One of the funniest anecdotes that Sue told me was about the time she was mugged.
Some young man pointed something at her, which she thought was a knife, and wanted her money. In her large leather bag, she was carrying her only copy of a manuscript of her latest Adrian Mole book.
She desperately wanted to give him her money so she could get rid of him and save her manuscript, but no matter how much she scrabbled around in that enormous bag, she couldn’t find her wallet. As he got more and more impatient, she screamed, and he ran, but not before she realised that the knife was actually a biro.
There is something about this picture of her scrabbling around in her bag, unable to give the mugger his money because she couldn’t find the purse, that makes me laugh every time I think of it.