James Arbuthnot Pooley is the best friend and sidekick of John Omally, and the co-saviour of Brentford in the books of Robert Rankin. He differs from his friend in that he is slightly less aggressive and is more given to skulking in the darkness and using minor feats of legerdemain in his attempts to prevent Mr Rankin from having to rescue the book with an impossible ending.

He, like John, enjoys the medicinal qualities of a pint of Large at the Flying Swan, but, like his friend, is ever in search of new ways of avoiding paying. He has never held down a steady job, although he has occasionally obtained short-term riches through his endless pursuit of a big gambling win. His dream of winning the six-horse super yankee, or The Pooley, as he knows it, has only been acheived fleetingly in Sex and Drugs and Sausage Rolls. The only other win of his came at a time when Bob the Bookie was so frightfully bankrupt that he was unable to give him anything other than his watch.

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