Hello. I am a writer called Paul Brown. I write about history, sport, true crime, rocketbelts, and lots of other stuff.

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TV + Film by Paul Brown

I specialise in unusual true stories with colourful characters and cinematic narratives. Several of my works have been optioned for TV and film projects and set up with major movie studios, production companies and streaming platforms. I've worked with Paramount, DreamWorks, Focus Features, eOne, BBC, Netflix and more. This website shows my available work. Browse my books and articles to find original source material for your next project and contact me via email or via my agent.

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About Paul Brown

Paul Brown is a writer from the North East of England who writes about history, sport, true crime, rocketbelts, and lots of other stuff. His books include The Tyne Bridge, The Ruhleben Football Association, and The Rocketbelt Caper. He has written for The Guardian, Longreads, Narratively, FourFourTwo, When Saturday Comes, Deadspin, Loaded, and more. Several of his works have been optioned as TV, film, and podcast development projects. He writes the Singular Discoveries newsletter and podcast. You can contact him by email or via his agent:Email: paul at paulbrown.xyz
Agent: C&W Agency / Curtis Brown
Bluesky: paulbrownuk.bsky.social
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Singular Discoveries is my free email newsletter featuring brand-new stories, personal recommendations, and extras from my notebooks. Subscribe or see the archive.

About

Unusual true stories and engaging recommendations

Welcome to Singular Discoveries. I’m Paul Brown. I write about unusual true stories from forgotten corners of the past. In this newsletter, I share interesting stories and engaging recommendations, highlight my latest published work, and reveal bonus content from my notebooks.
The Singular Discoveries newsletter is published approximately once per month and is distributed via email. The regular newsletter is completely free. You can see previous editions in the archive. To get each monthly edition delivered straight to your email inbox just subscribe now.

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The Tombstone Pterodactyl Encounters with a flying lizard: PLUS Christmas conundrum solved... 8 December, 2022Thirty-Two Days Adrift A fight for survival in shark-infested waters; PLUS palaeontology and plane crash. 11 May, 2023The Titanic Rescue The unsung heroes who saved 700 souls; PLUS Old Egyptian Pyramid and New English Journey. 13 July, 2023Crushed by a Steam Roller An epidemic of grisly flattenings; PLUS Putin's kill list and a great-grandmother's guide to murder 9 October, 2025

