When I 1st started at BBC Hereford & Worcester, James would often be reading news bulletins. The fledgling news reader in me always.looked forward to James reading.- he was a natural at it. His tone, pace and clarity were superb. He brought a dignity and gravity to bulletins in a way which is now being lost, as audiences and fashions change. He was unflappable when in the news booth, in the days before digital, when all his scripts and audio cassettes had been dropped on the floor, and he was having to read when ever was handed to him, regardless of the order!  I  missed his reading, when his career took out of the day to day journalist jobs.