Dr Michael James, MBE

Career: writer and broadcaster 1983-; entered Br Govt Serv (GCHQ) 1963, private sec to Rt Hon Jennie Lee MP as Min for the Arts 1966-68, DES 1968-71, planning unit of Rt Hon Margaret Thatcher MP as Sec of State for Educn & Sci 1971-73, asst sec 1973, DCSO 1974, served Paris, Milan, Tokyo and London 1973-78, dir Int Atomic Energy Agency Vienna 1978-83, advsr on int rels Cmmn of the Euro Union Brussels 1983-85; feature writer and book reviewer for: The Times (thriller critic 1990-91, travel corr 1993-), Sunday Times, The Guardian, Daily Telegraph (thriller critic 1993-) 1986-; chm: Civil Serv Selection Bds 1983-93, GMC Professional Conduct Ctee 2000-06; memb: Asylum and Immigration Tbnl (formerly Immigration Appeal Tbnl) 1987-, Exec Ctee PEN 1997-2001; govr: Colyton GS 1985-90, Sidmouth Community Coll 1988-2004 (chm of govrs 1998-2001); chm Kennaway House Tst 2001-11 (pres 2011-); hon fell Univ of Exeter; FRSA

Books and Publications: novels (as Michael Hartland): Down Among the Dead Men (1983), Seven Steps to Treason (1985, SW Arts Literary Award, dramatized for BBC Radio 4 1990), The Third Betrayal (1986), Frontier of Fear (1989), The Year of the Scorpion (1991), The Verdict of Us All (short stories, 2006), Masters of Crime: Lionel Davidson and Dick Francis (2006); (as Ruth Carrington) Dead Fish (1998); other publications (as M L James): Internationalization to Prevent the Spread of Nuclear Weapons (jtly, 1980); Television and Radio incl: Sonja's Report (ITV documentary, 1990), Masterspy (interviews with KGB defector Oleg Gordievsky, BBC Radio 4, 1991)