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.

Who was the bloke at the BBC who kept sending Adrian the letters rejecting his efforts as 'poet of the midlands' - Johnny Tydeman or something? His letters were a hoot!

The lad who played a young Alan Carr in Changing Ends is playing Adrian and he's a brilliant young actor so hopefully it should be good.

“You signed your name to it, idiot boy!l” I enjoyed Adrian Mole

I'm going to try and use 'It must have been while the balance of my mind was disturbed in April' as a reason for as many things I've done as possible in the next three months 😁

Ha ha! Both me and DP read these when young. I borrowed off my big sister when I was about 11. Whenever I’m annoyed with DP I will always say, “it’s not your fault, they should have named you Brett.” 🤣

Yeah that’s him. So funny 😂

The Tap drips and keeps me awake
In the morning there will be a lake

Another one was when Adrian was late for school and asked his mum to write a note so he wouldn’t get a detention.
The note said, “Adrian was late for school because he couldn’t be bothered to get out of bed on time.
Next time I’ll ask my dad. He’s a born liar.

And I vaguely remember the dog had an operation and his mum didn’t want to put him in the Daz (does that still exist?) box which was his usual bed because she was worried the dog would inhale the powder, sneeze and burst the stitches. 😂

I can’t remember which of the first two these were from though. I‘m definitely doing to have to reread. Thanks for thread OP.

Loved when he was unable to spell the “fjords” part of the Norwegian Fjords, crossed the various attempts out and instead wrote “inlets”.

When I’m on the train back to Yorkshire from Scotland and we go through the flat Vale of York I always think “Lo! The flat hills of my homeland!”

Went over hat bells with black felt tip pen, did 69 tonight, only 124 to go.

Did you read
'the queen and I?

Shed have enjoyed the last five years or do.

LOVE the books and this thread!

I can’t see a swan without saying “A swan can break a mans arm y’know”.

I always wonder what trajectory Pandora would have gone on. There’s a bit in the final book where they’re at a party and someone spills something on her dress and she says she’ll get it cleaned on expenses, so I bet she would have got caught up in the MP expenses scandal.

I’m going to have to read them again, but it’s so sad they don’t keep going. They are just so, so brilliant.

I always think I could have a decent go at writing an Adrian Mole style book. I had a go during the first couple of months of Covid at writing a work diary (NHS) in that style and really enjoyed it.

Perhaps if my father had built a formica cocktail bar in the corner of our lounge my mother would still be living with us.

Also heartily recommend Rebuilding Coventry - great read!

The woman who went to bed for a year is one of my favourite books of all time. Pure comedic genius.

Just read Rebuilding Coventry. Brilliant

Popeye Scruton…!!

I think Pandora would be leading The Green Party now. Sue Townsend would have written that brilliantly.

I loved her books, they were brilliant.

On a darker note, I remember reading that Sue Townsend witnessed a murder as a child while she was up a tree. It stayed with me as I kept thinking about the horror of it, having to remain quiet through fear etc.

She certainly had a wealth of life experience to incorporate into her novels.

I loved these books so much . Funny as anything but with some incredibly moving moments. I always remember his dad on the phone to Adrian, after Bianca ran off with Martin Muffet .

Dad kept saying “There there lad” in a kind voice I don’t remember him using before.

Also loved her account of a trip she took to Russia with some other writers, howling funny.

Guys, it's The ProstRate Years.

Because everyone talks to him about his prostrate trouble.

(I kept reading it "wrong but right" for years.)

I loved the Mole books and The Queen and I as a child in the 90s. I must see if I still have any on the shelf, or if another family member has them. I'm driving up the A42 tomorrow and will think of Adrian when I pass the signs to Ashby de la Zouch.

You’re right - it was John Tydeman - he was the real assistant head of Drama at the BBC who discovered Sue Townsend and encouraged and nurtured her.

@MsGreying I sure did!

I would have loved her observations on the last five years or so.

I loved ‘confessions of a middle-aged woman aged 55 and a half’ too. It’s a collection of the articles Sue wrote for Sainsbury’s magazine

“I’m reading ‘The Mill on the Floss’ by some bloke called George Eliot.”

And another book by a woman called Evelyn Waugh.
And outside the BBC, I bumped into Victor Meldrew, who plays the grumpy bloke in One Foot in the Grave.

I can’t see a swan without thinking that it’s called Gielgud and it’s going to break someone’s arm.