Ian H. James was born in 1948 in the town of Cheshunt in Hertfordshire, England. He met and married Béatrice, a French student spending a year in England as an au pair. They settled down to married life in Shrewsbury and had two daughters, Chloé and Lucie. Ian became a teacher of science and mathematics at several schools in Shropshire before retiring and moving to France where he now resides.