Jim Pooley

James Arbuthnot Pooley (Jim Pooley) is a fictional character in The Brentford Trilogy written by fantasy/humour writer Robert Rankin. Jim tends to avoid regular employment, preferring to make his living by his wits and constantly seeking to make the perfect bet on racehorses that will give him all the wealth he could ever want. However, to date his attempts have proved fruitless, and his only successful bets have failed due to both Satanic intervention and the bookkeeper losing all his money.

Throughout the series, despite his lack of a work ethic, Jim has taken on jobs on occasion, ranging from part-time gardener to Professor Slocombe, co-chairman of the Brentford Millennium celebrations, and manager to Brentford Football club. This last occurred on the recommendation of Professor Slocombe, who stated that Jim possessed great strength of belief in his convictions, as demonstrated by him constantly making bets by trusting his instincts even if Bob the Bookie feels he is making a mistake.

While his friend John is known as a ladies' man, having apparently slept with most of the women in Brentford, Jim himself has had very few romantic liaisons throughout the series, with his only confirmed sexual encounter being with Suzty, a girl who worked at the windscreen wiper shop, in "The Brentford Chainstore Massacre", who subsequently never appeared in any of the following books.