Born at Downpatrick, Northern Ireland, one of six children, their father being a long-term regular soldier, caused each child to be born at a different place in the world. Brother Fred was a Raj Child, born at Chittagong, which was then part of India, before becoming East Pakistan at the 1947 Partition, now Bangladesh. With the constant moving around, the children's education was neglected and the two boys mostly taught themselves from books and the wireless. Fred became a trainee wildlife officer for the local Council until joining the Royal Air force, while James worked in farming and as a trainee forestry Officer with the Forestry Commission; before enlisting in the Royal Army Veterinary Corp where he fought in the Korean War, before transferring to Singapore to train tracking and guard dogs until being posted with a contingent of Gurkhas and SAS Troopers, as second in command to fight Chinese Communist Terrorists in the Malayan Jungle. After demobilization, he walked the length of the UK, from John O'Groats to Lands-End, which inspired him to take-on a greater challenge and he planned his walk to Singapore. On his return, he married girl friend Rosemary, a show business Drum Dancer, and they have one daughter, Cheryl. Taking a College course on Landscape Design & Construction, he built a business of commercial landscaping with a fifty acre wholesale nursery; which included a fishing lake, deer-park, camp site, plant hire and haulage; retiring to a villa in Cyprus for 10 years, before returning to the UK.
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