The Diary of a Nobody the first, "The Diary of a Somebody", is a direct reference to the Grossmith original. Reviewing this volume in "The Spectator", Benny Green points out several parallels with the original, in both character and event. Matthew's book, says Green, is amusing, but the Grossmiths' book is superior; it is "affecting as well as comical, in a way that the Matthew pastiche is not". In 1982 came the first appearance of Sue Townsend's teenage creation, Adrian Mole, whose passage into young manhood and early middle age is charted in a long series of diaries. The more middle-aged he becomes, says Morton,
Michael Napier Brown Zimbabwe), artistic director at the Everyman Theatre in Cheltenham, who appointed him as associate director. Here Napier Brown directed 11 productions before moving to Derby Playhouse. In 1981 Napier Brown became chief executive and artistic director of the Royal Theatre in Northampton. Here he discovered Gian Sammarco and Lindsey Stagg and cast them in productions at that theatre; he later recommended them to Thames Television when they were casting for "The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13¾". After successful auditions they appeared as Adrian Mole and Pandora Braithwaite in two series. Napier Brown remained at the Royal Theatre for