''The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13¾'' is the first book in the

Adrian Mole Adrian Albert Mole is the fictional protagonist in a series of books by English author Sue Townsend. The character first appeared (as "Nigel") as part of a comic diary featured in a short-lived arts magazine (called simply ''magazine'') publi ...

series of comedic fiction, written by

Sue Townsend Susan Lillian Townsend, FRSL (née Johnstone, 2 April 194610 April 2014), was an English writer and humorist whose work encompasses novels, plays and works of journalism. She was best known for creating the character Adrian Mole. After writing ...

. The book is written in a

diary A diary is a written or audiovisual record with discrete entries arranged by date reporting on what has happened over the course of a day or other period. Diaries have traditionally been handwritten but are now also often digital. A personal ...

style, and focuses on the worries and regrets of a teenager who believes himself to be an intellectual. The story is set in 1981 and 1982, and in the background it refers to some of the historic world events of the time, such as the

Falklands War The Falklands War ( es, link=no, Guerra de las Malvinas) was a ten-week undeclared war between Argentina and the United Kingdom in 1982 over two British dependent territories in the South Atlantic: the Falkland Islands and its territorial ...

and the wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana as well as the birth of Prince William. Mole is a fierce critic of prime minister

Margaret Thatcher Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. She was the first female British prime ...

, listing her as one of his worst enemies. Apart from the humorous events described in the diary, a lot of the book's humour originates from the unreliable narration of Mole, who naïvely, yet confidently, misinterprets events around him. The book was first published in hardcover by Methuen on 7 October 1982. Sequels include (in chronological order): *'' The Growing Pains of Adrian Mole'' *''

The True Confessions of Adrian Albert Mole ''The True Confessions of Adrian Albert Mole, Margaret Hilda Roberts and Susan Lilian Townsend'' is the third book in the Adrian Mole series, written by Sue Townsend. It focuses on the worries and regrets of a teenage (supposed) intellectual. Th ...

'' *'' Adrian Mole and the Small Amphibians'' (all of which were contained in '' Adrian Mole: From Minor to Major'') *'' Adrian Mole: The Wilderness Years'' *'' Adrian Mole: The Cappuccino Years'' *''

Adrian Mole and the Weapons of Mass Destruction ''Adrian Mole and the Weapons of Mass Destruction'' is Sue Townsend's sixth full Adrian Mole novel (as opposed to ''Adrian Mole and the Small Amphibians'' and the Guardian serial). It is set in 2002/3 and Adrian is 33¾ years of age. The life of ...

'' *'' Adrian Mole: The Prostrate Years''

Reception

The book was a best-seller, and had sold 1.9 million copies by November 1985. On 5 November 2019 ''

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broadc ...

'' included ''The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13¾'' on its list of the 100 most influential novels.

Adaptations

A 7-part radio series on

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC's ...

featured extracts from the book read by Nicholas Barnes. Townsend adapted the book for the

stage Stage or stages may refer to: Acting * Stage (theatre), a space for the performance of theatrical productions * Theatre, a branch of the performing arts, often referred to as "the stage" * ''The Stage'', a weekly British theatre newspaper * Sta ...

in 1984 with music by

Ken Howard Kenneth Joseph Howard Jr. (March 28, 1944 – March 23, 2016) was an American actor. He was known for his roles as Thomas Jefferson in '' 1776'' and as basketball coach and former Chicago Bulls player Ken Reeves in the television show '' The Wh ...

and

Alan Blaikley Alan Tudor Blaikley (23 March 1940 – 4 July 2022) was an English songwriter and composer, best known for writing a series of international hits in the 1960s and 1970s in collaboration with Ken Howard, including the UK number ones "Have I the ...

. There was also a 1985 television series. A successful stage production ran at the

Wyndham's Theatre Wyndham's Theatre is a West End theatre, one of two opened by actor/manager Charles Wyndham (the other is the Criterion Theatre). Located on Charing Cross Road in the City of Westminster, it was designed c.1898 by W. G. R. Sprague, the archit ...

, London, in 1984-1986, that included

Simon Gipps-Kent Simon Gipps-Kent (born Simon Trevor Kent; 25 October 1958 – 16 September 1987) was a prolificAlistair D. McGown & Mark J. Dochert''The Hill and Beyond: Children's Television Drama – An Encyclopedia'' British Film Institute, 2003, p. 97. 20 ...

and followed with a road tour.SimonGipps-Kent.info / ''Theatre Door Doings''
A stage musical adaptation by

Jake Brunger and Pippa Cleary Jake Brunger and Pippa Cleary are a London-based musical theatre writing partnership. They met at Bristol University, where they were studying Drama and Music respectively. Musicals Their first musical ''Jet Set Go!'' ran at the 2008 Edinburgh ...

opened at Leicester's

Curve In mathematics, a curve (also called a curved line in older texts) is an object similar to a line, but that does not have to be straight. Intuitively, a curve may be thought of as the trace left by a moving point. This is the definition that ...

Theatre in March 2015. Townsend had been working on the project at the time of her death in 2014.

References

1982 British novels British young adult novels Fictional diaries Novels set in Leicestershire Novels set in the 1980s BILBY Award-winning works Adrian Mole novels Methuen Publishing books {{1980s-epistolary-novel-stub