James Edward Petroc Trelawny was born in Worcester and grew up in the Meneage district of the Lizard Peninsula in Cornwall and attended Helston School.

During the First Gulf War, Trelawny was a newsreader for the British Forces Broadcasting Service, and then joined the station as a presenter in Hong Kong for a year.

Trelawny presented Breakfast, and subsequently In Tune, and has introduced hundreds of broadcasts for the station, many from the BBC Proms, as well as the Cardiff Singer of the World and the Leeds International Piano Competition.

He had also broadcast for RTE Lyric FM in Ireland, where his major documentary series Max and St Magnus – An Orkney Saga won an ESB Media Award.

All charges were later dropped, but the Zimbabwean immigration authorities insisted that he had violated the terms of his entry visa and he was detained until a court sat to decide the outcome.

[6] On 5 April 2019, it was announced that Trelawny would host the Eurovision Choir of the Year 2019 alongside Swedish culture presenter Ella Petersson [sv] at the Partille Arena, in Gothenburg, Sweden on 3 August.