James Catchpole was destined to be an urban singer or Paralympic footballer. He managed to get off the substitute bench a couple of times with the England Amputee football team, and also played Provence on a guitar, but it reached the limit of his talent in both. In his twenties he joined the family children's book business. He now runs The Catchpole Agency with his wife Lucy and represents authors and illustrators of children's books, non-fiction and novels. Lucy and James live in Oxford with their two young daughters, the older of whom is firmly convinced that she too will join the business, but at age five she still has a long time to back down.