Mary Linwood Comprehensive School the former Mary Linwood Secondary School. The principal sponsor of this Academy is the Church of England. The Council transferred the site of the former secondary school (Mary Linwood) to the sponsors. Samworth, Leicester's first City Academy, was built on the site of the old Mary Linwood school and completed in September, 2007. The children of author Sue Townsend attended the school during the late 1970s and early 1980s; their experiences influenced her highly successful Adrian Mole books. "The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole" was reputedly based on Sue Townsend's son's experiences at the school. Several of the teachers who
Louise Jameson Bergerac's girlfriend. In the mid-1980s, she played Tania Braithwaite, Pandora's mother, in both 'The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged 13 3/4' and 'The Growing Pains of Adrian Mole' for Thames Television. In the early 1990s she starred in the two series of "Rides", and made numerous one-off appearances in various TV drama series, as well as numerous "Doctor Who" spin-off projects including the 1993 Children in Need special "Dimensions in Time". In 1998, Jameson began a long run in the BBC soap "EastEnders" as Rosa di Marco, appearing in over 200 episodes over two and a half years until