In the First World War 1914 to 1918 James was a sergeant in the Northumberland Fusiliers but was invalided out after being gassed on the Western Front. James appeared in Stockton as a double act with his great uncle Jimmy Howells and they were known as The Two Jimmies. James became a comedian by chance. In 1925, he took over for one night at Longton, Stoke-on-Trent, standing in when the regular comedian walked out. His next big break came when he took over from a young Max Miller who had walked out of a show. In 1929, James was talent spotted at the Sunderland Empire by impresario George Black, taken to London and by 1930 he was appearing at the London Palladium, earning £100 a week and he also appeared at the London Coliseum. In the 1940s, James developed one of the funniest stage routines in variety history with his two stooges, Bretton Woods, later known as Eli Woods, "Our Eli", and Hutton Conyers, played by members of the Casey family and more famously from 1956 to 1959 by a young Roy Castle. Eli Woods's real name was Jack Casey and he was James's nephew. Bretton Woods was named after the ski resort near Mount Washington, New Hampshire, USA, that gave its name to a United Nations Monetary and Financial Conference resulting in the Bretton Woods Agreement during July 1944. James named the character of Hutton Conyers after seeing a signpost on the Great North Road to the small village of Hutton Conyers, north-east of Ripon in Yorkshire. In James's first film for Mancunian Films in 1950, he starred with Norman Evans in "Over the Garden Wall" with Evans playing the role of his wife. His second film was "Those People Next Door" where he and Eli reprise James's drunk routine. With his act James toured the musical halls, theatres and clubs around the country. He appeared at the Royal Variety Performance in 1953 and stole the show with his routine "The Chipster"—a lecture on the occupational hazards of preparing chips. While at Barnsley Catholic Club James found Bernard Manning an agent, who was able to find him a job as a singer with a band. In 1952, James starred on BBC radio in, firstly, the comedy series "Don't Spare the Horses" and, subsequently, in 1954 in the comedy series "The Mayor's Parlour" which was written for him by his son in collaboration with Frank Roscoe.