Comic author was 68

Sue Townsend, the author of the Adrian Mole diaries, has died at the age of 68 after a short illness.

She died at home on Thursday, a friend of her family told the BBC.

Townsend found huge success with the Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, aged 13 3/4, which was published in 1982. In all, she wrote eight volumes, up to Adrian Mole: The Prostrate Years, was released in 2009.

It was made into an ITV sitcom, which ran for one series in 1985, starring Gian Sammarco in the title role alongside Julie Walters and Beryl Reid.

A sequel, Adrian Mole: The Cappuccino Years, followed on BBC One, set in the wake of New Labour’s 1997 election victory and giving Stephen Mangan his first big break in the title role.

Townsend, who became blind in the 1990s after suffering diabetes, underwent a kidney transplant from her son Sean in 2009 and had a stroke in late 2012. She had planned a further Adrian Mole book, but her illness delayed it.

Born in Leicester, Townsend existed in poverty until her books made her fortune. At 18, she married a sheet-metal worker and, by 22, had three children under five, but her marriage ended three years later, and she took assorted low-skilled part-time jobs to make ends meet.

Mangan led the tributes on Twitter, saying: ‘Greatly upset to hear that Sue Townsend has died. One of the warmest, funniest and wisest people I ever met.’

Writer Caitlin Moran also called Townsend ‘one of the funniest women who ever lived’.

Published: 11 Apr 2014