The Sacred Diary of Adrian Plass Aged 37¾
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The Sacred Diary of Adrian Plass Aged 37¾ is the first of a best selling series of books by Adrian Plass. Written in the format of a diary, it chronicles and parodies the lighter side of Christian life in a typical Charismatic church. It includes events such as an attempt to move a paper-clip by faith, "laying a fleece" to determine whether God wanted him to go carol singing or watch a James Bond film, and an enthusiastic but not very talented band called "Bad News for the Devil". The title of the book parodies Sue Townsend's wildly popular novel, The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13¾.
The book was followed up by some sequels, The Horizontal Epistles of Andromeda Veal, The Theatrical Tapes of Leonard Thynn, The Sacred Diary of Adrian Plass, Christian Speaker, aged 45¾, and The Sacred Diary of Adrian Plass On Tour, age far too much to be put on the front cover of a book.
Although all the characters (including his family) except himself are fictional, Plass has stated that most of the events recorded in the book are based on real life experiences.
[edit] Characters
- Adrian Plass appears as himself as the main protagonist.
- Anne Plass, Adrian's wife.
- Gerald Plass, Adrian and Anne's son. His quirky and teasing sense of humour frequently offends the religious sensibilities of some of the more staid and conservative members of the church (notably Doreen Cook and Victoria Flushpool), and he has a minor obsession with anagrams, frequently announcing entertaining rearrangements of the letters in the names of various notable Christian personalities.
- Leonard Thynn, a close friend of the Plass family, whose eccentric personality and tendency to misunderstand social situations are a frequent source of both entertainment and frustration for the other members of the church. He struggles with alcoholism and lives at home with his elderly, deaf and similarly eccentric mother, Mrs Thynn.
- Everett Glander, Adrian's nemesis - a non-Christian who works at the next desk to him at work. He is constantly telling dirty jokes, about which Adrian admits to feeling guilty about the fact that he finds them funny.
- Victoria Flushpool, a rigid, doctrinaire and intimidating woman who considers balsa wood models to be evil on the grounds that the number of letters in "balsa wood" is a factor of 666, the Number of the Beast. Towards the end of The Theatrical Tapes of Leonard Thynn, she is brought to repentance and becomes much friendlier and more approachable. She and her husband later go to Africa as missionaries.
- Stenneth Flushpool, Victoria Flushpool's long-suffering husband and closet balsa wood modelling enthusiast.
- Edwin Burlesford, the patient and wise pastor of the church.
- Elsie Burlesford, Edwin's teenage daughter, an obstinate, headstrong character who considers the mildest, most tentative constructive criticism imaginable to be akin to Romania under Nicolae Ceauşescu.
- Andromeda Veal, the rabidly feminist seven year old daughter of a Greenham Common woman.
- Richard Cook, a staunch and literally minded but enthusiastic church member, who frequently shares surreal "visions" and "pictures" with the rest of the group.
- Doreen Cook, Richard's equally staunch and rather more doctrinaire wife who insists that everything must be evangelically correct.
- Charles Cook, an enthusiastic Bible College student who manages to quote twelve Scripture verses for each word of "I hope you get better soon."
- Vernon Rawlings, a friend of Charles Cook with grandiose visions of himself in ministry and a habit of peppering his prayers with "really just".
- Frank Braddock, the Plass's laid-back, pipe-smoking next door neighbour.
- Percy Brain, the Plass's next door neighbour on the other side: a lonely, retired thespian who views himself as another Laurence Olivier.
