Greg James
Gregory James Alan Milward is an English radio DJ, television presenter and author. He has been a presenter on BBC Radio 1 since 2007, and has hosted the station's flagship breakfast show since 2018. Before then, he presented its drive-time show.
Since 2017, James has co-hosted the BBC's cricket podcast Tailenders alongside the England cricketer James Anderson and guitarist for the Maccabees, Felix White. He is also a children's author, most notable for the Kid Normal book series with Chris Smith.
Early life
James was born to Alan and Rosemary Milward on 17 December 1985 in Lewisham, South London. His parents were both teachers; Alan a headteacher, and Rosemary a special-needs teacher. He has one sister, Catherine. As a baby, he received three life-saving blood transfusions and was in an incubator for a week.James used to play cricket for Hertfordshire Under-18s.
James' first broadcast was on hospital radio aged 14; however, he later discovered that the transmitter was broken and none of his shows actually went out.
James is an alumnus of The Bishop's Stortford High School, where he was deputy head boy. He studied drama at the University of East Anglia in Norwich and achieved a 2:1. At university he lived with comedians John Kearns and Pat Cahill.
Career
Radio
While at university, he presented several shows on the students' union radio station Livewire 1350AM, becoming the station manager in 2006, though he said it was a job he did not enjoy. He later said that he "owe that place basically everything" when returning to visit the station in 2025. He also presented several breakfast shows on Future Radio in Norwich and on Pulse Rated, Salhouse before he got his break at BBC Radio 1. He won 'Best Male Presenter' at the Student Radio Awards 2005. During university holidays he presented stints on Capital North East.James joined BBC Radio 1 in June 2007 to present the Early Breakfast Show on Fridays and to provide cover for other presenters, including Sara Cox and Vernon Kay. He first presented the show on 1 June 2007, the day after graduating from university. In October, he was appointed as the full-time presenter of the Early Breakfast Show, which aired from 04:30 to 07:00 before being rescheduled to 04:00 to 06:30. His first full-time show was broadcast on 1 October, and his inaugural Record of the Week was "Hometown Glory" by Adele.
On 21 September 2009, BBC Radio 1 introduced a new schedule in which James moved to the early afternoon slot from 13:00 to 16:00, replacing Edith Bowman, who moved to the weekend breakfast slot.
From March 2010 to January 2013, James presented The Official Chart Update on Wednesday afternoons, initially from 15:30 to 16:00 and later from 16:00 to 16:30 after moving to the drivetime slot Scott Mills succeeded him as presenter at the original 15:30 time.
Between 2011-2015, James also co-hosted Not Just Cricket on 5 Live with England cricketers Graeme Swann and James Anderson. The show's main focus was cricket, but topics were varied.
He also hosted a weekly podcast That's What He Said with former BBC Radio 1 Newsbeat presenter Chris Smith. The podcast ended when James began presenting the Radio 1 Breakfast Show.
On 16 February 2013, James guest presented the BBC Radio 5 Live comedy sports programme Fighting Talk, standing in for Colin Murray.
On 15 November 2017, James along with Felix White, Jimmy Anderson, renewed producer Mark 'Sharky' Sharman and regular input from Bristolian Matt ‘Mattchin’ Horan began hosting a cricketing podcast Tailenders. This was initially a weekly podcast covering the 2017–18 Ashes series, but from 23 May 2018 it was renewed to continue on a 'weekly' basis. Features include 'General Cricketing Sadness', 'Mattchin's Quiz' and 'Black Wednesday/Xmas Show/App Launch'.
Since 2019, James has also presented the BBC Radio 4 series Rewinder, a show where he digs through the BBC archives to find classic material to reflect on current stories of the week.
In February 2023, James launched Formula 1 podcast The Fast And The Curious alongside former Radio 1 Newsbeat presenter Christian Hewgill and BBC Sport broadcaster Betty Glover.
Drivetime
On 28 February 2012, it was announced that James and Scott Mills would swap shows from 2 April, with James taking over the Drivetime Show from 16:00 to 19:00. Regular features during his tenure included "The 10 Minute Takeover", "Impossible Karaoke", "Rage against the Answer Machine", "Mayor of Where", "Ask The Nation", "Wrong Uns", "What's My Age Again", celebrity guests on Thursdays and film reviews with critic Ali Plumb. The show also featured improvised games with Chris Smith, the main afternoon Newsbeat reader.James occasionally presented the show from outside the studio, including a week broadcasting from the BFBS radio studio in Camp Bastion, Afghanistan, and hosting "G In the Park", a mini-music festival from the BBC in Glasgow prior to the T in the Park festival.
