabeth Braithwaite) although she was anything but a pleb!
Sharon Bott- the surname must be a tribute to the Bott family from the Just William books- which are mentioned a couple of times in the series.
I love the way Sue shows current events through Adrian’s eyes, such as the rise and fall of New Labour. From Pandora becoming one of “Blair’s Babes” in Cappucino Years through to the loss of Glenn’s friend in Afghanistan in Weapons of Mass Destruction. All done with such a light comic touch but absolutely devastating.

I re-read these books every year, but this thread has me searching for the best bits!

In "The Prostrate Years" (love the deliberate Prostrate v Prostate) Bernard Hopkins hooks up with the eccentric lady up the road, Mrs Lewis-Masters. She lived in Africa with her husband importing accessories for camels. I believe her favourite camel's name was Duncan.

Bernard: "Cocker, you're looking at the happiest man in the world! I asked Dorothea to marry me tonight and she said yes!.... Of course, there are conditions. I've got to shave my moustache off. Shame, but there it is. I'm not allowed an alcoholic drink until lunchtime, and I mustn't bother her for sex more than twice a week."

All in the midst of Adrian's cancer treatment, and Daisy leaving him for the local nob. And Mr Carlton-Hayes. How I loved him. I used to own a bookshop and I wished it was owned by Mr C-H instead of myself!

The final bookshop paragraphs, where Mr C-H saved the best books as a 'redundancy' payment for his staff had me in floods. When Bernard found the Rupert Bear 1973 edition at the local church sale, where Rupert was brown instead of white, still makes me laugh and cry.

What a legacy Sue has left. Off to browse the merch site... I might need a tshirt or a mug!

@Designs
Thanks so much for the offer, it looks like you've almost run out of stock!

The power of the web hey? I'm in Australia anyway and it doesn't look like that site does international shipping.

Taa again for popping on to Mumsnet. It's great to know that Sue's family realise what an impact she continues to have.

I am a bit late to this thread but reading it has me laughing out loud. I love AM so much.

I have OCD and I find NYE and the change over to a new year extremely anxiety inducing and triggering because of the uncertainty BUT every single year on 31st December I always go to bed with the quote ‘I went to bed rigid with fear…1983 is my o level year’ in my head and it makes me smile. No one has ever articulated so well the anxiety I feel. Such wonderful wonderful writing.

Adrian loved his old-fashioned words and phrases. He would often say "lavatory", except on one occasion when he got up at 5am to intercept the postman, and the "the postman delivered the letters at 7:30am when I was sitting on the toilet. This is just my luck!" And then, when he supposedly talks on the radio about his lifestyle, he says "I shall make particular reference to my toilet habits".

Adrian wears a Royal British Legion blazer, when he is twenty-four, which is mocked by lots of people. Pandora does not mince her words: "that fucking awful blazer: give it to Oxfam, for Christ's sake". And then later, and I could just imagine a Mumsnet thread about this: "I have just remembered! When I gave my blazer into the Oxfam shop yesterday, my condom was in the top pocket. This means that should a sexual opportunity arise today, I will be unprepared. It also means that I can no longer go into the Oxfam shop - until Mrs Whitlow, the volunteer helper I gave to, dies or retires. She has often congratulated me on being a decent, clean-living young man, although I have given her absolutely no grounds for thinking so."

Sometimes, his tightness with money is absurd; although his cunning ways to save money would be all over Mumsnet now. "Goffe is conducting an enquiry into 'postage-stamp pilfering'. This is just my luck. I was about to send the opening chapters of Lo! The Flat Hills of my Homeland off to Faber and Faber today. I shall have to fork out for the stamps myself. (Stamps were cheap in those days, unlike now!) In the same book, Pandora lists his frugal ways: "You don't drink, smoke, or wear decent clothes. You don't gamble or take drugs. You life rent-free. You don't run a car. Withdraw some money from your precious building society and get help."

Agreed. It's so clever. Watched it on telly with my family when I was a young kid. Loved it.

Started to re read the books a week ago, on number 4 or 5 and can't put them down!

listening on radio 4 extra again this week.
so enjoyable

I read the first Adrian Mole book (inspired by this thread) and really enjoyed it. I'm a few years younger than Adrian, but old enough that I remember the Falklands War and Charles and Diana's wedding etc. I recommended it to young adult DD, but I might need to explain a few things to her - like the significance of a reverse-charge call from Tunisia.

It has a great cast of characters - Grandma, Bert Baxter, Barry Kent, Scruton (the Principal), the neighbours, the nosy postman etc. It reminded me of how small your world is as a teenager - it doesn't extend much beyond your neighbourhood and your school.

My two favourite bits:-

(1) Adrian meets Pandora's parents and Ivan lends him a book, "it is called The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists. I haven't looked through it yet but I'm quite interested in stamp collecting so I will read it tonight".

(2) It's Grandma's birthday and Adrian takes her a plant as a gift, "It had a plastic label stuck in the soil which said, "The sap in this plant is poisonous so take care'. My grandma asked me who chose the plant. I told her my mother did."

Could have done without the foreword by David Walliams though.

My only complaint is that I read it too quickly . Now I'll have to wait until I get back to the bookshop to pick up the next few books.

I finished reading it last night, it was brilliant but bleak like you say and one of those books that will stay with me. I lost 6 babies through early miscarriages and often think what they would be like now especially the eldest. Some parts struck a chord with me but not in a bad way.

The red boots😭

Has anyone else noticed what I think is a mistake with his age? I've nearly finished the Prostrate Years, he has a surprise 40th birthday party,,, it is the year 2008, if he was born in 1967 surely he'd be 41 in 2008.

I had not. Sue Townsend probably by then was having to dictate her books given her failing eyesight, so one mistake is forgivable.

Yes I remember reading that she dictated her later work to her son. I believe he also donated a kidney after she'd been on dialysis for a while and it wasn't working so well anymore.

She died of similar issues to my Dad. He was also diabetic and ended up on dialysis, but wasn't able to have a transplant due to complicating heart issues. I would've given him a kidney without a second thought, I imagine that's how her son felt too 🌺

I finished Rebuilding Coventry last night and loved it. Professor Willoughby D’Eresby and Letitia are some of my favourite book characters ever. A book featuring just them would have been so funny.

Agreed! Eccentricity personified.

I‘ve just bought Ghost Children for my kindle

Have you read it yet? I’m now reading all the Adrian Mole books again, and enjoying them as always.

When filling in a passport form: where it says “sex”, he writes “not yet”, instead of “male”.

I assume I'm not the only enjoyer of this thread who heard 'Falkland Islands' in the news today and immediately thought 'found under a crumb of fruit cake'?

@MoreDangerousThanAWomanScorned no, I had that moment this morning!

I read this yesterday always makes me laugh.

DS1 and I are reading the lost diaries at the moment. We absolutely lost it when Adrian made up a story for William about Noddy and Big Ears going out on the lash for Big Ears’ birthday and getting set upon by a gang of skittles 🤣