“I used to be the sort of boy who had sand kicked in his face, now I’m the sort of boy who watches somebody else have it kicked in their face.” Forty years ago, on October 2, 1982, a new star stepped confidently into the literary spotlight. With the publication of his diary, the spotty, lovelorn, self-professed poet and intellectual Adrian Mole was born — at the age of 13¾. Adrian was one of the great comic creations of the past half-century, and all the funnier because he didn’t know it.
The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged 13¾ wasn’t really meant for children. It started out as The Diary of Nigel Mole, a Radio 4 broadcast that its creator, Sue Townsend, adapted after
