‘Adrian Mole’ author Sue Townsend dies, aged 68

Sue Townsend has died at the age of 68.

The Adrian Mole author is understood to have passed away at her home following a short illness.

Her death was confirmed by a family friend, who said that she died at around 9pm on Thursday night (April 10).

The author was left blind in 2011 from complications arising from her diabetes, and more recently she suffered a stroke in December 2012.

She rose to fame after the publication of her first Adrian Mole book, The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, aged 13 3/4, in 1982. She went on to publish seven more instalments of the Adrian Mole series.

Stephen Mangan, who played Adrian Mole in a 2001 television adaptation, paid tribute to the author on Twitter: “Greatly upset to hear that Sue Townsend has died. One of the warmest, funniest and wisest people I ever met.”

Townsend was also well known for her work on novel The Queen and I in 1992. Her publisher Penguin Books said they are “deeply saddened” by the news of her death.

Townsend is survived by her husband Colin Broadway and her four children Sean, Daniel, Victoria and Elizabeth.