[1] He was the son of Major Norman G. Brett-James (1879-1960), a schoolmaster and authority on Middlesex, and his wife Gladys Mary Constance (nee Reed).
He commanded the 9th Infantry Indian Brigade Signals in Burma, where he helped defeat the Japanese in the Arakan and Imphal campaigns.
[1] After the war he studied at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, where he was awarded a degree in modern languages.
He was subsequently appointed modern languages editor at George G. Harrap and Co. and then reader and publicity manager for Chatto & Windus.
[1] Brett-James authored works on military history, principally on the Napoleonic Wars.