Sue Townsend
Sue Townsend
Susan Lillian "Sue" Townsend, FRSLwas an English writer and humorist whose work encompasses novels, plays and works of journalism. She was best known for creating the character Adrian Mole...
NationalityEnglish
ProfessionNovelist
Date of Birth2 April 1946
home kids midnight
When all my kids were at home, I used to write from midnight onwards.
bear dreaded hear music rather scared talk though
When I was a child, I dreaded blindness. We used to ask: 'Would we rather be blind or deaf?' I said I'd rather be blind, even though I was scared of it. I couldn't bear not being able to hear music or talk to people.
afford car children driving guilt holes lessons poor school send small three wearing
Being poor with three small children is terrifying. You can't make any plans. You know you're not going on holiday, ever. There's no way you could ever afford driving lessons or a car. And the guilt I used to feel: they had holes in their shoes, and at one point, I had to send them to school wearing Wellingtons when the sun was shining.
charge kept people teacher three
In the playground, I always made people laugh; I used to charge them three pence for an impression of a teacher. It kept me in toffees.
jeremy kyle
Watching 'The Jeremy Kyle Show' is my guilty pleasure.
absolutely diet kidneys slight touch work
I have a slight addiction to Diet Coke, and, of course, I absolutely shouldn't touch it because it makes the kidneys work really hard.
grab tip weep
In the early days, it was, you know, I used to weep while I was writing. I used to grab at any kind of anything, any hint, any tip of how to make it easy.
evil good led possible realised russian time
'The Gambler' by Dostoevsky. It was the first time I realised that it was possible to have good and evil in one person. It led me to read a lot of Russian literature.
books days eight fortnight house library
We had library books in our house, but not our own. So you had 14 days to read them. There would be eight books a fortnight in our house and I'd read as many of those as I could.
people advice problem
Most social problems could be helped or prevented if people had more money and practical advice.
years kidneys overweight
Yes - I am usually overweight. I have had to be interested in diet because of being diabetic for 30 years and having kidney failure.
interesting diaries adolescence
I have decided to keep a full journal, in the hope that my life will perhaps seem more interesting when it is written down.
hate thinking perfect
I think it's essential for comic writers to have a hate figure, a despot, a regime to react against, and I think Thatcher was perfect for me, I loathed everything she stood for.
father careers boring
I have decided to be a poet. My father said there isn't a suitable career structure for poets and no pensions and other boring things, but I am quite decided.