Sue Townsend
Sue Townsend
Susan Lillian "Sue" Townsend, FRSLwas an English writer and humorist whose work encompasses novels, plays and works of journalism. She was best known for creating the character Adrian Mole...
NationalityEnglish
ProfessionNovelist
Date of Birth2 April 1946
lack piece seems spend start thinking time work
Lack of confidence - every time I start a new piece of work, it seems I have to spend a long while under the duvet thinking I can't do it.
home kids midnight
When all my kids were at home, I used to write from midnight onwards.
best deserve help people sit social staff thousands train workers
People down on their luck deserve the best: beautiful surroundings and well-paid professional staff to help them out of their difficulties. Why not train thousands more social workers and let them sit in on claimants' interviews?
admirer fascinated
I've always been fascinated by totalitarian regimes. I'm not an admirer of them.
listen violin
I usually listen to the same thing over and over again: Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto in D Major. And Leonard Cohen.
books days eight fortnight house library
We had library books in our house, but not our own. So you had 14 days to read them. There would be eight books a fortnight in our house and I'd read as many of those as I could.
evil good led possible realised russian time
'The Gambler' by Dostoevsky. It was the first time I realised that it was possible to have good and evil in one person. It led me to read a lot of Russian literature.
amount desperate extremely frequent given offices paid people poorly rubs staff work
The DSS offices are not given enough funding, their staff are poorly paid and are driven to distraction by the amount of work they have to do. There is frequent turnover of staff. Morale is extremely low. Working with desperate people all day is very dispiriting; their unhappiness rubs off on you.
grab tip weep
In the early days, it was, you know, I used to weep while I was writing. I used to grab at any kind of anything, any hint, any tip of how to make it easy.
ask cope older people reclusive seem
I don't like to be noticed. The older I've got, the more reclusive I've become. I've got late-onset shyness. People are lovely. When they see me in the street, they don't ask for anything from me. They just say: 'I thought it was you, and I just wanted to say how much I enjoy your books,' but I can't seem to cope with it anymore.
age citizen free good greatest
I do think that books, good books, free you. They make you feel a citizen of the world and things like class, sex and age don't matter. They're the greatest leveler.
I used to think I had nice arms, but I don't even think that anymore.
absolutely diet kidneys slight touch work
I have a slight addiction to Diet Coke, and, of course, I absolutely shouldn't touch it because it makes the kidneys work really hard.
jeremy kyle
Watching 'The Jeremy Kyle Show' is my guilty pleasure.