Ian H. James

Ian James was born in 1948 in the town of Cheshunt in Hertfordshire, England. After qualifying as a chemist at Trent Polytechnic, Nottingham in 1970 he took on several positions as both an analytical chemist and development chemist before establishing himself as the technical manager of a Speciality Chemical Company at Telford in Shropshire. It was just before this time he met Béatrice, a French student spending a year in England as an au pair. They settled down to married life in Shrewsbury and had two daughters, Chloé and Lucie. Ian became a teacher of science and mathematics at several schools in Shropshire before retiring and moving to France where he still lives.