James Morton

James Morton (born 26 May 1991) is a Scottish celebrity baker, author and reality television contestant, based in Glasgow, who rose to fame when he became the runner up on the third series of The Great British Bake Off.

James Morton was born in Inverness, Scotland, but from the age of 3 grew up in the Shetland Islands. He was introduced to baking by his maternal grandmother, who taught him after school each day. He is the son of journalist and former Radio Scotland radio presenter Tom Morton.

The Great British Bake Off

In the first Summer of his medical degree at the University of Glasgow, James worked washing dishes at a small Glasgow deli. A keen bread baker already, here he was exposed to the wide variation of bread production and results. From then on, he studied baking as a science rather than a craft, often preferring to read peer-review cereal journals than cookbooks. He watched The Great British Bake Off (Series 2) during 2011 and decided to apply following pressure from his university friends.

James's Gingerbread Barn.

During James's subsequent appearance on the show, he reached the final with bakes such as an "oak-framed Gingerbread Barn" and "double Paris-Brest Choux pastry Bicycle," eventually losing out to winner John Whaite.

James participated in the Bake Off's 2016 Xmas Special show, leading for much of the show but losing out to Chretna Makan after a series of errors in the showstopper round.

After Bake Off

Since, James has amassed a large following on Twitter and founded a popular baking blog. He began writing a regular column in the "7 Days" supplement of the Sunday Mail newspaper in early 2013. He regularly composes comment and recipes for a wide variety of online and print publications. He has been a guest celebrity on numerous television shows, including Sunday Brunch and Big Fat Quiz of the Year. In October 2013, he was a guest presenter on ‘’RBS: Finding Scotland’s Real Heroes’’ and he tours Scotland with his bread demonstration shows “James Morton Kneads to Raise Some Dough” and “James Morton’s Stollen Christmas”, taking them to large festivals such as Dundee Flower and Food Festival and the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

He released his first book, Brilliant Bread, in August 2013, published by Ebury Publishing. It received a nomination for the best cookbook at the 2013 André Simon Awards and winning the Guild of Food Writers Award 2014 for best cookbook. His second book, How Baking Works (and what to do when it doesn't), was released on the 12th March 2015.

As well as his career as a baker, James has recently graduated from the University of Glasgow with a degree in medicine and has begun work as a junior doctor in the NHS.

• Brilliant Bread (2013)
• How Baking Works (and what to do when it doesn't) (2015)
• Brew: The Foolproof Guide to Making World-Class Beer at Home (2016)