For a teen-come-twentysomething, Loaded magazine was the bible of all things music/sport/fashion/film and gonzo journalism right at the centre of what would be known as 'Cool Britannia'. Today, though, Brown sees it more clearly: “There was not much fun in media before we came along,” he says. By the age of twenty two he was features editor of the New Musical Express and at the ripe old age of twenty seven he launched Loaded, a magazine that gave the publishing world such a kick up the arse it hasn’t been able to sit down properly since. There are people I wish I’d seen rather than interviewed, so the Small Faces and The Clash and The Faces in their prime, for instance. He rediscovered his love of music, reconnected with smaller music venues, hung out with the Reeves guy that was in the Matrix and the one that was partnered with Bob Mortimer, and went clubbing.

In between, his mother died in tragic circumstances and gradually his own drug and alcohol use began to take over.

I think James is a good example of the old adage 'make your hobby your job and never work a day in your life'. The cumulative effects of living with and without a parent with this most cruel of illnesses found expression in the kind of habits and mindset that both propelled him to the top and very nearly killed him. I would have liked to have read more about his recovery and also any work he has been doing in recent years as I felt the last 20 years were skimmed over quite quickly within the book but at over 400 pages he may have felt he needed to save that for another book. Confucius, or more likely Mark Twain, once said, “If you find a job you like doing, you’ll never work a day in your life”.

Brown notes that he was younger than pretty much all of his staff, and that his mum had died only months before the opportunity to do Loaded arose. Afterwards, his former deputy alleged that he had discussed the idea of photographing South Korean footballer Son Heung-min eating a dog, although both the magazine and Brown say these allegations were not connected to his departure and that he left on mutually good terms. He floated his own publishing company on AIM and became an in-demand public speaker and creative consultant for leading brands, agencies and publishing houses.

None that I can remember as a teenager, he was more influential in the books he gave me, like The Great Shark Hunt and Hells Angels by Hunter S Thompson, and The Electric Cool Aid Acid Test by Tim Wolfe.

This book made me nostalgic for a time I barely remember but wish I could’ve been apart of and serves as a reminder that it’s better to create what you believe to be missing, than to complain that someone isn’t creating what you want to see.Loads of Leeds memories and as someone who followed his career, brilliant to get additional insight to the articles I can remember reading. Instead I felt he came across as an ambitious, driven and confident person who knew what he wanted and set out to achieve it. He created the award-winning and hugely popular loaded magazines, and went on to edit British GQ where he launched the Man of The Year Awards. We also use them to help detect unauthorized access or activity that violate our terms of service, as well as to analyze site traffic and performance for our own site improvement efforts. James travelled up and down the country with bands like The Redskins and The Three Johns, hopped up on cheap cider and raw enthusiasm, making connections and flexing his writing wings.