James Max
Encyclopedia
James Max is a journalist and radio presenter specialising in business issues. He currently presents programmes for London
speech radio station LBC 97.3
. He was a semi-finalist on the first series of the British version of The Apprentice television programme.
summer repertory theatre and Robert Max a cellist. Robert has had a notable career, touring the world as part of the renowned piano trio, The Barbican Piano Trio.
James went to St Paul’s School in London and left in July 1988 with three A-levels. In October 1989, he went to the University of Reading
and in 1992 graduated with a first-class BSc honours degree in Land Management. He joined DTZ
, a firm of property advisors, to undertake his professional training to become a Chartered Surveyor
. He passed his Assessment of Professional Competence (APC) in 1994 and became a member of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors
(MRICS). In 1995 he became an Associate Director and in 1997 was promoted to Director.
Whilst at DTZ, he worked with Rob Andrew
, the former England rugby fly-half, in the international investment team. In 1998, he left the firm to join Morgan Stanley
, the US investment bank. He worked on a range of projects including the £1.54 billion securitisation of British Land
’s Broadgate
office scheme in the City of London and the successful defence and subsequent property restructuring for Marks and Spencer plc.
A news based show, he covers the main stories of the day. Sometimes with guests and commentators, James's style is affable and conversational with an edge. Listeners get involved via telephone, email, text and tweeting and he's developed quite a following since joining the station in 2006.
Since May 2006 Max has presented a weekly business show on LBC Radio called "Business Matters". That show originally ran from 7pm to 9pm on Sunday evenings moving to 5 - 7pm in 2008. In March 2010 as part of the station's Spring lineup the show was lengthened and now ran from 4 - 7pm. On the 24th September 2011, the show came to the end of the series to allow James to move to become the station's Weekend Breakfast presenter. Incorporating business and property, the new show has a wider remit to cover the big news stories of the day.
He writes a weekly blog and has a presenter's page on the LBC 97.3
site. The show covers a wide range of business topics and regularly has guests from the business and farming worlds. Previous guests have included Trevor Bayliss
, Simon Woodroffe
, Matt Hermer
, Tim Campbell
, Saira Khan
, Margaret Mountford
Theo Paphitis
James Caan and Sir James Dyson. He has also reviewed the newspapers on LBC 97.3’s sister station, LBC News 1152
. In July 2006 he co-hosted The Morning Report with Sue Mansfield.
In October 2007, Max started a 10-week run of a new Saturday show called The Finer Things in Life which aired, live, every Saturday night on the station between 5pm and 6pm.
In January 2008, Max presented the Early Breakfast Show from 5am to 7am on Fridays and 6am to 8am on Saturdays. He regularly covers for presenters such as James O'Brien
, and James Whale
. He has appeared as a pundit with Paul Ross
and Jenny Eclair and was a regular caller on Iain Lee
’s Good Evening.
James has made a number of podcasts for LBC's parent company, Global Radio. Free to download they have been popular in the business and current affairs chart. His Apprentice Series 5 podcast reached the top 5 in the itunes national chat. "Buy It Sell It Rent It" and "Cashpoint" can both be found along with his Apprentice podcast on iTunes and on his LBC page.
from April 2006 to May 2008. He has sat alongside a range of presenters, including Paul Breen Turner, Rodney Marsh
, Micky Quinn
, Adrian Durham
and Ian Wright
.
From January to March, Max presented his own Saturday evening show on the station and has regularly filled in for their non-sports presenters Ian Collins
and George Galloway
.
magazine, a publication that circulates throughout the commercial property industry.
Max has been involved with Shell
Step, a work placement programme for students, and in 2007 hosted the final of the Shell Step Awards in London. He has spoken at numerous events across the country including the Business Startup Exhibition at London’s Olympia
, where he hosted two interactive sessions for Lloyds TSB
. He also presented the South London Business Awards and the London Knowledge Transfer Awards alongside TV Presenter Jason Bradbury
. He has hosted events for The Mayor of London, Olswang, Mortgage Solutions and The Negotiator Magazine.
