| Adrian Mole | |
|---|---|
| First appearance | The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13¾ (1982) |
| Last appearance | The Prostrate Years (2009) |
| Created by | Sue Townsend |
| Portrayed by | Simon Schatzberger (1984 play) Gian Sammarco (TV 1985–87) Stephen Mangan (TV 2001) Joel Fossard-Jones, Lewis Andrews, Sebastian Croft, Toby Murray, Benjamin Lewis, Ilan Galkoff, Samuel Menhinick (musical 2015–17) |
| Born | (1967-04-02)2 April 1967 (age 57) |
| In-universe information | |
| Full name | Adrian Albert Mole |
| Alias | Nigel Mole |
| Nicknames | Moley, Brains |
| Gender | Male |
| Occupation | Writer, TV chef, bookshop employee |
| Family |
|
| Spouse | JoJo Mapfuso Daisy Flowers |
| Children | Glenn Bott-Mole(by Sharon Bott) William (Wole) Mole(by JoJo) Gracie Mole(by Daisy) |
| Relatives |
|
| Religion | Church of England, later atheist |
| Nationality | British |
Adrian Albert Mole is the fictional protagonist in a series of books byEnglish authorSue Townsend. The character first appeared (as "Nigel") as part of a comic diary featured in a short-lived arts magazine (called simplymagazine) published in Leicester in 1980, and shortly afterward in aBBC Radio 4 play in 1982. The books are written in the form of a diary, with some additional content such as correspondence. The first two books appealed to many readers as a realistic and humorous treatment of the inner life of an adolescent boy, and capturing thezeitgeist of the UK during theThatcher period.
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The first books concentrate on Adrian's desires and ambitions in life (to marry his teenage sweetheart, publish his poetry and novels, obtain financial security) and his complete failure to achieve them. The series satirises human pretensions, and especially, in the first couple of volumes, teenage pretensions.
The second theme is depiction of the social and political situation in Britain, with particular reference to left-wing politics in the 1980s in the first three books. For example, Mr and Mrs Mole's divorce reflects rising divorce rates in the 1980s, and living together unmarried was becoming a norm. Adrian's mother becomes a staunch feminist and briefly joins theGreenham Common campaigners. Pandora, Adrian's love interest, and her parents are part of an intellectualised and left-wing middle class that attempted to embrace the working class.
Humour arises from the outworking of larger social forces within a very ordinary household in a very ordinary part ofMiddle England.
The last three books move in slightly new directions, showing Adrian as an adult in different environments. They have a stronger element ofpolitical satire, mainly examiningNew Labour, and inWeapons of Mass Destruction, theIraq War. The intervening book,Adrian Mole: The Wilderness Years, mixes these themes, with events such as theGulf War seen from Adrian's naive and frustrated point of view, as well as depictions of his experiences of unemployment and public spending cutbacks, both major political issues at the time. In dealing with political events, a constantplot device is that Adrian makes confident predictions and statements that are known to be wrong by the reader, ranging from belief in theHitler Diaries to an Iraqi victory in the Gulf War and the existence of theirweapons of mass destruction.
Adrian Albert Mole is born 2 April, with the first book establishing the year as 1967. He grows up with his parents in the city ofLeicester; before moving toAshby-de-la-Zouch in England'sEast Midlands. Adrian's family are largely unskilled working class/lower middle class. He is anonly child until the age of 15, when his half-brother Brett and half-sister Rosie are born. Adrian is not gifted academically but does tolerably well at school, though he does sometimes suffer the ire of headmaster "Pop-Eye" Scruton. Though not especially popular he has a small circle of friends and even a girlfriend Pandora Braithwaite (whose parents Ivan and Tania are affluent Trotskyites). At one point he falls into bad company with Barry Kent and his gang, who had bullied him in earlier years, but generally he keeps out of trouble. Throughout all this Adrian sees himself as an "intellectual" and a thwarted "Great Writer".[1]
Ironically Adrian actuallyis a good writer, as the quality of his diaries attests, but he feels he must adopt a "high" oravant-garde literary style to be taken seriously. His novelLo! The Flat Hills of My Homeland is unsurprisingly never published: the few passages included in the diaries are painful to read (though Adrian himself regards them as "magnificent"), and the first few drafts were even written without vowels. Over several books he develops a script for awhite vanserial killer comedy programme which theBBC is reluctant to produce. Another of his works,The Restless Tadpole: An Opus, is described by one potential agent as "effete crap".
