While employed as a supervisor at an adventure playground, she observed a man making canoes nearby and, because he was married, put off talking to him; it was a year before he asked her for a date. [7] It was at a canoeing course she met her future second husband, Colin Broadway, who was the father of her fourth child, Elizabeth. [1]

The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged 13 3/4: Adrian Mole Book The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged 13 3/4: Adrian Mole Book

The hilarious SEVENTH BOOK in Sue Townsend's bestselling series, sees Adrian fall in love, be inconvenienced by the war and face his new nemesis: a swan from the local canal . . . Adrian Mole: From Minor to Major (1991) is an omnibus of the first three, and includes as a bonus the specially written Adrian Mole and the Small Amphibians. Mr. Cherry is the owner of the local newsagents shop. He takes Adrian on as paper boy and gives him the morning round on Pandora's street, much to his delight. Adrian turned down the evening round on Corporation Row; Barry Kent lives there for a start. Mr. Cherry gave him a pornographic magazine, Big & Bouncy, but Adrian later resigned from his post as paperboy and it states in his cv: "Paperboy at Cherry's Newsagents: resigned after Mr. Cherry tried to pervert me with issues of Big & Bouncy".Like most 13 ¾ year olds, Adrian has a burgeoning interest in sex. Oddly, he takes regular measurements of his private parts and records the continually varying results in a graph, that he hides in plain sight, on his wall, marked “Norwegian Leather Exports”. Now, that’s nerdy. He seems to interpret the results as a kind of barometer of how things are going in life. On one occasion he accidentally catches a view of his neighbour’s underwear, and remarks to himself that it is surprisingly sexy for a church-going, middle-aged woman. Symbolically, this represents Adrian getting a view beneath the respectable veneer of society and its treatment of sex. His attempts to hide his top shelf “girlie” mags from his mum were another touchstone of adolescence in the 1980s. Shrewd observations such as this, on the part of Sue Townsend, are part of the reason that books were so successful. Netta Flowers is the ex-wife of Michael Flowers. She, like her husband, does not want to waste fossil fuels, and makes foul-tasting foods as a result. She helps her husband at his shop in Leicester High Street. Netta starts having an affair with a man named Roger Middleton, and it is debated whether she and Michael should divorce so Netta can marry Roger or have an open marriage; the eventual outcome is divorce. Michael and Netta had two daughters together, Poppy and Marigold. Adrian describes her as having unnaturally red cheeks. Gladys Fordingbridge is the elderly regular host of the group. She is the only woman. Her living room is cluttered with cat hairs and photographs of distant relatives. Her poems consist entirely of sub- Pam Ayres cat poems, one of which, entitled 'Naughty Paws', managed to rhyme ' Whiskas' with 'discus'. When her poems are eventually published it gives Adrian an excuse to expel her from the group as it is 'for amateurs only'. Gladys happily leaves the club. After failing her 11-plus exam, Townsend went to the secondary modern South Wigston High School. [4] During her childhood, while up a tree playing with her peers, she witnessed the murder of a fellow schoolgirl, but the children were not believed. [5] The murder was committed by Joseph Christopher Reynolds (31), convicted at Leicester Assizes for the murder of Janet Warner, and hanged by Albert Pierrepoint on 17 November 1953. It was to be the last execution carried out at Leicester Prison. Bianca Dartington is Adrian's first girlfriend since moving to Oxford. She is an engineer like Adrian's stepfather, Martin Muffet, and wants to go and see Battersea Power Station. Bianca works as a waitress at Savage's and introduces Adrian to his first job there. Bianca previously worked in the local newsagents when he lived with Pandora and the Palmer family. Adrian and Bianca enjoy a very physical relationship, to the point where Bianca starts becoming delicate around her genitals. Bianca had a very boring, Christian upbringing; her father, the Reverend Dartington, is a strict man, and her mother was 48 when she gave birth. Bianca has two elder siblings: Derek and Mary. Adrian is surprised that his girlfriend can come from such a boring, plain family, as Bianca has a strong personality and has good looks. Adrian and Bianca spend Christmas at the Dartington household - it was a disaster. The couple were the only two to bring presents, as the others donated money to Sudan. When Bianca moans that they did not tell her, Adrian claims that it was to show that they had the moral high-ground. To make matters worse, Adrian's presents were disasters. Mrs. Dartington was allergic to the peach-related present he gave her, and Reverend Dartington responded frostily to the poetry and trainspotting books Adrian bought him. However, after one stay with Adrian's family, Bianca starts an affair with Pauline's much younger husband, Martin Muffet, a fellow engineer. Grandma Mole spots the two sitting together on top of a bus, and at St Pancras railway station, one of Bianca's favourite places as it is "the world's largest unsupported structure", Adrian goes to greet Bianca to be greeted with Martin Muffet's arm around her shoulders, giving Adrian and Pauline a shared heartbreak. Bianca takes her belongings from the flat and leaves with Muffet. One point of anxiety for her is that when people hire her for a job, they are thrown by the fact that she is a girl, and she was seriously considering putting "Brian Dartington" on her CV.

Adrian Mole - Wikipedia

This section possibly contains original research. Please improve it by verifying the claims made and adding inline citations. Statements consisting only of original research should be removed. ( December 2017) ( Learn how and when to remove this template message) Hitesh is a teenager on a work experience placement, whom Carlton-Hayes brought in to manage the computer. When the bookshop closes, Hitesh is not applicable to redundancy pay as he had not been employed for two years or more. Hitesh says that he will get a job at KFC, where his cousin is manager. George, like Pauline, is sometimes tactless and inefficient. He has no qualms about showing favouritism for his three children - his favourite was always Rosie, which is why he took it so hard when he discovers Rosie is not his. He does not enjoy talking about his feelings and wants his son to be a "real man", like a computer technician. One of his less attractive qualities is his openly saying that he married Adrian's mother Pauline because of "how good her legs looked in a miniskirt".A dark grey cell indicates that the character was not in the film or that the character's presence in the film has yet to be announced. Malcolm is the severely under-educated dish-washer during Adrian's stint as head chef at Savage's. Malcolm is not especially bright, but Adrian appreciates his friendship. When a cat that looks uncannily like the Downing Street cat, Humphrey, appears at the restaurant it is Malcolm that takes it in and lavishes it with expensive playthings and food. Malcolm christens the cat 'Humfri' as he only understands phonetic spelling. He is a labour supporter. Norman is the man in the flat next door to Adrian and Bianca's. He works as a fire-eater at a circus and, much to Adrian's chagrin, practises his act in their shared bathroom. He is annoyed at the sound the couple emit during their lovemaking. Kate Kellaway "Sue Townsend: 'I hate it when people call me a national treasure'", The Observer, 1 August 2010 S.Townsend, Mr Bevan's Dream – Why Britain needs its Welfare State, Chatto and Windus, 1989, p.8. ISBN 0 7011 3468 2