Image via www.locallyhealthy.co.uk
Sue Townsend, best known as the author of The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13¾ and its sequels, has died, according to the BBC.
First published in 1982, the popularity of The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13¾ and its 1984 sequel, The Growing Pains of Adrian Mole made Townsend the best-selling British author of the decade.Additional books in the series followed, detailing the main character’s life from adolescence under Margaret Thatcher’s government, to maturity in Tony Blair’s Britain.
The most recent book in the series, Adrian Mole: The Prostrate Years, was published in 2009.
Michael Williams, Director of the Wheeler Centre for Books, Writing and Ideas, today paid tribute to Townsend and her work, saying, ‘I was a massive fan, definitely. Adrian Mole is an almost perfect comic voice, just the clarity and consistency of the voice.
‘My first crush I reckon was Pandora Braithwaite – now I can see she’s an annoying posh git but at the time I could totally empathise with Adrian’s angst over her.
‘The release of the Carr Diaries yesterday was a moment that seemed worthy of Sue Townsend,’ Williams said.
Mike Shuttleworth, Melbourne Writers Festival Program Manager, said ‘Sue Townsend started out funny and stayed funny.
‘Adrian Mole is an absolute archetype of the hapless teenage male. And growing up never changed him. Townsend was also a deadly observer of the changes in Britain, and this political edge sharpened the social foibles she caught so precisely.
‘She won’t be replaced and Adrian Mole and Pandora will live forever.’
Other admirers of Townsend’s work paid tribute to her online.
Oh no! Hear that my favourite funny authour Sue Townsend has died.Love her writing so much and I’ll start re-reading today.
— HRH.Harmer (@wendy_harmer) April 10, 2014
I was lucky enough to meet the great Sue Townsend once. She was delightful. Adrian Mole was one of the finest comic creations of our time.
— Mattmandu (@RealMattLucas) April 11, 2014
Actor Stephen Mangan, who played Adrian Mole in a 2001 BBC series, said: ‘Greatly upset to hear that Sue Townsend has died. One of the warmest, funniest and wisest people I ever met.’
Comedian Sarah Millican wrote: ‘Such sad news about Sue Townsend. Just about to start reading ‘The Woman Who Went to Bed for a Year’. Will do so now with a heavier heart.’
Writer Cory Doctorow said, ‘I am so sad about this. She was one of the great comic writers, with all that implies: wisdom, wit, compassion and ruthless honesty.’
Born in Leicester in 1946, Townsend drew upon the details of her own upbringing for her most famous literary creation. She was also the author of several plays, and numerous novels including The Queen and I (1992), about the attempts of the British Royal Family to live an ‘ordinary’ on a housing estate following a republican revolution, and 2012’s The Woman Who Went to Bed for a Year.
Townsend was diagnosed with diabetes in the 1980s, later losing her sight because of the condition, and underwent a kidney transplant in 2009.
She is survived by her husband Colin Broadway and four children.