As a young man he moves to London and takes a job in aSoho restaurant catering to media types. London is going through a foodie renaissance andoffal is all the rage. Adrian is persuaded to feature as acelebrity chef in a television cookery programme calledOffally Good!; although he is told the programme is a comedy, he typically fails to realise he is being set up as the stooge, the comicstraight man. He is contracted to write a book to accompany the show, but is suffering from writer's block, so his mother eventually writes it for him, without his knowledge, with a dedication reading "To my beloved mother, Pauline Mole, who has nurtured me and inspired me throughout my life. Without this magnificent woman's wisdom and erudition I could not have written this book."
Adrian befriends an old pensioner called Archie Tait whilst he is living back at home with his mother. When Archie dies, Adrian goes to live in his old house, since Archie had no real ties. He finds out that Glenn Bott is his son and cannot pay Sharon all the money, so he cares for Glenn full-time. Glenn's remedial teacher, Eleanor Flood, a convicted arsonist, burns Archie's old house down.
Adrian ends up working in anantiquarian bookshop. Having lived inrelative poverty for much of his life, and for some time in London in actual squalor, he overextends himself financially, lured by the banks' promises of easy credit, and buys a convertedloft apartment, at Rat Wharf. He is terrorized byswans, buys a talking fridge, and enjoys his newfound freedom as his children are "off his hands". Glenn is now in the British Army while William is living with his mother and Mole's ex-wife, Jojo, inNigeria.
Adrian gets caught up in a relationship with Marigold Flowers, a strange woman with a passion fordollhouses. He is attracted to her at first, but he likes her less each day and she costs him a lot of money. He tries and fails to end the relationship. Adrian's debt accumulates to such an extent that he owes £200,000 at one point.
Eventually Adrian moves into his parents' converted pigsties, along with Marigold's sister Daisy, whom he marries. The couple settle down and have a daughter Gracie, but Adrian's problems are far from over. He suffers the double tragedy of losing his new wife to the local squire while discovering that he himself hascancer. His loyal friend and co-worker Bernard Hopkins comes to the rescue, moving in with him and promising to remain until his cancer is in remission. Fortunately Adrian's cancer treatment is successful and Bernard leaves to pursue romance with a local widow, giving Adrian a pig as a farewell present. The final book ends with Adrian finding out he will be a grandfather and Pandora arriving outside the house.
The Mole family is dysfunctional. Adrian's parentsPauline andGeorge Mole are working-class characters with limited social mobility who drink and smoke heavily. Both are often unemployed; they have separated, divorced and remarried several times, often in the wake of extramarital affairs. In a reversal of a typical teenager-mother relationship, Pauline berates Adrian for keeping his room "like a bloody shrine". They move fromLeicester toAshby-de-la-Zouch with their dog (only ever referred to as "the dog", who is eventually replaced by "the new dog"). Adrian's paternal grandmotherEdna May Mole is also prominent in the early diaries until her death inThe Wilderness Years.
Pauline first leaves George for their neighbour, Mr. Lucas, an insurance man. George fathers a second son,Brett, by a lover, Doreen Slater, whom Adrian privately refers to as "Stick Insect". Brett makes a reappearance in the later books as a successful yet unpleasant businessman who loses his fortune during the2007–2008 financial crisis. Doreen is killed off inProstrate Years. Pauline temporarily marries her younger lodgerMartin Muffet, who eventually leaves her for Adrian's girlfriend Bianca Dartington, giving Adrian and his mother a shared heartbreak. Later, George and Pauline effect a partner swap with Ivan and Tania Braithwaite (parents of Pandora), only to reunite after Ivan's untimely death.
Adrian's half-sister,Rosie Germaine Mole (after feministGermaine Greer), grows up to be rebellious and street-smart, in contrast to Adrian. Despite opposing personalities, the siblings enjoy a close relationship, and Adrian often feels that she is the only family member who understands him. She also relies on him on occasion; when she becomes pregnant as a teenager, Adrian supports her decision to have anabortion.
