Jim was born in Glasgow on the 9th March 1947 to proud parents Ellen and Marcellinus James ( better known as Jim or Jimmy for obvious reasons ) Jim had a lot to be grateful for, considering he was named after his dad. !! Dad had been a stoker in the Royal Navy and went on to work in the new Power Stations that were being built. By this time another Arrival had appeared, his sister Margaret and at the Age of 11 the family moved from Glasgow to Kincardin on Forth to start a new life. He attended St. Margaret’s school in Dunfermline, where even at that early age he was always getting into mischief.. At the age of 15 he decided that the Royal Navy was the life for him, and so went off and joined up as a boy seaman. He requested to become a ship’s cook, however , there were no vacancies for this so he suddenly found himself traing in Gunnery and Missiles. Part of the basic training at Ganges included swimming and jumping off the high diving boards. This was obviously an experience that was not enjoyed by all concerned . The plan was to forget the swimming trunks and you’ll be excused from the ordeal. No such luck !! The forces didn’t go in for excuses so these young recruits suffered somewhat when told to get up there and jump ,costume or not. The sensation that followed proved to be a deterrent. Whilst in the Navy he was known as “Jock “ ( maybe it was because of his Scottish origins ) . During this time he began a new hobby, photography and took on the role as ship’s photographer. In his teens he met and married his first wife and had a daughter Kim. This didn’t work out and he subsequently divorced. In 1971 he was asked to attend the wedding of a fellow sailor in Sunderland and this was where he met Linda and they married the following year on the 5th July by special license in Portsmouth Registry Office, 2 weeks before the ship he was on left for the Far East for 9 months. The “honeymoon” took place 4 months later when the ship docked in Singapore.and Linda flew out to join him courtesy of the RAF . Life in the Navy had it’s good and it’s bad points. Some of the bad ones were usually having his pay stopped for misbehaving !!. One example of this is him being left on the Jetty after a “Run Ashore “ and the ship could be seen on the horizon having sailed some time earlier. He left the Navy in 1974 as an Able Seaman and did a vocational training package “ Learning to drive “. He proved to have no aptitude for anything with 4 wheels.!! On the 1st April 1974 he joined the London Fire Brigade after Linda cut the ad out of the paper and suggested it might be worth a try as there wasn’t a lot of call for a man who knows his guns and missiles unless you went to work on a Sheiks private gunboat. He was sent to Whitechapel Fire Station in the East End and spent time on the White and then Green Watches. He decided as 4 wheels weren’t for him he’d go back to having a motor bike as he’d had one in his teens. He also continued with his hobby of photography and took some amazing pictures over the years. He lost the nickname Jock and became known as “Campbell “. Several years later he acquired a new one ( probably one of several ) Doctor Doolittle. This was because of his love of animals, they had to be rescued first !! He was a bit of a practical joker and he wasn’t alone as the other firemen usually got their own back one way or another. His greatest talent was telling jokes. In 1996 he was retired from the Fire Service and waited patiently until Linda could also take early retirement without losing her pension. Out of the blue in 2000 he suddenly announced that he thought moving to Spain might be beneficial for Linda’s arthritis. This coming from someone who never wanted to go on holiday was a bit of a shock. The move finally took place on the 16th August 2005 and they enjoyed 4 years of the wonderful sun and scenery which surrounds us, not to mention the BARS. His motto for a happy life is live it to the full, tomorrow you could be dead.