Max is robust when it comes to defending banks and bankers. Vexed at the thought that the general populous blames the financial services sector wholly for the economic argument, he maintains that there is a wider social and economic problem. government, regulators, rating agencies and those who borrowed more than they could possibly pay back are his views. He cites many retail banks as the worst culprits for poor lending and often argues that little has been done to fix the problems and causes of the financial crash. In the past he justified Goldman Sachs awarding themselves bonus equal to half a million for each employee in the UK in 2009, while supporting a pay freeze for public sector workers such as nurses because, he argues, there is a difference between the public sector using tax payers' money and the private sector distributing profits.
on Channel 4
in August 2008 entitled "How The Banks Never Lose", appeared on a celebrity special of the gameshow Weakest Link
and took part in two episodes of The Morning After Show hosted by Simon Amstell
and Olivia Lee
. On BBC Breakfast, and on E4, where he provided a business report for each episode of the spin-off show, for Harvey Goldsmith
’s Get Your Act Together, presented by News of the World
TV columnist, Ian Hyland
. He has also made some short films for BBC2’s Working Lunch
programme including a feature on car maker Aston Martin
. He regularly reviews the newspapers on Sky News
and has featured on GMTV
and Daybreak
as their property expert.
He regularly appears as a pundit on Jeremy Vine's BBC Radio 2 Show. In June 2010 he defended garden grabbing (the practice whereby developers build in the back gardens of existing homes) and in July he argued against the AV voting
reform as proposed by the coalition government.
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
speech radio station LBC 97.3
LBC 97.3
LBC 97.3 is a London-based talk and phone-in radio station. It is one half of the latest incarnation of LBC, the news and speech service which was Britain's first commercial radio station when it went on air in October 1973...
. He was a semi-finalist on the first series of the British version of The Apprentice television programme.
Pre-Apprentice
Born in London in May 1970, James is the youngest of four brothers. Richard Max is a specialist planning lawyer, Edward Max an actor and Director of the Frinton-on-SeaFrinton-on-Sea
Frinton-on-Sea is a small seaside town in the Tendring District of Essex, England. It is part of the Parish of Frinton and Walton.-History:...
summer repertory theatre and Robert Max a cellist. Robert has had a notable career, touring the world as part of the renowned piano trio, The Barbican Piano Trio.
James went to St Paul’s School in London and left in July 1988 with three A-levels. In October 1989, he went to the University of Reading
University of Reading
The University of Reading is a university in the English town of Reading, Berkshire. The University was established in 1892 as University College, Reading and received its Royal Charter in 1926. It is based on several campuses in, and around, the town of Reading.The University has a long tradition...
and in 1992 graduated with a first-class BSc honours degree in Land Management. He joined DTZ
DTZ
DTZ is a global real estate adviser headquartered in London, employing over 10,000 people in 148 cities in 43 countries, operating in Europe, Middle East and Africa, Asia and the Americas....
, a firm of property advisors, to undertake his professional training to become a Chartered Surveyor
Chartered Surveyor
Chartered Surveyor is the description ofProfessional Members and Fellows of the RICS entitled to use the designation in Commonwealth countries and Ireland...
. He passed his Assessment of Professional Competence (APC) in 1994 and became a member of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors
Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors
The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors is an independent, representative professional body which regulates property professionals and surveyors in the United Kingdom and other sovereign nations....
(MRICS). In 1995 he became an Associate Director and in 1997 was promoted to Director.
Whilst at DTZ, he worked with Rob Andrew
Rob Andrew
Christopher Robert "Rob" Andrew MBE , nicknamed "Squeaky", is a former English rugby union footballer and currently Director of Operations at the RFU. He was formerly the Director of Rugby of Newcastle Falcons. As a player, Andrew was assured in his kicking and defensive skills off both feet...