ARCHIVE

Note: Posts prior to July 2026 are hosted on Substack.World Cup Willies A bumper World Cup summer special featuring ghostly grounds, forgotten champions, missing trophies and more... 18 June, 2026The Detective Who Investigated Shakespeare's Grave Robbery A Scotland Yard spycatcher investigates Shakespeare's skull theft AND the Whitechapel Murders...; PLUS Frank Chambers revealed! 21 May, 2026The Woman Who Haunted Shakespeare's Grave Why has there never been a movie about Delia Bacon? A Shakespeare's Skull thread-pull... 7 May, 2026The Man Who Stole Shakespeare's Skull Was the Bard's skull really stolen from its cursed grave?; PLUS London Falling, The New Mafia, The Umbrella Man, John & Paul 23 April, 2026Music and the Microbe Cloudbuster uses organ to kill bacteria; PLUS Umbrella murder, Escape from Ponar, Beatles book, Substack Nazis 12 February, 2026Countess as Dope Fiend Morphine murder mystery leads to Great War thread-pull; PLUS: Black Dahlia / Zodiac claim and AI update 22 January, 2026The Boy in the Dustbin A lost boy is found in a bin; PLUS 2025 round-up and mixtapes 11 December, 2025Crushed by a Steam Roller An epidemic of grisly flattenings; PLUS Putin's kill list and a great-grandmother's guide to murder 9 October, 2025Attacked by Weasels A young boy battles Britain's most savage killer; PLUS George Robledo book, Nuremberg movie, Sam Fender podcast 11 September, 2025Blaming Heatwaves on Jupiter A super scorching Singular Discoveries summer special; PLUS The Martians, Pavement, and AI rewriting history 14 August, 2025The Village that Forged the Working Class Winlaton, the birthplace of the working class; PLUS Amelia Earhart, Gaza docs doc, AI artwork 10 July, 2025The Red Cross Murders Were the murders of John Batey, Dr Robert Stirling, and Ellen Atkinson linked? PLUS: Art fraud, The Rehearsal, AI rapture 12 June, 2025Oliver Cromwell and the Vampire's Grave The Lord Protector and a strange burial; PLUS True crime book, New Beatles find, Chernobyl FC, Ruhleben article 8 May, 2025The Strange But True Story of the Witches' Circle Investigating a mysterious ring of trees in an ancient village; PLUS American manhunts, AI apocalypse, UFO IP 10 April, 2025Coffee Johnny and the Winlaton Wild Man A local hero hunts for a local legend; PLUS Calvine UFO and Meta madness 6 March, 2025How to be Wise, Happy, Useful, and Rich Self-help advice from a murder suspect with a backwards name; PLUS Extrasensory, Rocketbelt doc, and big tech takeover 6 February, 2025The Prince and the Secret Tunnel A royal visit reveals a subterranean mystery in a strange ancient village; PLUS Killing Thatcher and 20 years of The Rocketbelt Caper 9 January, 2025Lord of the Cave A family of Brits in a Connecticut Yankee cave; PLUS 2024 round-up 12 December, 2024The Belle of Shepton The Vanishing Bank Manager part 4; PLUS virtual research assistant verdict, podcast, and book offer 5 December, 2024The Cedar Box The Vanishing Bank Manager part 3; PLUS Troubles on TV, and Hollywood's most bankable writer 28 November, 2024The Mysterious Miss Vining The Vanishing Bank Manager part 2; PLUS dark web kill list, and a haunted museum 21 November, 2024The Vanishing Bank Manager The mysterious disappearance of William Lidderdale; PLUS Lord Lucan, and a shipwreck hunter 14 November, 2024The Great British UFO Hoax Read my latest extraordinary true story; PLUS Testing Waymo's driverless cars; and podcast award news 17 October, 2024Edinburgh Ex-Footballer Shipwrecked Yet another George Wilson: How a Scottish sportsman and famous newspaperman survived a disaster at sea 12 September, 2024The Many George Wilsons Bonus summer special read: Is the name “George Wilson” following me? 8 August, 2024Twelve Boys Rout Fascist A sand battle on a Weymouth beach; PLUS How I made the Singular Discoveries podcast; and the Summer of George 1 August, 2024Forgotten on Death Row The haunting tale of Charles Douthitt's endless wait for execution; PLUS new IP picks 11 July, 2024Fooling With a Whirlwind Man loses hat, shirt, in tornado encounter; PLUS cheese related murder plot 13 June, 2024Is There a Man in the Moon? Intelligent aliens hold up a mirror to the Earth; PLUS whale book, lollipop man, Erik Larson extract 9 May, 2024The Snowdrop: Bonus Content More on the remarkable story of the Scottish whaler that was lost in the Arctic 18 April, 2024The Snowdrop: Lost in the Arctic When his ship is wrecked in frozen seas, a young Scottish whaler sets off on an epic quest to find help 11 April, 2024Tyne Bridge Paperback The paperback edition of my book The Tyne Bridge is out today; PLUS the epic story of the Brooklyn Bridge 21 March, 2024Chasing a Monkey A primate pursuit leads to a purveyor of exotic pets; PLUS Everest disaster, Into The Wild bus, Space Shuttle disaster and Moonwalkers 14 March, 2024Awful Murder in Seattle "One of the most unusual and fiendish crimes ever committed"; PLUS problematic pilgrim, Pablo podcast, publishing programme 8 February, 2024A Tomb of Giants Do ancient bones prove the existence of humongous humans? PLUS whale of a romance, poltergeists, podcasts 18 January, 2024A Christmas Singular Discovery Boy finds festive fortune in foraged firewood; PLUS books and other stuff of the year 14 December, 2023Queen Victoria's Giraffe Earth's tallest animal on a "veritable voyage of death"; PLUS special guest Daniel Gray on fish and chips 9 November, 2023The Ghost of Mecklenburgh Street A 200-year-old haunted house; PLUS special guest Danny Robins goes Into the Uncanny; ALSO new podcast teaser! 