James May

James Daniel May (born 16th January 1963) is a television presenter, writer and journalist. He is best known for presenting the TV show Top Gear. May has presented a variety of other programmes on themes including science and technology, childhood toys, cars, food and drink, and the plight of manliness in modern times. In addition he has released a variety of DVDs and books with similar themes, and wrote a weekly column for The Daily Telegraph motoring section. He is the main presenter of Man Lab.

Life
James May was born in Bristol, one of four children; he has two sisters and a brother. After graduating, May briefly worked at a hospital in Chelsea as a records officer, and had a short stint in Her Majesty's Civil Service. May currently lives in Hammersmith, London with dance critic Sarah Frater, whom he has dated since 2000. May obtained a light aircraft pilot's licence in October 2006 having trained at White Waltham Airfield.

Journalism
During the early 1980s, May worked as a sub-editor for The Engineer and later Autocar magazine, from which he was dismissed. He has since written for several publications, including a regular column called England Made Me in Car Magazine, articles for Top Gear magazine, and a weekly column in The Daily Telegraph. He has written a book titled May On Motors, which is a collection of his published articles, and co-authored Oz and James's Big Wine Adventure, based on the TV series of the same name.

Television
His past television credits include presenting Driven on Channel 4 in 1998-99, narrating an eight-part BBC One series called Road Rage School, and co-hosting the ITV1 coverage of the 2006 London Boat Show. He also wrote and presented a Christmas special called James May's Top Toys (for BBC One) exploring the toys of his childhood. This list was followed up the next year by a sequel of sorts, broadcast on BBC Two, entitled James May: My Sister's Top Toys, this time attempting to investigate the gender divide of toy appeal.