Following the change to the global release date for new music, from 10 July 2015, his Friday show was replaced between 16:00 and 17:45 by The Official Chart, followed by Dance Anthems from 18:00 to 19:00. The drivetime slot was typically divided into two segments, with a fifteen-minute break between 17:45 and 18:00 for the evening Newsbeat bulletin.
On 19 June 2017, James chose the name "RoboCrop" from "thousands and thousands" of listeners' suggestions for a tractor on loan to Dorset Police to tour agricultural shows to raise awareness of rural crime. Dorset Police said the tractor, equipped with a siren, had a top speed of and was "not built for response policing".
''Radio 1 Breakfast''
On 20 August 2018, James took over Radio 1 Breakfast from Nick Grimshaw. The pair switched shows, with Grimshaw taking on the Drivetime show between 16:00–19:00. It was announced by the two presenters on Grimshaw's Breakfast Show on 31 May, with Grimshaw joking "It's time for a change, time for a new show and, most importantly, it's going to be time for a new wake-up time... preferably around 11:30am". Both presenters were very excited about the change, with James saying that taking over would be a "big challenge" but he was ready and willing "to give it a go". His first guest on the show was Wallace the Lion from Blackpool Zoo. The show was broadcast four days a week, until December 2020 when the BBC announced changes to the Radio 1 schedule, with James' Breakfast Show now being five days a week, whilst Matt Edmondson and Mollie King moved from the weekend breakfast show to the weekend afternoon slot.Television
James is also a TV presenter. In 2009, he presented a TV show for BBC Three called Sun, Sex and Holiday Madness, about British tourists in Magaluf and Young, Jobless and Living at Home, also for BBC Three. He has presented Sound on BBC Two's Switch and he hosted the backstage winners' podium at the 2009 BRIT Awards, which he did again in 2010.In 2011, James had a non-speaking cameo role in the Doctor Who episode "Closing Time".
James presented the BBC Three's coverage of Glastonbury Festival 2011 and in August 2012, the Reading and Leeds Festival. He presented coverage of T in the Park 2012, alongside Edith Bowman in July. In 2013, James co-presented extensive coverage of Radio 1's Big Weekend on BBC Three with Alice Levine. In June 2013, James once again hosted BBC Three's coverage of Glastonbury, alongside Gemma Cairney.
He again hosted the BBC's coverage of festivals including Radio 1's Big Weekend, T in The Park, Reading, and Glastonbury in the summer of 2014.
In 2012, James co-presented two series of Unzipped on BBC Three with Russell Kane and later How to Win Eurovision, a special two-hour show, on 11 May 2013. In December 2012, James and Gabby Logan presented 50 Greatest London 2012 Olympics Moments on BBC Three. The show was broadcast on his 27th birthday.
On 25 September 2013, James along with Kane starred in their chat show Staying in with Greg and Russell on BBC Three. Both later appeared on the Children in Need 2013 appeal night during a Lip Sync Challenge, which James won by performing "Circle of Life" from The Lion King.
In 2014, James appeared as a contestant in the CBeebies gameshow Swashbuckle with his niece Pia.
In September 2014, James hosted the closing ceremony of The Invictus Games with Clare Balding live on BBC Two. In 2015, he presented the BBC Three reality game show I Survived a Zombie Apocalypse.
In May 2015, he played a police officer in the BBC Three comedy murder mystery series Murder in Successville. Also in 2015, James co-wrote and starred in the Comedy Feeds episode Dead Air.
In March 2016, he hosted a segment of the Sport Relief telethon with Alesha Dixon. James has guest presented several episodes of The One Show.
In November 2016, James co-presented the BBC's Children in Need appeal for the first time. He also presented the Children in Need Rocks for Terry concert at the Royal Albert Hall with Fearne Cotton.
Between 2016 and 2017, Greg presented BT Sport's cricket coverage of the South Africa tour to Australia.
In 2017 and 2018, he co-presented the primetime BBC One music show Sounds Like Friday Night with A.Dot. The show wasn't renewed for a third series.
In 2022, James became an executive producer for the Sky documentary series The Man Who Bought Cricket, focusing on billionaire and fraudster Allen Stanford. It was based on a BBC Sounds podcast presented by James on the same subject, in a series called Sport's Strangest Crimes.
In March 2023, Channel 4 announced that James would be the host of its new reality show Rise and Fall.
On 16 June 2023, he appeared as himself in Episode 1 of the BBC One comedy Queen of Oz. James is seen and heard on his radio programme questioning the outrageous antics of spoiled spare to the British crown, Princess Georgiana, played by Catherine Tate.