A FILMMAKER has been delving into the history of a local celebrity for a new documentary.

The Little Count explores the story of Joseph Boruwlaski, a Polish dwarf who lived in Durham in the nineteenth century.

Just 99cm high, the colourful character became a celebrity of the city, where he lived for almost 40 years.

The documentary has been made by amateur filmmaker Paul Stainthorpe, who became intrigued by the story after coming across the folly on the banks of the River Wear – known as the Count’s House – while on a walk in Durham.

Mr Stainthorpe, 38, from Newton Hall, Durham, said: “When we first came across it a few years ago there was no sign up and we didn’t know what it was, despite living in Durham for almost 40 years.

“We now know it’s called the count’s house and we decided to find out a bit more about it and the history of the count.”

Along with friends Richard Laverick and Steven Landles, also from Durham, the team started making a documentary about Mr Boruwlaski, who was not actually a count but used the moniker as part of a stage act.

As well as interviewing people from Durham about what they knew about the story, they visited Durham Town Hall, where there are a number of exhibits – including a set of his clothing, his violin and a portrait – and met with Durham author Simon Webb, who wrote a biography called In Search of the Little Count: Joseph Boruwlaski, Durham Celebrity.

Mr Stainthorpe said: “We met a real mix of people, it was really divided between people who knew about him and people who didn’t.

“Some people were shocked that not everyone knew who he was. And some people didn’t have a clue.

"I think back in the eighties everyone knew about him so maybe this is a little bit of local history that’s being forgotten.”

They have almost completed the hour-long documentary and have released a trailer, which can be viewed online, which includes a backing track by Durham band The Whisky Priests.

Mr Stainthorpe, a writer, set up Lone Pine Pictures to create his films. He is currently working on a Jaws-inspired movie based on the legendary Durham Puma.

He added: “Everything I do is Durham inspired, that’s my aim really.”

Mr Boruklaski, born in Poland in 1739, had an inherited condition, achondroplsia, which meant he never grew taller than 3ft 3in.

After his father died when he was nine, his mother offered him, and his other siblings, to wealthy patrons so they could act as a freak show form of entertainment.

He learned to play the violin and to dance, and from the age of 15, toured the royal courts of Europe.

He came to Durham in about 1800 and in 1812, aged 73, retired to Banks Cottage, South Bailey, where he lived with the unmarried daughter of cathedral organist Thomas Ebdon, with whom he was friends.

He died in 1837, aged 98, and is buried at Durham Cathedral beneath a slab marked with his initials “JB”.

He never actually lived at the Count’s House, which was erected in 1820 by the Dean and Chapter of the cathedral and was used as a summer house.