James wrote about his Dyslexia in his 2007 autobiography "Almost A Celebrity", acknowledging that teachers didn't even put him in for any exams at school.
James believed that it was later beneficial for live television work: "People who've never been on live TV don't understand how frightening it can be. You can rely on the script and if the autocue stops working, if the words just stop, then you can easily be done for. Luckily, my years of experience doing live radio enable me to think on my feet whatever happens. And to be honest, with me being dyslexic, I'm not usually reading the script from the camera anyway (in some ways, a good thing, because you're not supposed to look like you are). Between you and me, I can't see the bloody words, so I'm guessing at them most of the time."