, the former England rugby fly-half, in the international investment team. In 1998, he left the firm to join Morgan Stanley
Morgan Stanley
Morgan Stanley is a global financial services firm headquartered in New York City serving a diversified group of corporations, governments, financial institutions, and individuals. Morgan Stanley also operates in 36 countries around the world, with over 600 offices and a workforce of over 60,000....
, the US investment bank. He worked on a range of projects including the £1.54 billion securitisation of British Land
British Land
The British Land Company plc is one of the largest property development and investment companies in the United Kingdom. The firm switched to Real Estate Investment Trust status when REITs were introduced in the United Kingdom in January 2007. It is headquartered in London...
’s Broadgate
Broadgate
Broadgate is a large, office and retail estate in the City of London, owned by British Land and the Blackstone Group and managed by Broadgate Estates...
office scheme in the City of London and the successful defence and subsequent property restructuring for Marks and Spencer plc.
The Apprentice
Max was a semi-finalist in the first series of reality TV show The Apprentice, screened on BBC2 in 2005, in which contestants compete for a £100,000-a-year job as "apprentice" to British business magnate Sir Alan Sugar. He was a project manager three times during the show. He was on the winning team in eight out of a possible ten tasks (a feat since matched by Lucinda Ledgerwood). This included being on the winning team for six tasks in a row, making him the record holder for the highest number of successive wins on the programme until Series 7, when Helen Milligan exceeded this number. He was "fired" by Sugar in the interview round (episode 11). It is worth noting that the job he had left before appearing on the Apprentice had a higher salary than the eventual top prize offered on the show. In his autobiography, Lord Sugar states he fired Max from "The Apprentice" as he felt he was using the show as a route into a media career, which turned out to be an accurate prediction.Post-Apprentice
Since taking part on the show, Max has redefined his career. He now writes, broadcasts on radio and TV.LBC 97.3
James presents Weekend Breakfast on LBC Radio. Every Saturday and Sunday from 7 - 10am.A news based show, he covers the main stories of the day. Sometimes with guests and commentators, James's style is affable and conversational with an edge. Listeners get involved via telephone, email, text and tweeting and he's developed quite a following since joining the station in 2006.
Since May 2006 Max has presented a weekly business show on LBC Radio called "Business Matters". That show originally ran from 7pm to 9pm on Sunday evenings moving to 5 - 7pm in 2008. In March 2010 as part of the station's Spring lineup the show was lengthened and now ran from 4 - 7pm. On the 24th September 2011, the show came to the end of the series to allow James to move to become the station's Weekend Breakfast presenter. Incorporating business and property, the new show has a wider remit to cover the big news stories of the day.
He writes a weekly blog and has a presenter's page on the LBC 97.3
LBC 97.3
LBC 97.3 is a London-based talk and phone-in radio station. It is one half of the latest incarnation of LBC, the news and speech service which was Britain's first commercial radio station when it went on air in October 1973...
site. The show covers a wide range of business topics and regularly has guests from the business and farming worlds. Previous guests have included Trevor Bayliss
Trevor Bayliss
Trevor Harley Bayliss is a former coach of the Sri Lanka national cricket team. Bayliss is a former cricketer for New South Wales and a former coach...
, Simon Woodroffe
Simon Woodroffe
Simon Woodroffe OBE is a British motivational speaker and entrepreneur. He started the sushi chain YO! Sushi in 1997, and has appeared as a 'Dragon' on the first UK series of Dragons' Den....
, Matt Hermer
Matt Hermer
Matt Hermer is a British entrepreneur, founder and CEO of the Ignite Group, a London-based company with a portfolio of bars, clubs, and restaurants....
, Tim Campbell
Tim Campbell
Tim Campbell is an Australian television and stage actor, best known for playing the character of Dan Baker in the soap opera Home and Away.-Television:...
, Saira Khan
Saira Khan
Saira Khan is a British television personality and was the runner-up on the first UK series of reality TV show The Apprentice in 2005.-Television career:...
