James May Audiobooks

James May's 20th Century, from the presenter who always explained how the machine worked

1 audiobook reviewed

★ 4.3/5 average

557 listener ratings

Who is James May?

James May, born in 1963, is an English television presenter, author and journalist, known to millions as one third of the most successful motoring trio in television history: he co-presented Top Gear alongside Jeremy Clarkson and Richard Hammond from 2003 to 2015, then The Grand Tour for Amazon Prime Video from 2016 to 2024.

The cars were never the whole story. May has fronted programmes on travel, science and technology, toys, wine culture and the plight of manliness in modern times, and he wrote a weekly column for The Daily Telegraph’s motoring pages from 2003 to 2011. Of the famous trio, he was always the one most likely to explain how the machine actually works.

James May in audiobooks

James May’s 20th Century plays directly to his strengths – a presenter who has made programmes about science, technology, toys and travel, let loose on the century that produced most of them. In audio his appeal translates intact: the measured, faintly amused register that made him the trio’s still point works even better in the ear than on screen. For UK listeners this is comfort listening with actual content – a knowledgeable enthusiast on home turf, unhurried and quietly funny. If Top Gear was the joke, this is the curiosity that was always underneath it.