Adrian Mole and the Weapons of Mass Destruction which began at this time. This is a recurring theme throughout the book. The story also deals with an issue that has affected Sue Townsend directly; she was registered blind in 2001, as a result of long-term diabetes. "Adrian Mole and the Weapons of Mass Destruction" was typed by Townsend's husband from dictation. In her review of the book, Mary Wakefield felt Mole's immature and angst-ridden personality has lost its appeal as he approaches middle-age, where it was endearing in a younger man. Bruce was Adrian's old schoolmate in the first book. He was very clever although he couldn't grasp
The Diary of a Nobody more than 15 million copies in 40 countries. In the 1990s the satirical magazine "Private Eye" lampooned John Major, British prime minister 1990–97, in "The Secret Diary of John Major aged 47", a hybrid of the Adrian Mole diaries with "The Diary of a Nobody", which made much fun of Major's lower-middle class origins. The social historian James Hammerton defines "Pooterism" as "the dependent weakness and inflated social pretension of white-collar workers, constructed in the workplace but expressed just as powerfully at home". Jon Wilde of "The Guardian" observes this characteristic in a number of British TV comedy creations of