Sue Townsend on 30 years of Adrian Mole Adrian Mole, the fictional teenager created by Sue Townsend, is celebrating his forty-three-and-three-quarter birthday, 30 years on from his first appearance. Author Sue Townsend told Evan Davis that her most famous character had originally been called Nigel. Despite a number of other literary successes, she said, "Adrian's my favourite character. I like him a lot.