, Margaret Mountford
Margaret Mountford
Margaret Mountford is a British lawyer, businesswoman and television personality known for her role in The Apprentice.-Biography:Mountford is originally from Holywood in Northern Ireland...
Theo Paphitis
Theo Paphitis
Theodorus "Theo" Paphitis is a retail magnate and British entrepreneur of Greek Cypriot origin. He made the majority of his fortune in the retail sector, and is best known to the general public for his appearances on the BBC business programme Dragons' Den and as former chairman of Millwall...
James Caan and Sir James Dyson. He has also reviewed the newspapers on LBC 97.3’s sister station, LBC News 1152
LBC News 1152
LBC News 1152 is London's only rolling news radio station broadcasting in Greater London on AM, DAB, Sky, Virgin Media and online. The station's aim is to provide more in depth coverage of the day's news stories...
. In July 2006 he co-hosted The Morning Report with Sue Mansfield.
In October 2007, Max started a 10-week run of a new Saturday show called The Finer Things in Life which aired, live, every Saturday night on the station between 5pm and 6pm.
In January 2008, Max presented the Early Breakfast Show from 5am to 7am on Fridays and 6am to 8am on Saturdays. He regularly covers for presenters such as James O'Brien
James O'Brien
James O'Brien is the name of:* Jay O'Brien , Virginia politician* James O'Brien , Canadian senator* James Francis Xavier O'Brien Irish rebel and UK MP...
, and James Whale
James Whale
James Whale was an English film director, theatre director and actor. He is best remembered for his work in the horror film genre, having directed such classics as Frankenstein , The Old Dark House , The Invisible Man and Bride of Frankenstein...
. He has appeared as a pundit with Paul Ross
Paul Ross
Paul Ross is an English television and radio presenter, journalist, and media personality. He is the son of Martha Ross and the elder brother of Jonathan Ross.-Early life:...
and Jenny Eclair and was a regular caller on Iain Lee
Iain Lee
Iain Lee is a British comedian, and a television and radio presenter. His career began when he performed stand-up comedy gigs across venues in London. He subsequently became co-presenter of the comedy current affairs show The 11 O'Clock Show on Channel 4 and RI:SE...
’s Good Evening.
James has made a number of podcasts for LBC's parent company, Global Radio. Free to download they have been popular in the business and current affairs chart. His Apprentice Series 5 podcast reached the top 5 in the itunes national chat. "Buy It Sell It Rent It" and "Cashpoint" can both be found along with his Apprentice podcast on iTunes and on his LBC page.
Sky News
James regularly reviews the newspapers on Sky News. He has become a regular. He is a current affairs commentator.The Negotiator Magazine
Since May 2011, James has written a monthly column for the magazine.TalkSPORT
Max presented the weekday Business Update on TalkSPORTTalkSPORT
Talksport , owned by UTV radio, is one of the United Kingdom's three terrestrial analogue Independent National Radio broadcasters, offering a sports and talk radio service broadcast from London to the United Kingdom....
from April 2006 to May 2008. He has sat alongside a range of presenters, including Paul Breen Turner, Rodney Marsh
Rodney Marsh (footballer)
Rodney William Marsh is an English retired footballer. He was named after HMS Rodney by his father, who served on the battleship. He played for Fulham, Queens Park Rangers, Manchester City, the Tampa Bay Rowdies and the England national team. Lately, he has been a pundit and a commentator on the...
, Micky Quinn
Micky Quinn
Michael "Micky" Quinn is a former footballer. He was predominantly a centre forward during a career in which he scored 228 goals from 515 games in the Football League.- Club career :...
, Adrian Durham
Adrian Durham
Adrian Durham is a football journalist and broadcaster.-Career:Durham currently hosts TalkSPORT's "Drivetime" on weekdays between 4pm–7pm alongside ex-cricketer Darren Gough....
and Ian Wright
Ian Wright
Ian Edward Wright, MBE is a retired English footballer turned television and radio personality.Wright enjoyed success with London clubs Crystal Palace and Arsenal, spending six years with the former and seven years with the latter. With Arsenal he has lifted the Premier League title and both major...