12 October, 2023Singular Discoveries: The Podcast An audio series telling unusual stories from forgotten corners of the past. 26 September, 2023Two Starlings on a Chimney Pot A startling tale of hidden treasure; PLUS special guest Oliver Franklin-Wallis on the dirty truth about our waste; ALSO paywalls, blockbusters, and a… 7 September, 2023A Child at the Bottom of a Well Rescue and recriminations in Oxfordshire; PLUS Atomic Power and Auschwitz Escape. 3 August, 2023The Titanic Rescue The unsung heroes who saved 700 souls; PLUS Old Egyptian Pyramid and New English Journey 13 July, 2023Singular Discovery of Spanish Coins Needy villagers find buried treasure; PLUS Mr Inbetween, Criminal, The Wager 22 June, 2023Thirty-Two Days Adrift A fight for survival in shark-infested waters; PLUS palaeontology and plane crash 11 May, 2023The Dog and the Dinosaur: Deleted Scenes Extra good stuff from the brontosaurus hunt story; PLUS The Beatles at Stowe and the Klondike Gold Rush 20 April, 2023The Dog and the Dinosaur The true story of the great brontosaurus hunt; PLUS Charlton brothers, lost brothers, new David Grann 11 April, 2023The Man Who Rode the Bear A fleeing murderer and a furious grizzly; PLUS WWI trenches, WWII landing craft, and America's first serial killer 23 February, 2023Death of an Angel A new true crime blockbuster; PLUS IP Picks (plus "what the heck is IP?") 19 January, 2023Messages from the Sea A note in a floating coffee tin tells a sad tale; PLUS 2023 preview: true crime, dinosaurs, grizzlies, whales... 5 January, 2023The Tombstone Pterodactyl Encounters with a flying lizard: PLUS Christmas conundrum solved... 8 December, 2022The Plot to Blow Up the Tyne Bridge How the north-east icon survived wartime peril: PLUS new book out today 3 November, 2022The World's Scariest Painting Revisiting the eBay haunted painting; PLUS a Criminal ghost story and Secret Sleuths 20 October, 2022A London Ghost A tale of corpse and robbers; PLUS Dashiell Hammett and missing nukes 6 October, 2022100ft Wave's Havoc Transatlantic liner hit by biggest ever wave; PLUS big flood, Josephine Baker 29 September, 2022The Undercover Cricketers Police join cricket club to detect thief; PLUS gangsters, Titanic Thompson, Zodiac Killer, Beatles 1 September, 2022Knocks from the Coffin Buried alive; PLUS mermaids, football, Bonnie and Clyde, and lottery hackers 18 August, 2022The Flying Man (and Flying Donkey) Daredevil showman makes ass of himself; PLUS Jonathan Rendall, Lost Watch, Air Con 7 July, 2022Three or Four Hundred Mice A short story of rodent revenge; PLUS The Premonitions Bureau and Night Tracks 26 May, 2022Boy Falls From Tyne Bridge—Twice Brian Hepple fell from the iconic bridge twice within a few minutes—and survived 6 April, 2022A Ghost Story of Christmas Long before A Christmas Carol, another festive haunting chilled England's baubles 16 December, 2021A Fiery Meteor at Loch Ness An unusual phenomenon at Loch Ness; plus the man who discovered its monster 5 August, 2021Children in a Den of Snakes Hunters find a family living in a cave full of serpents; PLUS special guest Jack El-Hai on Damn History 29 July, 2021Oldest Man in World to Play Bowls Life after the Stella disaster; PLUS special guest Chris Lee on the origins of football 22 July, 2021Loved a Royal Freak A romance that is "probably without equal"; PLUS special guest Undine from Strange Company 15 July, 2021Beer Versus Water A curious contest settles the debate; PLUS special guest Ed Needham on Strong Words 8 July, 2021The Gangsters Who Robbed the Wrong Bank American gangsters botch a British bank robbery; PLUS Beatles UFO egg 1 July, 2021Attacked by Her Python; PLUS Ed Caesar A snake dancer is almost killed by her pet, but is it all it seems? PLUS special guest Ed Caesar on The Moth And The Mountain 24 June, 2021Saved by a Football; PLUS Erik Larson Shipwreck survivors' soccer salvation; PLUS special guest Erik Larson on The Splendid and the Vile 17 June, 2021Rival Romeos in the Ring; PLUS Brendan I Koerner Two boxers compete for a hand in marriage; PLUS special guest Brendan I Koerner on the mysteries of bowling balls 10 June, 2021A Barrel Full of Boys A singular discovery: How could 30 boys hide inside one barrel? 3 June, 2021Welcome to Singular Discoveries Sharing interesting stories and engaging recommendations 21 May, 2021