Peter Currell Brown went to Colchester Royal Grammar School, which he left at age fifteen. His first job working in a factory was the stimulus for his only novel, Smallcreep's Day. He married in 1962, and his first child was born later that year. The following year he moved to a small cottage in rural Gloucestershire, where he raised his 4 children. He worked at various jobs locally, including Dursley's main factory, Lister's and Peter Scott’s Wildfowl Trust in Slimbridge. The success of Smallcreep’s Day enabled him give up factory work.
In 1966 he set up a craft pottery he called The Snake Pottery. He later gave up employed work to concentrate on the pottery. In 1987 he separated from his wife and moved out of the cottage.