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.

Bloody loved these books and regularly re-read!

OMG - thank you for this thread. I re-read a couple of the books recently and had no-one to talk to about them in real life. I was haranguing my partner with Sue Townsend’s brilliance, reading out bits, but I’m sure he still has the impression they’re kids books.

Around this same time I was at a gig and was introduced to someone who turned out to be from Ashby de la Zouch - really disappointing - they had no interest in talking about (ahem, me haranguing them about) Adrian Mole, and Sue Townsend’s brilliance.

Ghost Children is really moving.

Loved The Queen and I and Rebuilding Coventry.

She really was a wonderful writer. Had the same tone as Terry Pratchett, a deep understanding of human nature, a satirical eye but so much empathy and humanity too.

Oh god, when Adian goes to his school reunion and a teacher remembers one of his sick notes "Adrian had diarrhea through holes in his shoes".

Bernard Hopkins the drunken bookseller. I loved him so much. When he tries to gas himself but his car runs out of petrol & he has to walk home in the rain. Absolute bugger of a day. And when he fakes a James Joyce signature on a tattered paperback of Ulysses 😆He was awesome

I also thought, no he's 59 today, I know this as he's exactly 10 years older than me, I was due on the 2nd April but was 2 days early. I remember his line,,,, went to bed rigid with fear, 1983 is my o level year,
1993 was my GCSE year. I'm on holiday and reading the prostrate years, I'm wondering what to read when I finish, I'll have to start from the beginning again

We’ve recently moved 20 mins away from Ashby de la Zouch, haven’t explored there yet though.

He was brilliant 😆

Thank you so much for this thread! I love these books so much. I like the 90s years when he's working at Savage's and then a TV chef and is friends with a lap dancer. It perfectly skewers that Soho culture. And the fabulous Pauline Mole writes his book. I have missed Sue Townsend as well as Victoria Wood and would have loved their takes on the last few years too.

I found this website for the Adrian Mole fans

www.adrianmoleofficial.com
Adrian Mole

thank you for this thread. Taken me right back to my childhood days

There's one thing I'm puzzled about. In the book "True Confessions", which is seen by many as the oddball in the series as most of it is not done as a diary, there are a few scenes where Adrian speaks on Radio 4, telling his parents (on air) that he arrived safely, describing the taxi ride there, saying that cultureless people are to be pitied, their conversation lacks a certain je ne sais quoi, unless they are French of course. He also talks about the importance of having a lifestyle, as well as a life, and describes the clothes he is wearing, including deliberately mismatched socks, and travelling to Russia with Ivan Braithwaite, who makes him swear that he will not say one word about the Norwegian Leather Industry.

Are those scenes meant to be imaginary? Are they meant to be what he would see himself as saying, were he ever to speak on Radio 4?

I should have thanked the OP for this thread when I first read it. Belatedly saying thank you.

Yes he’s 59 😊

I’m such a ST fan but the Queen and I is my favourite book and I force it on people all the time. An exceptional writer. Ghost Children chilled me to the bone.

Absolutely great seeing all the love for ST and AM on this thread. Re read all the books for the millionth time recently and will never tire of them. I think ST was in the process of writing the next in the instalment at the time of her death and I’d give anything for one more Adrian Mole book

What a brilliant thought! I would have loved to have read this and can just imagine the hilarious tone of such a book!

Is the queen and I the one where it’s the Royal family living on a normal street and princess diana is roller skating around outside listening to Duran Duran on her Walkman?

This bit always kills me. Especially as my partner is American. I’m always teasing him that brits often don’t want to be fussed with exuberant Americans 😁🇺🇸😂

I’m enjoying this thread so much. I knew I had all the Adrian Mole books on my shelf but thought I’d given all the others away. However to my delight I’ve still got, The Queen and I, Queen Camilla, Number Ten and The Woman who went to bed for a year. That’s my reading sorted for a while!

I remember reading these books as a child, perhaps the first comic books I read.

My favourite is the Queen and I. Really enjoyed the portrayal of the royal family struggling with reality,

I’d forgotten this!!

I have a very lovely American friend who I do have to occasionally sigh at and exclaim ‘but you are American’.

I shall have to find out if she’s ever read any Adrian Mole.

Thank you for such a lovely thread!

I didn't read the AM books as a child but read them all quite a few years ago after hearing The Cappuccino Years on Radio 4. I loved them so much and have re-read them several times since - and now I'm just starting reading them all again after seeing this thread.

The books are a massive comfort read to me, a safe harbour when the world is a bit bleak. I feel I can slip into the Adrian Mole world when I like and it's a reassuring place to be.

Adrian is one of my favourite ever literary creations; he is so flawed and human but so very kind and lovely too. My only regret is that his story has ended but I like to imagine him happy and healthy after the last book ends.

Oh and I laugh out loud at the books and then read bits to my husband but I don't think he really gets the love I have for Adrian. 🙂

Yes! The Royal Family get relocated to a rough council estate.
If I remember rightly, Princess Anne comes out of it rather well.

LTB.

I love all the love and appreciation for Adrian and Sue on this thread. It’s wonderful to find people who also ‘get’ the comic genius. See you next year!