Adrian Mole

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Adrian Albert Mole (born April 2, 1967) is the fictional protagonist in a series of books by Sue Townsend. The author once famously spotted the future Prime Minister John Major (a minor cabinet minister at the time) in a photograph and said that Adrian would grow up to become just like him. The character first appeared in a BBC Radio 4 single play in 1982.

All of the books in the series are written in the first person in the form of a diary.

Adrian Albert Mole is the son of George and Pauline Mole. He was born on 2nd April, 1967. They share their house in Leicester (they later move to Ashby-de-la-Zouch) with their dog, simply referred to as "the dog", and later with Adrian's sister, Rosie. Adrian's grandmother, Edna May Mole (referred to simply as Grandma), is also prominent in many of his diary entries.

Adrian looks after an old-age pensioner named Bert Baxter. Despite the fact that Baxter is filthy, rude, a communist, and has a vicious alsatian, Adrian becomes very fond of him. Bert later marries another pensioner named Queenie.

Adrian has two children, the first being Glenn Bott, son of Sharon and the second William, the son of his first wife JoJo, from Nigeria. In the most recent book Glenn is fighting in the Iraq war and William has gone back to Nigeria to live with his mother who Adrian split up with due to his intolerance of her sneezing and inability to cook.

Adrian's best friend is called Nigel who later turns out to be a homosexual, and he is constantly bullied by a boy called Barry Kent who becomes a successful poet in The Cappuccino Years. He attends Neil Armstrong Comprehensive and his headmaster is called Mr Scruton.

Pandora Braithwaite is the love of Adrian's life and her parents are named Ivan and Tania. She is beautiful and intelligent, and in the first books they are happy together. In the later books she shuns Adrian in favor of, by turns, physically and intellectually powerful men, though he remains attached to her. Adrian tends to devote a lot of his diary space to her, whomever she is currently dating (and his various faults and flaws), and pining for their lost love.

The great dichotomy of the series seems to be made up of, on the one hand, Adrian's desires and goals in life - marry Pandora, become a published writer of poetry and novels, attain financial security - and on the other, his complete failure to achieve them. The two most recent books can be viewed as political satires mainly focused on New Labour and its shortcomings in particular the Iraq war which is condemned by Townsend.

The books spawned several TV series, most recently "Adrian Mole: the Cappuccino Years" starring Stephen Mangan as Adrian Mole, Alison Steadman as Pauline Mole and Helen Baxendale as Pandora Braithwaite. The character also featured in several radio series, such as Pirate Radio Four.

A play was written by Sue Townsend of the first book - 'The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13¾'. The play included songs by Ken Howard and Alan Blaikley.

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List of books featuring Adrian Mole

NOTE: Most publications of the Adrian Mole series are now released in compilations. Ex: 1 & 2 are now joined in one book. Ex2: Adrian Mole: The Lost Years is a compilation of The True Confessions, The Small Amphibians and The Wilderness Years.

The first two books were also adapted into computer adventure games by Level 9 in the 1980s.

Fortress Entertainment producers Brett Forbes and Patrick Rizzotti and Ruby Films producer Alison Owen have partnered to produce the feature film entitled The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole based on the first books in the series.nl:Adrian Mole

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