Biography
Sue Townsend was an American writer.
True or False.
False. She was British!
Sue Townsend wrote Hamlet.
True or False.
False. William Shakespeare wrote Hamlet!
Townsend worked as a factory worker and shop assistant before becoming a writer.
True or False
True. She worked in numerous jobs, including those two!
She needed to use a wheelchair.
True or False.
True.
She had Charcot joint degenerative arthritis. (a severe form of arthritis where the cartilage between bones has been completely worn down, and the joint has been severely damaged from continued friction. )
The character of Adrian Mole is like a modern Peter Pan.
True or False
False. Contrary to Peter Pan, Adrian Mole is allowed to grow up!
When and where was she born?
She was born in Leicester in 1946. One year after the Second World War!
Townsend is known for writing ... stories.
Comical or funny.
When did Sue learn how to read?
Eight years old.
Of which illness was she a sufferer?
Type 1 Diabetes. (Your pancreas doesn't make insulin or makes very little insulin.)
When and where is Adrian Mole's story developed?
The story was set in 1980s Leicester.
How old was Sue when she left school?
She left school at 15 years old.
Which books made her the best-selling novelist of the 1980s?
The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole aged 13¾ & The Growing Pains of Adrian Mole.
How many languages has her book The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13¾ been translated into?
48 languages, some of which are: Spanish, French, Chinese, and Korean, among others.
In which year was she left blind?
2001. She was left blind as a result of the illness of the previous question.
Adrian Mole is the current name. However, he was previously named differently. What was his name?
Nigel Mole.
This was changed for the novel to avoid confusion with Geoffrey Willans and Ronald Searle’s schoolboy creation Nigel Molesworth. Among the 32 alternative names, Sue considered Trevor, Robin, Darren and Victor.
Her writing career started at the age of...
35.
How many Adrian Mole books has she written?
It is an 8-book series.
The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13 3/4
The Growing Pains of Adrian Mole
The True Confessions of Adrian Albert Mole
The Wilderness Years
The Cappuccino Years
The Lost Diaries of Adrian Mole, 1999-2001
The Weapons of Mass Destruction
The Prostrate Years
What was Townsend's secret?
Her writings.
Even Adrian Mole was kept hidden, until her second husband discovered her writing and encouraged her to join a writer’s group.
She needed a transplant of a vital organ. Which one?
A kidney. Her eldest son, Sean, offered to donate his kidney.
What is the story about?
The story follows the dramas and misadventures of Adrian's teenage life.
She won the Thames Television Playwright Award for...
Womberang. A play that takes place in a hospital's gynecologist's waiting room. Its primary objective is the empowerment of women and female solidarity. It is a comedy with a clear political message and a dark ending.
What was Sue's last novel, and when did she write it?
The Woman Who Went to Bed For a Year, published in 2012.
It is a novel about what happens when someone stops being the person everyone wants them to be.
How many writings did she write in her life?
28 writings.
Namely, the 8-book series of Adrian Mole, 6 other novels, 12 plays, and 2 non-fiction writings.
In which year did she suffer her first stroke? (a brain attack in which something blocks blood supply to part of the brain or when a blood vessel in the brain bursts.)
2013.
Even though Adrian Mole is a fictional character, he owns a profile on a particular social media. Which one?
Twitter.
His username is @AdrianMole