When his father returned home after the war, the family moved to Kent, England, where James Burke attended Maidstone Grammar School.

[3] He then served in the Royal Air Force (RAF) from 1955 to 1957 before being accepted at Jesus College, Oxford, where he studied Middle English, obtaining BA and MA degrees.

Spotting an ad for a reporter for the local bureau of Britain's Granada Television, he says, 'I decided if the bus stopped at the next corner I would get off and apply for the job.'

[5] In collaboration with Mick Jackson, he produced the 10-part documentary series Connections (1978), which was broadcast on the BBC, and subsequently on PBS in the United States.

[citation needed] In 1980, Burke created and Jackson produced the six-part BBC series The Real Thing, about perception.

[13] Burke is the leading figure in the development of the Knowledge Web, the planned digital realization of his books and television programmes, which would allow the user to travel through history and create his or her own connections.

In an interview on the PM programme on BBC Radio 4 on 30 August 2013, Burke discussed his predictions of a post-scarcity economy driven by advances in nanofactories, which he believes may be viable by 2043.

Later, he suggested at the conclusion of The Day the Universe Changed that a worldwide revolution in communications and computer technology would allow people to instantaneously exchange ideas and opinions.