Adrian Mole and his mother

The Secret Diaries of Adrian Mole aged 13 ¾ by Sue Townsend

published 1982

The Growing Pains of Adrian Mole by Sue Townsend

published 1984

 

 

 

A while back I invited readers to suggest books for photos from my files, and my recent post on A Shilling for Candles was one result. And now here’s another one! (And this post does not rule out the idea of the photos being used again…)

Daniel Milford Cottam is a long-time blogfriend, as well as an expert on fashion (my ideal reader?) – you can find some of his earlier contributions here.

I have taken his solid gold comments, and my replies, and Adrian’s diary entries, and turned them into a three-way conversation – a first on the blog. I’m like an AI chatbot.

 

Daniel: That picture with the two horizontally recumbent lingerie models reminds me of Pandora Braithwaite borrowing her mother's Janet Reger slip and allowing Adrian to touch the lace on the hem [in the second book, The Growing Pains].

Adrian: ‘I allowed Pandora to visit me in my darkened bedroom. We had a brilliant kissing session. Pandora was wearing her mother’s Janet Reger full-length silk slip under her dress and she allowed me to touch the lace on the hem. I was more interested in the lace near the shoulder straps but Pandora said, ‘No darling, we must wait until we’ve got our ‘‘O” levels.’

I pointed out to Pandora that all this sexual frustration is playing havoc with my skin. But she said, ‘If you really love me you will wait.’

I said if you really love me you wouldn’t wait.

She went then: she had to replace the Janet Reger slip before her mother got back from work.’

 

Daniel: Actually there's another bit in Adrian Mole where Grandma Mole has him spray Ralgex on her shoulder and reveals a corset like a parachute harness, and says that since they went out of fashion the country has lost its backbone.

Moira:  Chance to use up another picture!

Daniel: I'm remembering more and more underwear-related stuff now, like how Pandora's gang put punk studs on their underskirts after the headmaster banned studs from being worn in school "except on the soles of football boots" and that then led me to the Red Socks situation (not really underwear, but Pandora's were lurex and then they had to wear them under their regulation black socks).

Adrian: After school Pandora and some of her gang rushed out to buy studs to put on the hem of their underskirts.

Moira: studded underskirts don’t seem to exist, but sound like a splendid fashion idea. But – I don’t think any modern girl in secondary school ever wears an underskirt under her uniform. I wonder what date they disappeared?

Daniel: And now I've just remembered Pauline Mole hiding her padded bras so that her husband doesn't find out (although I think that's Adrian misunderstanding the situation, cos it seems unlikely that his father wouldn't notice something like his wife's boobs suddenly reducing in size sans bra.

Moira: Yes, I think it was more about discretion (not always Pauline’s watchword…) – the men of a household were not supposed to see various secret feminine things.

Daniel: Growing up is realising that Adrian Mole isn't actually the hero of the early books, and that their real heroine is Pauline, his mum.

Moira: I totally agree about Pauline Mole! I said on the blog 'Pauline Mole, Adrian’s mother, is a heroine for the ages, Cleopatra with a cigarette hanging out of her mouth and a drink in her hand, seen always, of course, through Adrian’s eyes, but still shining on as a beacon of unmaternal liveliness... When Adrian Mole started out in 1982, she seemed like our mothers. Now she is like us.'
Mother Courage!

My favourite line in the books is possibIy this:

Adrian: I asked her about my Family Allowance today, she laughed and said she used it for buying gin and cigarettes. If the Social Services hear about it she will get done!

[Though am also very partial to:]

My mother has decided that sugar is the cause of all the evil in the world, and has banned it from the house. She smoked two cigarettes while she informed me of her decision.

Moira: I have frequently said that if the world ended you could re-create the UK of the 1980s and 1990s using the diaries of Adrian Mole and Bridget Jones.

Re-reading the books, we find Margaret Thatcher, Roger Scruton, the Royal Wedding, the Falklands War. Anyone who was at home during the day watching Play School and choosing a favourite presenter. Pauline has a Buf Puf, which I was surprised to see still exists. It also takes me back to 1982, when the first book was my Christmas present to absolutely everyone (including someone who said it saved her Xmas, because she wasn't where she wanted to be, but just sat and read Adrian Mole all day).

When the electricity is cut off, Adrian tells us this:

After supper of cream crackers and tuna fish, played cards in the candlelight. It was dead good. My father cut the ends off our gloves, we looked like two criminals on the run.

He was a voice for the ages, not perfect, but  funny, and kind, and hard-working and real. And the best unreliable narrator ever. Treacle-haired Pandora was always a long-term lost cause, but should have been grateful to have him.

Just his luck….

This entry on Sue Townsend has links to other appearances.