He chose to specialise in EU affairs from that moment on, after having already worked in local radio and TV for 15 years in various parts of the UK. He started his broadcasting career with one of the BBC’s new local radio stations and spent some time as a continuity announcer on BBC North East television, rising to become News Editor of an independent radio station in Devon and an occasional lecturer and external examiner on a post-graduate radio journalism course.

His time in Europe has also taken him to many other parts of the world, reporting on events in a number of countries, including (among others) Uganda, Botswana, Russia, Togo, the Windward Islands and Afghanistan during the dying days of Soviet occupation, where he was a guest of the Mujahadin. He has won a total of six awards for his reports over the years.

Jim also makes documentaries and educational videos for institutional and corporate clients and still dabbles in radio programme-making, which he describes as his "first love".

He is married and has two grown up children.