Paul Donnelley
BORN in London, Paul Donnelley was raised in the tiny hamlet of Harold Hill in Essex and educated at a Jesuits boys' grammar school. Aged 15, he wrote a quiz for Jeremy Beadle, then a presenter on the London radio station LBC. Two years later, Donnelley was the biggest outside contributor to the best-selling Hunter Davies's Bigger Book of British Lists.
On leaving school, Donnelley worked as a researcher for Jeremy Beadle for many years. His own first book - 50 Fantastic Hits - was published when he was 24. He has since written 21 books, often with a showbusiness theme. He is the author of biographies of Julia Roberts (2003) and Judy Garland (2007); a history of television scandal (TV Babylon in 1997); four editions of a best-selling encyclopaedia of film personality obituaries Fade to Black (2000, 2003, 2005 and 2010, which is published in America and Australia as well as the UK); a guide to the films of Marilyn Monroe (2000); Essex Murders (2007), a book about homicide in that county for which he also took many of the photographs; Assassins and Assassinations (2008), a look at 25 of the most notorious plots; The Arsenal Companion (2008), the first of two books on the north London footballing giants; 501 Most Notorious Crimes (2009) which spent several weeks in the Top 10 of The Sunday Times non-fiction best-seller list; Arsenal On This Day (2009) and Cricket On This Day (2009).
As well as the United Kingdom, his books have been published in Australia and America and he is popular in eastern Europe where his work has appeared in Serbia, Bulgaria, Romania, Russia and Poland. In 2011, 501 Most Notorious Crimes was published in Brazil.
In the mid-1980s he wrote many of the questions for the television quiz show Pass the Buck (hosted by George Layton for Thames Television). He wrote for Ultra Quiz (TVS, 1983), Jeremy Beadle's Today's the Day (TV-am, 1984), Today's the Day (BBC, 1995) and University Challenge (Granada for BBC, 1999).
He was the editor of Crime Stories, Man About Town and M-Zone and has worked for several magazines and newspapers including The Sunday Telegraph, The Daily Telegraph, The Sun, Daily Mail (where for two years he was stand-in editor on the gossip column Wicked Whispers), OK! (where he was a columnist for three years), Sunday Express, Punch (a reporter-feature writer and occasional stand-in deputy editor), Idols, Maxim, For Women, Video World, Hotel & Caterer, City AM (where he was the chief sub editor), thelondonpaper and, most recently Master Detective where he writes "Paul Donnelley's Murder Month", a column on criminal history.
Firsts, Lasts & Onlys is a registered trademark of Paul Donnelley. Any infringement will be vigorously pursued.
On leaving school, Donnelley worked as a researcher for Jeremy Beadle for many years. His own first book - 50 Fantastic Hits - was published when he was 24. He has since written 21 books, often with a showbusiness theme. He is the author of biographies of Julia Roberts (2003) and Judy Garland (2007); a history of television scandal (TV Babylon in 1997); four editions of a best-selling encyclopaedia of film personality obituaries Fade to Black (2000, 2003, 2005 and 2010, which is published in America and Australia as well as the UK); a guide to the films of Marilyn Monroe (2000); Essex Murders (2007), a book about homicide in that county for which he also took many of the photographs; Assassins and Assassinations (2008), a look at 25 of the most notorious plots; The Arsenal Companion (2008), the first of two books on the north London footballing giants; 501 Most Notorious Crimes (2009) which spent several weeks in the Top 10 of The Sunday Times non-fiction best-seller list; Arsenal On This Day (2009) and Cricket On This Day (2009).
As well as the United Kingdom, his books have been published in Australia and America and he is popular in eastern Europe where his work has appeared in Serbia, Bulgaria, Romania, Russia and Poland. In 2011, 501 Most Notorious Crimes was published in Brazil.
In the mid-1980s he wrote many of the questions for the television quiz show Pass the Buck (hosted by George Layton for Thames Television). He wrote for Ultra Quiz (TVS, 1983), Jeremy Beadle's Today's the Day (TV-am, 1984), Today's the Day (BBC, 1995) and University Challenge (Granada for BBC, 1999).
He was the editor of Crime Stories, Man About Town and M-Zone and has worked for several magazines and newspapers including The Sunday Telegraph, The Daily Telegraph, The Sun, Daily Mail (where for two years he was stand-in editor on the gossip column Wicked Whispers), OK! (where he was a columnist for three years), Sunday Express, Punch (a reporter-feature writer and occasional stand-in deputy editor), Idols, Maxim, For Women, Video World, Hotel & Caterer, City AM (where he was the chief sub editor), thelondonpaper and, most recently Master Detective where he writes "Paul Donnelley's Murder Month", a column on criminal history.
Firsts, Lasts & Onlys is a registered trademark of Paul Donnelley. Any infringement will be vigorously pursued.