James Cullen FRSPH – FRSA
GGAF Ambassador worldelders.org – Care Director CQE carequalityecosystems.co.uk
James was born in 1942. He remembers food rationing, old money and phones stuck on a wall that you had to wind up to contact a switchboard to get connected. Entertainment was a radio that always got very hot because of large glowing valves, with Radio Luxembourg being the only music channel for young listeners.
He remembers that most movies were still in black and white, with Betty Grable being his first femme fatale. Cinema best seats tickets cost 3p! Ice cream was just 1p, but popcorn didn’t come until later!
He was recommended to study fine art and ceramics at art college when just eleven years but was fourteen years old when he was able to finally leave home. He graduated as a painter and master potter. He completed his education with a post grad in industrial ceramics which included business administration.
He first used his skills in London, where he painted portraits of the rich and famous, and later moved from Kensington to the Potteries to create what emerged as a very successful earthenware pottery factory supplying artware to the USA, Canada, Germany, Norway and Sweden. The fact that his future wife lived in the potteries may just have influenced his choice to move North!
After both parents passed on, he turned his attention to property development, which ultimately evolved into creating nursing and care homes. His care group employed over six hundred staff.
He plays the piano every day, albeit when asked how well? He admits he was taught by Les Dawson. https://www.jamescullen.com/music/
He also plays the guitar, writes poetry, draws, paints, and carves marble. https://www.tuscanystudy.com/beth-and-james-cullen See the full range of James’s artwork at: https://www.jamescullen.com
According to his wife Judy of fifty-nine years “James is never totally happy unless he’s playing piano or guitar, creating on his beloved Apple Mac or working on something to do with his driving passion to protect the lives of the elderly. He often works through the early hours of the morning, which he calls “His quiet time” and which is often his most productive.
Although he is eighty-three in September 2025, he remains a director of several businesses and contributes much of his spare time to supporting several charities. Founded https://worldelders.org & https://mygran.org
“On his day off” he mentors young artists in marketing & funding sources and care home directors on how to achieve the balance between high quality services and sustainable profitability.
When asked how he fits so much into a day, he replies, “First, you have to have a supportive wife. Second, stay active in as many ways as possible every single day of your life and give as much back to the world as you can and that way you will always feel energised and happy.”
When asked how to stay “compos mentis” in old age, he says: “Just try to keep your hair on and your weight off!”
They have a happy family of three children, all married with three grandchildren. (All artists too! Obviously!)