.
From January to March, Max presented his own Saturday evening show on the station and has regularly filled in for their non-sports presenters Ian Collins
Ian Collins (radio presenter)
Ian Collins is a British radio and television presenter & journalist. He was the presenter of The Late Show on national talkSPORT Radio. The show was non- sport and took a comedic/observational look at news & current affairs...
and George Galloway
George Galloway
George Galloway is a British politician, author, journalist and broadcaster who was a Member of Parliament from 1987 to 2010. He was formerly an MP for the Labour Party, first for Glasgow Hillhead and later for Glasgow Kelvin, before his expulsion from the party in October 2003, the same year...
.
Overseas Property TV
On the Overseas Property TV station, which broadcasts on channel 287 on Sky, Max has been a regular panellist on Ask The Property Experts and co-presents Property Pensions with Sian Jones, Profit from Property with Tris Payne and Property Boot Camp.Property Week
Max now presents the magazine's monthly podcast having written a monthly lifestyle column entitled "Something for the Weekend" – a look at "what’s hot and what’s not" – for Property WeekProperty Week
Property Week is a UK business-to-business magazine which reports on the worldwide commercial and residential property market.It is the Business Magazine of the Year 2007....
magazine, a publication that circulates throughout the commercial property industry.
Corporate work
Awards ceremonies, key note speeches, events, working sessions, discussions and seminars, James has presented and hosted many different corporate events.Max has been involved with Shell
Royal Dutch Shell
Royal Dutch Shell plc , commonly known as Shell, is a global oil and gas company headquartered in The Hague, Netherlands and with its registered office in London, United Kingdom. It is the fifth-largest company in the world according to a composite measure by Forbes magazine and one of the six...
Step, a work placement programme for students, and in 2007 hosted the final of the Shell Step Awards in London. He has spoken at numerous events across the country including the Business Startup Exhibition at London’s Olympia
Olympia, London
Olympia is an exhibition centre and conference centre in West Kensington, on the boundary between The Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea and Hammersmith & Fulham, London, W14 8UX, England. It opened in the 19th century and was originally known as the National Agricultural Hall.Opened in 1886,...
, where he hosted two interactive sessions for Lloyds TSB
Lloyds TSB
Lloyds TSB Bank Plc is a retail bank in the United Kingdom. It was established in 1995 by the merger of Lloyds Bank, established in Birmingham, England in 1765 and traditionally considered one of the Big Four clearing banks, with the TSB Group which traces its origins to 1810...
. He also presented the South London Business Awards and the London Knowledge Transfer Awards alongside TV Presenter Jason Bradbury
Jason Bradbury
Jason Bradbury is a complete tosser and children's author. His UK TV credits include a wide range of light entertainment, science and technology formats; these include The Big Breakfast, Top Gear GTI, ITV's The Web Review Show and Channel 5's The Gadget Show...
. He has hosted events for The Mayor of London, Olswang, Mortgage Solutions and The Negotiator Magazine.
Max is robust when it comes to defending banks and bankers. Vexed at the thought that the general populous blames the financial services sector wholly for the economic argument, he maintains that there is a wider social and economic problem. government, regulators, rating agencies and those who borrowed more than they could possibly pay back are his views. He cites many retail banks as the worst culprits for poor lending and often argues that little has been done to fix the problems and causes of the financial crash. In the past he justified Goldman Sachs awarding themselves bonus equal to half a million for each employee in the UK in 2009, while supporting a pay freeze for public sector workers such as nurses because, he argues, there is a difference between the public sector using tax payers' money and the private sector distributing profits.
