«Adrian Mole is one of literature's great underachievers; his tragedy is that he knows it and the sadness of this undercuts the humour and makes us laugh not until, but while, it hurts»

Daily Mail

«The funniest person in the world»

Caitlin Moran

«

I've never experienced a greater sense of recognition than when reading The Secret Diary

»

David Nicholls

«Townsend has held a mirror up to the nation and made us happy to laugh at what we see in it»

Sunday Telegraph

«Townsend's writing is still a delight, Adrian's poetry is still dreadful, and his sense of self-importance is still hilarious»

Radio Times

«I not only wept, I howled and hooted and had to get up and walk around the room and wipe my eyes so that I could go on reading»

Tom Sharpe

«Very funny indeed»

Sunday Times

«Every sentence is witty and well thought out, and the whole has reverberations beyond itself»

The Times

«One of the great comic creations»

Daily Mirror

«A classic. The Adrian Mole diaries are thoroughly subversive. A true hero for our time»

Richard Ingrams