- James was born on 19 June 1566 at Edinburgh Castle. He was the son of Mary Queen of Scots, and her second husband, Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley. Theirs was hardly a match made in heaven - Darnley was secretly working with Mary's enemies and had her private secretary, David Rizzio, murdered three months before James was born. Darnley himself was murdered in 1567 and Mary married the man many suspected was the killer, James Hepburn, 4th Earl of Bothwell.
- Mary's marriage stirred up unrest against her - rebels had her arrested and thrown into prison where they forced her to abdicate in favour of her son, who was just 13 months old at the time. Her illegitimate half-brother, James Stewart, Earl of Moray, was appointed regent.. There were to be three more regents before James came of age in 1578. At the age of 37, James became king of England and Ireland as well as Scotland, when Elizabeth I died without issue. James had a claim to the throne of England as a great-great-grandson of Henry VII. He ruled over all three kingdoms for 22 years after that.
- His reign is known as the Jacobean era. The name James derives from the Hebrew name Jacobus. "Jack" was a nickname which derived from this. This may be why the British flag as we know it today, which originated during his reign, is nicknamed the "Union Jack".
- So apart from the flag, what else did James' reign give us? The King James Bible, for one thing. James believed everyone should be able to read the Bible for themselves, and authorised its translation into English. It was published in 1611 and is still used today; and bonfire night, since he was the king Guy Fawkes and his friends plotted to kill.
- James was a writer. He wrote several treatises on various subjects, from the age of 18, when he published Some Rules and Cautions to be Observed and Eschewed in Scottish Prosody. Later, he wrote The True Law of Free Monarchies and Basilikon Doron (Royal Gift), which supported the Divine Right of Kings. Since it was written as an instruction book for his heir, it also included some practical tips on how to be king. One example - "Hold no Parliaments but for the necesitie of new Lawes, which would be but seldome". In 1604 he wrote A Counterblaste To Tobacco describing smoking as “hateful to the nose, harmful to the brain, and dangerous to the lungs”. He was obsessed with the threat posed by witches and wrote a tract on that, too, in 1597, called Daemonologie, which also touched upon vampires and werewolves.
- His obsession with witchcraft probably started during his stay in Denmark, where witch hunts were already common. The North Berwick witch trials were the first major persecution of Witches in Scotland under the Witchcraft Act 1563. James attended the trials in person, and even tortured some of the alleged witches himself. Several people were convicted of using witchcraft to send storms against James's ship. This obsession may well have been what inspired the witches in Shakespeare's play, Macbeth.
- Was he gay? There was speculation, but no conclusive evidence. As a young man, he showed little interest in women. At the time, he was praised for his chastity, but in later times this would help fuel rumours about his sexuality. As king, he knew he must marry and a marriage was arranged with Anne of Denmark, younger daughter of Protestant Frederick II, was 14 years old. They were married by proxy, after which Anne sailed from Denmark bound for Scotland. Stormy weather forced her ship to Norway instead, where Anne found herself stranded. James sailed from Leith with a 300-strong retinue to rescue her. After a proper wedding in Oslo the couple spent a few months in Scandinavia before sailing home. James seemed infatuated with his new wife; he wrote her poems and love letters; she was pregnant many times, although only three of their children survived to adulthood. His writings mention sodomy as an unforgivable crime. All the same, the rumours wouldn't go away. Throughout his life James had close relationships with male courtiers - historians noted how contemporary observers said he treated his favourites as most men would treat their wives or lovers. Restoration of Apethorpe Palace undertaken in 2004–08 revealed a previously unknown passage linking the bedchambers of James and George Villiers (later Duke of Buckingham), one of his favourites. Buckingham's own writings suggest that the two shared a bed, but are somewhat ambiguous. A lot of the rumours, however, originated with one of the king's bitter enemies, Sir Anthony Weldon.
- He loved the outdoors, and hunting. He is said to have once killed every single deer in one forest. It's also said he spent more time on hunting than on affairs of state. He liked bear baiting and cock fighting, too - but disapproved of cutting trees down.
- He died aged 58, after suffering poor health for several years. He had arthritis, gout and kidney stones; hod lost his teeth and drank heavily. He died at Theobalds House on 27 March 1625, soon after having a stroke. His eldest son, Henry, had died at the age of 18, so he was succeeded by his second son, Charles.
- Bill Paterson, Patrick Malahide, Jeremy Irons. Robert Carlyle, Jonathan Pryce and Derrek Riddell are among the actors who have portrayed James I on screen.
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