Other TV and Radio work
Max presented an episode of DispatchesDispatches (TV series)
Dispatches is the British television current affairs documentary series on Channel 4, first transmitted in 1987. The programme covers issues about British society, politics, health, religion, international current affairs and the environment, usually featuring a mole in an organisation.-Awards:*...
on Channel 4
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
in August 2008 entitled "How The Banks Never Lose", appeared on a celebrity special of the gameshow Weakest Link
Weakest Link
The Weakest Link is a British television quiz show, currently broadcast on BBC Two. It was devised by Mr Wilton and Euan Green and Cathy Dunning, and developed for television by the BBC Entertainment Department. It has since been replicated around the world. The UK version is hosted by Anne...
and took part in two episodes of The Morning After Show hosted by Simon Amstell
Simon Amstell
Simon Marc Amstell is a BAFTA nominated, award-winning English comedian, television presenter, screenwriter and actor, best known for his roles as former co-host of Popworld, former host of Never Mind the Buzzcocks and co-writer and star of the sitcom Grandma's House.-Early life:Amstell was born...
and Olivia Lee
Olivia Lee
Olivia Lee is an English comedienne, actress and television presenter.-Life and career:Lee is from a Jewish family. She studied acting at the Central School of Speech and Drama...
. On BBC Breakfast, and on E4, where he provided a business report for each episode of the spin-off show, for Harvey Goldsmith
Harvey Goldsmith
Harvey Goldsmith CBE is a British performing arts promoter. He is best known as promoter of rock concerts, charity concerts, television broadcasts for the Prince's Trust and more recently the Teenage Cancer Trust shows at the Royal Albert Hall.During early 2007 he appeared on the Channel 4...
’s Get Your Act Together, presented by News of the World
News of the World
The News of the World was a national red top newspaper published in the United Kingdom from 1843 to 2011. It was at one time the biggest selling English language newspaper in the world, and at closure still had one of the highest English language circulations...
TV columnist, Ian Hyland
Ian Hyland
Ian Hyland is an English television critic.-Journalism career:Hyland wrote a column for the Sunday Mirror from 2000 to 2005. Until 2011 closure of the newspaper, he wrote for the News of the World. He currently writes for the Daily Mail...
. He has also made some short films for BBC2’s Working Lunch
Working Lunch
Working Lunch was a television programme broadcast on BBC Two which covered business, personal finance and consumer news between 1994 and 2010. The programme was first aired on 19 September 1994. It had a quirky, relaxed style, especially when compared to other BBC business shows such as World...
programme including a feature on car maker Aston Martin
Aston Martin
Aston Martin Lagonda Limited is a British manufacturer of luxury sports cars, based in Gaydon, Warwickshire. The company name is derived from the name of one of the company's founders, Lionel Martin, and from the Aston Hill speed hillclimb near Aston Clinton in Buckinghamshire...
. He regularly reviews the newspapers on Sky News
Sky News
Sky News is a 24-hour British and international satellite television news broadcaster with an emphasis on UK and international news stories.The service places emphasis on rolling news, including the latest breaking news. Sky News also hosts localised versions of the channel in Australia and in New...
and has featured on GMTV
GMTV
GMTV was the national Channel 3 breakfast television contractor, broadcasting in the United Kingdom from 1 January 1993 to 3 September 2010. It became a wholly owned subsidiary of ITV plc. in November 2009. Shortly after, ITV plc announced the programme would end...
and Daybreak
Daybreak
-Albums:*Daybreak *Daybreak *Daybreak *Daybreak, an album by Paul Hardcastle*Daybreak, an album by Mezzoforte*Daybreak -Songs:...
as their property expert.
He regularly appears as a pundit on Jeremy Vine's BBC Radio 2 Show. In June 2010 he defended garden grabbing (the practice whereby developers build in the back gardens of existing homes) and in July he argued against the AV voting
Instant-runoff voting
Instant-runoff voting , also known as preferential voting, the alternative vote and ranked choice voting, is a voting system used to elect one winner. Voters rank candidates in order of preference, and their ballots are counted as one vote for their first choice candidate. If a candidate secures a...
reform as proposed by the coalition government.