James Cameron (journalist)

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Mark James Cameron (1911 - 26 January, 1985) was a prominent British journalist, in whose memory the annual James Cameron Memorial Lecture is given.

Cameron was born in Battersea, London of Scottish parentage; his father, William Ernest Cameron, was a barrister who also wrote novels under the pseudonym "Mark Allerton".

Cameron began his career as an office dogsbody with the Weekly News in 1935. Having worked for Scottish newspapers and for the Daily Express in Fleet Street, he was rejected for military service in World War II. After the war, his experience reporting on the Bikini Atoll nuclear experiments turned him into a committed pacifist and a founding member of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament. He continued to work for the Express until 1950, briefly joined Picture Post, and then spent eight years with the News Chronicle. In his last years, he wrote a regular column for The Guardian.

He was married three times, to Elma, Elizabeth and Moni; and had three children, Desmond, Elma and Fergus. Besides journalism and history, he wrote two volumes of autobiography: Point of Departure, a chronicle of his life, and An Indian Summer, about his relationship with India; his marriage to Moni, an Indian; and his serious car accident and near death in Calcutta.

With the advent of television, Cameron became well-known as a broadcaster, presenting several BBC series including Cameron Country. He wrote a successful radio play, The Pump (1973), based on his experience of open heart surgery, and several books, including: