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 have never seen a dead body or a female nipple. This is what comes of living in a cul de sac'.

I loved those books so much - though read them for the first time when I was about Adrian's age and when I re-read them later realised I had hardly understood them! I remember being particularly confused by the scene where his mum and dad argue about her possibly adulterously conceived pregnancy - 'If the cap fits!' 'But I was wearing my cap!' - because I had never heard of a contraceptive cap at the time.

Adrian Mole is a work of comedy genius. Currently re-reading the Secret Diary. Loved the 80s series too, especially the theme tune. And, Adrian's poetry was brilliant (or should that be 'Adrain', as per Pandora's spelling mistake with a sparkler?).

One of best parts of all was "The Secret Diary of Margaret Hilda Roberts" (the teenage Mrs Thatcher).

Up at 5am. Did two hours of delicious mathematical equations, then woke my mother. Honestly, she would stay in bed until 7:30am, if I let her!
I took a cold water bottle to bed to punish myself for stealing a raisin.
If the filthy socialists ever take power, I shall refuse to drink free school milk. If the poor cannot afford it, they must go without.
A letter from her headmistress: "She is top of the class in every subject, barring art, which she sees no point in doing. Margaret is wearing out my staff with her constant demands for more work. She is an ambitious and clever girl, but must learn to tolerate those of us who are rather more fallible."
In a letter to the Queen: "I am convinced that I am of royal birth. Should I take riding lessons? Also, should I ride side-saddle, or should I straddle the horse?"

Sue Townsend was an astonishingly brilliant writer and I love her work so much. It was such a loss when she died. How I would love her acerbic take on everything that’s happened in the past 10 years (Brexit, Covid, Trump, Epstein etc). Losing both her and Victoria Wood in short succession robbed us of such a lot.

50 pence and a bunch of grapes.

catchphrase to me and DH

I choose to believe that they did eventually have a happy ending together. But Sue would never have written it as it just wouldn’t have been funny, so it’s best left to our imaginations.

Also, Adrian's relationship with his son William's nursery teacher, Mrs Parvez.

When Adrian asks if the anteater on William's coat peg might be substituted with something more cuddly or lovable, she replies coldly "I have three left: an elk, a gazelle, and a warthog."
Adrian is determined to prove Mrs Parvez wrong about whether birds sleep in their nests. She refers him to an exact book and page.
At a farm visit, William claims that a goat ate his lunch, and the box as well. CCTV reveals that William threw the box at the goat.

"William said he did it because the goat looked hungry, he's such a thoughtful kid. But it has to be said, he is also a convincing liar. I told him the story of the Boy who Cried Wolf, and that if he didn't behave, a man called Jack Straw would get him and put him in prison."

And how does Mrs Parvez get her revenge months later? By making William play a goat in the nativity play! Adrian notes that goats never appear in any nativity scenes.

Another brilliant part was when teenage Rosie is pregnant, and is given a crying electronic baby to look after, which looks like a prettier William Hague, and is of indeterminate sex. Rosie eventually hurls this doll out of the window, and has an abortion. Adrian foolishly accompanies her there, and notes that it's not a good place to be a man. When Adrian's mother is upset for Rosie, Pandora's father quips "Pandora had a termination in her lunch break once, there was none of this bloody hysteria". And the icing on the cake is when Adrian returns the doll by post; it starts to cry, and the colour drains from the postmistress's face. Adrian says "do you really think I would send a live baby by Parcel Force?"

See, I can’t handle the adult ones at all. The first two are hilarious and touching, but because his pretensions and failures in self-knowledge are those of a teenager who is fundamentally good-hearted as well as terminally wrong about his own talents. (He’s in fact a brilliant writer, but not in the way he thinks.) Fucking up his adult relationships, failing in jobs, getting into debt etc just aren’t as funny in an adult. They’re far sadder.

Oh no! I think the opposite The Norns!
Part of Sue Townsend’s genius was that, eventually, Adrian did mature and grow. The Weapons of Mass destruction was my favourite because it’s the start of him really growing up, plus it’s incredibly moving.
Sue was a genius, and underrated really. Her books are utterly biting social and political commentary as well as being hilarious.
Every time I reread the Mole books I am gutted (for myself) thst we didn’t get more.
Agree, the COVID Years would have been glorious.
Happy birthday Aidy.

So glad I started this thread. Wonderful to connect with lots of other fans of the genius of Sue Townsend. Particularly enjoying reading everyone’s favourite bits

absolutely loved these books and especially like his strange relationship with Pamela pig 😂

I find them unreadably sad.

I agree she was a genius. The first two books are so well-written there’s not a beat out of place. You could use them to teach flawless writing in terms of pacing, prose, characterisation, comic timing, voice.

@TheNorns That’s exactly what I thought about Weapons of Mass Destruction: it wasn’t funny, but really sad: at his age, and with his wealth of reading experience, he should have known better. He gets into terrible debt through carelessness, whereas in earlier books, he had a morbid horror of debt. I couldn’t bear to read how easily he was manipulated by Marigold Flowers. For me. Cappuccino Years was the last funny one, but I hated the ending.

I wonder if Sue Townsend was making a nature v nurture point? Adrian always thought his parents feckless, and used to make grand pronouncements about what sort of parent/adult he would be, but went the same way as them via poor choices and happenstance.

Fabulous 😂

One of my favourite parts is Marigold going to a fancy dress party. Adrian thinks she's going as Coco Chanel but she turns up as Coco the Clown.

I agree the last books are sad but life is sad and they wouldn't have worked as part of Adrian's life if there wasn't a balance of funny and tragic. I haven't worded that very well!

He says he checked on the cake many times but it just wouldn't rise

😆

Barry “the teachers are against him” Kent.

Love her descriptions!

Oooh wasn’t that actually his son, Glenn?

I loved those books. Laugh out loud stuff. 👍👍👍

I thought the way his Mum described him in her ‘engagement curtailment letter’captured him wonderfully though. He does prefer to live in a world of fiction and found the real world a harsh place and is easily manipulated by people who have a strong sense of self.

Every time I lazily wash tea leaves down the sink instead of putting them in the food waste caddy, I think of him complaining about Bert Baxter's kitchen sink pipes being full of tea leaves ❤️

....and even now I tell my kids to take cheese if they go camping, "...it doesn't leak, break or come in a tin"

Pandora Braithwaite MP:

I adore the Jeremy Kyle show. It keeps me in touch with the underclass, without having to visit their dreadful council estates.

I have absolutely loved this thread today, thank you @OneBusyFinch for starting it!