Although the identity of Rosie's father is originally uncertain, inThe Prostrate Years Mr Lucas, now wealthy, gets back in touch with Rosie and demands a DNA test onThe Jeremy Kyle Show. Adrian tries to talk his mother and Rosie out of informing George or appearing on the show, but they do so; the test proves that Mr Lucas is Rosie's father. As Rosie's relationship with her parents breaks down, she moves in with Mr Lucas and starts calling him "Dad" and herself "Rosie Lucas". Pauline also raises the possibility of Adrian's real father being a poetry-writingmaggot farmer she dated before she married George, but Adrian decides not to investigate. He thanks his father after learning that he raised him single-handedly during the first year of his life when Pauline was suffering frompostpartum depression.
It is mentioned that Adrian'smiddle name, Albert, is after his paternal grandfather. However, inThe Growing Pains of Adrian Mole, it is stated that his name was Arnold, and as Arthur inWeapons of Mass Destruction. However, he is simply calledGrandad Mole. Adrian'smaternal grandparents, the Sugdens, have never had their names revealed, although Pauline has two brothers,Dennis andPete. Dennis married a woman called Marcia, and they had a son called Maurice, and Pete married a woman called Yvonne, who had died. Grandma Sugden had died twenty years previously, as ofThe Lost Diaries. Adrian's aunt,Susan Mole, appears in most – if not all – of the books. Susan is alesbian and prison officer at Holloway Prison. In earlier books, she is dating a woman called Gloria, but later is married to another woman called Amanda.
Production of sequels was interrupted by Townsend's declining health. At the timeAdrian Mole – The Weapons of Mass Destruction was published in 2004, Townsend stated it would be the last Adrian Mole volume. However, in an interview on Leicester hospital station Radio Fox on 5 June 2008, Townsend said that she was in fact writing a new Mole book entitledThe Prostrate Years, which was released in 2009. In October 2009 theLeicester Mercury featured an interview with Townsend where she discussed the new Mole book and her plans for future works.[2]
In 2011, Townsend published a short Adrian Mole piece that tied into the wedding ofPrince William andKate Middleton.[3] A very brief piece in which Adrian gave advice to writers followed in 2012.[4] These are the last Adrian Mole works published in Townsend's lifetime, and the last original Mole stories to date.
In a 2013 interview, Townsend discussed her intention to wrap up the series in two further volumes, but acknowledged her declining health might make this plan impossible.[5]
Townsend died on 10 April 2014. Her British publisher said the writer had beenworking on a new Adrian Mole story at the time of her death. The book, which had the working titlePandora's Box, was due for publication later in 2014. A spokesman for Michael Joseph said: "We can confirm that Sue was in the middle of writing the book. Her editor had seen what she describes as 'a few wonderful pages'. It was supposed to be out this autumn and we are very sad that we won't be able to show it to the world."[6]
The first two books are repackaged in one volume.Adrian Mole: The Lost Years includesThe True Confessions andThe Wilderness Years, and the bonus story "Adrian Mole and the Small Amphibians".Adrian Mole From Minor to Major (i.e. from being a child to the years of theJohn Major government) collects the first three books and "Adrian Mole and the Small Amphibians".
| Character | The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole | The Growing Pains of Adrian Mole | Adrian Mole: The Cappuccino Years |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1985 | 1987 | 2001 | |
| Adrian Mole | Gian Sammarco | Stephen Mangan | |
| George Mole | Stephen Moore | Alun Armstrong | |
| Pauline Mole | Julie Walters | Lulu | Alison Steadman |
| May 'Grandma' Mole | Beryl Reid | ||
| Pandora Braithwaite | Lindsey Stagg | Helen Baxendale | |
| Ivan Braithwaite | Robin Herford | James Hazeldine | |
| Tania Braithwaite | Louise Jameson | Zoë Wanamaker | |
| Bert Baxter | Bill Fraser | ||
| Queenie Baxter | Doris Hare | ||
| Nigel Partridge | Steven Mackintosh | ||
| Barry Kent | Chris Gascoyne | ||
| William Mole | Harry Tones | ||
| Sharon Bott | Ruth Jones | ||
Private Eye parodied the books with theirThe Secret Diary of John Major, age 47¾, in which Major was portrayed as naïve and childish, keeping lists of his enemies in a Rymans Notebook called his "Bastards Book", and featuring "my wifeNorman" and "Mr Dr Mawhinney" asrecurring characters.[11] In addition,Adrian Plass's novelThe Sacred Diary of Adrian Aged 37¾ and his autobiographyThe Growing Up Pains of Adrian Plass parody the titles of two of the Mole books.
| International | |
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| National | |