RIP Sue Townsend

[Liam]

Novelist Sue Townsend, best known as the author of the successful Adrian Mole series, has died, a friend of her family has told the BBC.

Townsend, 68, died at home on Thursday after a short illness.

The first of her comic series, The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, aged 13 3/4, was published in 1982 and the eighth instalment, Adrian Mole: The Prostrate Years, was released in 2009.

Her other best-selling novels included The Queen and I.

Townsend, who was left blind after suffering from diabetes for many years, achieved worldwide success following the publication of the books about teenager Adrian Mole.

The series followed the main character from adolescence under Margaret Thatcher's government, to maturity in Tony Blair's Britain.

Townsend said that, in many respects, her hero mirrored her own experience.

In March 2013, she told the Oxford Literary Festival that publication of the next Adrian Mole book had been pushed back as a result of a stroke she had suffered.

She was diagnosed with diabetes in the 1980s and underwent a kidney transplant in 2009. She had the stroke in December 2012.

Stephen Mangan played Adrian Mole in a 2001 BBC adaptation of The Cappuccino Years, with Helen Baxendale as Pandora

Comedian and writer Danny Wallace is one of a number of those who have paid tribute to Townsend.

Wallace told the BBC: "If ever I saw that she was in a town close to me - and I'd never been to book readings or book signings before - but I always made sure I went to hers.

"She was incredibly sweet to her younger fans and I've got all these books at home that she had signed and she would say, 'To Daniel, from Sue Townsend aged 43 and three quarters' or '45 and a half'.

"So she really understood what people loved about Adrian Mole I think."

Actor Stephen Mangan, who played Adrian Mole in a 2001 television adaptation, tweeted: "Greatly upset to hear that Sue Townsend has died. One of the warmest, funniest and wisest people I ever met."

Crime writer Ian Rankin described her death as "a real loss".

Townsend was born in Leicester in 1946, and set her most famous work in her home city.

The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, aged 13 3/4, was followed by The Growing Pains of Adrian Mole in 1984.

The two books made her the best-selling novelist of the 1980s and they were followed by others in the Mole series, including The True Confessions of Adrian Albert Mole.

Several of her books were adapted for the stage, while the Mole series was adapted for radio, television and theatre.

Townsend was awarded an honorary Masters of Arts from Leicester University and in 2008 was made a Distinguished Honorary Fellow of the university.

She was also an Honorary Doctor of Letters at Loughborough University and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.

In 2009 Townsend was given the Honorary Freedom of Leicester.

She said at the time: "I have been a citizen of Leicester for over 62 years, most of my family and friends live here, so I was delighted when I was nominated to receive the freedom of the city."

She leaves her husband and four children.

Credit: BBC

I only really post this as I was, when younger, a huge fan of the Adrian Mole books. I've re-read the first one several times, and it is sad to see someone whose work I have enjoyed over the years pass at a relatively young age.

[Lineker]

Loved the Mole books. Really really sad.

[METALMAN]

http://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2014/apr/11/adrian-moles-best-quotes-what-are-your-favourites

Wonderful

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

"I have never seen a dead body or a female nipple. This is what comes from living in a cul de sac."

Utterly stonking writing. I read the first book at 13. Adrian's a total plum but he's an endearing character and it's all hilariously written.

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

Reading through those quotes it's even better than I remember (unsurprisingly). I'm gonna have to read Adrian Mole again.

"10am: Woke my father up to tell him Argentina had invaded the Falklands. He shot out of bed because he thought the Falklands lay off the coast of Scotland. When I pointed out they were eight thousand miles away he got back into bed and pulled the covers over his head."

"All the balloons have shrivelled up. They look like old women's breasts shown on television documentaries about the Third World."

"My thing is still only ten centimeters, Donkey Dawkings in 5th form says his thing is off the ruler."

"Found a strange device in the bathroom this morning. It looked like an egg timer. It said ‘Predictor’ on the side of the box. I hope my mother is not dabbling with the occult."

[Adam]

Great set of books (though I've not read themost recent two) and was sad to hear this news today.

Might have to dig them out again and give them another read.

[Quom]

Easily one of my favourite writers and deserved much more press and respect, just masterful. For me she's unmatched in her ability to write something that seems basic until you try and copy her style. So easy to read, so brilliantly funny.

Plus I once got my foreskin stuck in a tape measure because of her