Sue Townsend Afflicted

The creator of Adrian Mole is now what they call 'registered blind', says this report: "Yes, it was a cruel blow, she agrees, without a hint of self-pity, for a writer, a woman who has read obsessively all her life (even while giving birth to her children), to wake from a nap one afternoon to find that all she could see was brown haze. 'It was as if the room were filled with brown smoke. I thought the house must be on fire,' she recalls. 'But it seemed weird because I couldn't smell smoke or hear any flames crackling. I groped my way from room to room, up and downstairs, only to discover there was no fire.'