James Harkin (born 29 September 1978) is a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

podcaster A podcast is a program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. For example, an episodic series of digital audio or video files that a user can download to a personal device to listen to at a time of their choosing. ...

, television host, and television writer. He is one of the four regular hosts of the podcast ''

No Such Thing as a Fish ''No Such Thing as a Fish'' is a weekly British podcast series produced and presented by the researchers behind the BBC Two panel game ''QI''. In the podcast each of the researchers, collectively known as "The ''QI'' Elves", present their favour ...

'', together with Dan Schreiber,

Andrew Hunter Murray Andrew Hunter Murray is an English writer, journalist, podcaster, comedian, and author. Early life Murray went to school at King's College School in Wimbledon. He went on to study English Literature at Keble College, Oxford. Career Murray is a ...

, and

Anna Ptaszynski Anna Ptaszynski is a British podcaster, television host, and television writer. She is one of the four regular hosts of the podcast '' No Such Thing as a Fish'', together with Dan Schreiber, Andrew Hunter Murray, and James Harkin. She was also ...

. He was also a presenter of the

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream an ...

television show ''

No Such Thing as the News ''No Such Thing as the News'' is a British television comedy series on BBC Two, which is a spin-off to the podcast ''No Such Thing as a Fish'', produced and presented by the researchers behind the panel game '' QI'', also on BBC Two. In it each o ...

''. He is a researcher for the television show '' QI'', where he has been both the head researcher and the head writer.

Early life and education

Harkin grew up in

Bolton Bolton (, locally ) is a large town in Greater Manchester in North West England, formerly a part of Lancashire. A former mill town, Bolton has been a production centre for textiles since Flemish people, Flemish weavers settled in the area i ...

. He attended

The University of Sheffield , mottoeng = To discover the causes of things , established = – University of SheffieldPredecessor institutions: – Sheffield Medical School – Firth College – Sheffield Technical School – University College of Sheffield , type = Pu ...

, where he studied maths and physics. After graduating, he took a job as an accountant in

Salford Salford () is a city and the largest settlement in the City of Salford metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. In 2011, Salford had a population of 103,886. It is also the second and only other city in the metropolitan county afte ...

and Eccles, working first at a chain of hotels and then for a hospitality company. When he learned about the television game show ''QI'', Harkin joined the internet forums for the show where the researchers would hold contests to submit the best fact, which Harkin regularly won.

Career

After Harkin had submitted research to QI online for several months, producer John Lloyd offered him a position as a researcher at the show in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. Fellow ''No Such Thing'' host

later joked that Harkin had won so many of the cash prizes from ''QIs online fact-finding contests that it was cheaper for the producers to offer Harkin a job. Initially, Harkin was hired both as a researcher and as an accountant for the program. By 2017 he had become the head researcher for the show. He has also been the show's head writer. In March 2014 ''QI'' launched the spinoff podcast ''No Such Thing as a Fish'', with Harkin as one of the show's four regular hosts. By the end of 2019, episodes of ''No Such Thing as a Fish'' had been downloaded over 250 million times. Harkin has gone on several national and international tours to record live tapings of ''No Such Thing as a Fish''. Harkin was a co-author of three books published by the podcast's co-hosts — ''The Book of the Year 2019'', ''The Book of the Year 2018'', and ''The Book of the Year 2017'' — and a co-author of more than half of the books that were written using facts from the show ''QI''. He was also involved in a television version of ''No Such Thing'': along with the other regular hosts of the podcast, he was a presenter for the television series ''No Such Thing as the News'' on BBC Two. In addition to being a host and presenter, Harkin has worked as a producer for the BBC, including working with Dan Schreiber as a producer for ''

The Museum of Curiosity ''The Museum of Curiosity'' is a comedy talk show on BBC Radio 4 that was first broadcast on 20 February 2008. It is hosted by John Lloyd (Professor of Ignorance at the University of Buckingham, and later at Solent University). He acts as the ...

'' on

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...

. Harkin's education in mathematics and physics, and his background in accounting, mean that he often supplies numerical or natural science facts for ''QI'' and ''No Such Thing as a Fish'', and his use of

pun A pun, also known as paronomasia, is a form of word play that exploits multiple meanings of a term, or of similar-sounding words, for an intended humorous or rhetorical effect. These ambiguities can arise from the intentional use of homophoni ...

s has been reviewed positively.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Harkin, James British podcasters People from Bolton British radio producers English television writers British male television writers Living people 1978 births