James Harkin

James Michael Harkin (born 29 September 1978) is a British podcaster, television host, and television writer. He is one of the four regular hosts of the podcast No Such Thing as a Fish, together with Dan Schreiber, Andrew Hunter Murray, and Anna Ptaszynski. He was also a presenter of the BBC Two television show No Such Thing as the News. 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. After graduating, he took a job as an accountant in Salford and Eccles, Fellow No Such Thing host Andrew Hunter Murray later joked that Harkin had won so many of the cash prizes from QI'''s online fact-finding contests that it was cheaper for the producers to offer Harkin a job.

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.

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 on BBC Radio 4.

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 puns has been reviewed positively.

In July 2024, Harkin and Anna Ptaszynski released the first episode of their new podcast Quite a Good Sport''. The podcast is produced by QI.