The explosion that tore the face and roof off 70-year-old Brown's Wiltshire cottage is thought to have been caused by a gas leak. When Brown returned, he pressed the ignition on the stove, which did its job admirably - just with more gas than expected.
The fact that Brown was unharmed but for a few cuts and bruises is remarkable. Gas explosions are as violent as they sound and as deadly as they look. A blast at a kebab house in Hull last year was followed by 999 calls from seven miles away. Debris from the one that obliterated Brown's house damaged 15 vehicles.
Explosives experts believe that one explanation for Brown's escape is that he was almost directly at the centre of the blast. As gas explodes, it produces a powerful shockwave that surges away from the ignition point. This blast, and the heat radiated from the combusting gas, are the things to avoid if you want to survive an explosion.
The effect has been witnessed by accident inspectors brought in after industrial explosions. In 1974, an explosion at the Nypro chemical plant in Flixborough near Scunthorpe killed 28 workers, injured 36, and destroyed surrounding buildings. Inspectors noticed that away from the centre of the blast, lampposts had been twisted and flattened. But near the centre of the explosion, they were still standing upright. If Brown had been further away from the centre of the explosion, it is possible that the full brunt of the shockwave would have "ripped his lungs out", as one expert put it.
What still baffles scientists is that Brown does not appear to have suffered serious burns. In most gas explosions, the heat of the blast is hard to escape, because it radiates in all directions.