Jesse Billington is a journalist and photographer based in the UK working mostly in the world of cars.
With a background in zoology, Jesse ended up finally putting his oddly specific knowledge of cars and opinionated writing to good use in late 2019 when he started writing for Drivetribe as a content creator. From there it all went a bit wobbly?
Now though, he writes for Classic Car Weekly, producing their events section as well as writing news, reviews and auction pieces.
Playing polo in 2019 for the University of Reading. Remarkably he’s only fallen off a horse once.
Beyond his work, Jesse’s life revolves around cars and the countryside. Working alongside his dad and grandad to maintain their constantly ailing fleet of classic cars and motorcycles, including a 1939 Riley 12/4 Drophead-Coupe which currently has no cylinder heads, clutch, floorboards, bonnet and probably numerous other things that have been over-looked. When he’s not working with spanners his love of the outdoors and countryside takes over. One of his current projects is a continuation of his final assignment for his master’s degree, a book detailing the wildlife along the River Flit.
When not in the kitchen or writing drivel about cars, Jesse is most often found with his camera in hand tramping through the countryside, revelling in his love for wildlife photography and putting his undergraduate degree to good use. His love of hiking and the outdoors is shown in his reaching and attaining of the Duke of Edinburgh Gold Award.
In writing for Drivetribe, Jesse has covered everything from writing news on releases, DIY videos with his beloved Suzuki Jimny, hugely popular quizzes, competitions, Formula 1 musings, and detailed breakdowns of updates in the world of cars. Beyond his work in the world of cars, Jesse can be found in the kitchen, and then promptly back at his desk writing about what he’d been up to in the kitchen for Foodtribe. Despite completing a Master’s degree in 2020 he still regards his cookery series “Formula Food” as his proudest achievement of the year. That or becoming known as “The Jaffa Cake Guy” due to the concerningly high numbers of the treats eaten as well as his needlessly in-depth reviews of the McVitie’s products. So much so that McVitie’s started to send him press packages of biscuits.
Jesse on track in a Formula Ford at Castle Combe in late 2019. Second fastest of the day, which is impressive given he barely fits in the thing. Read more about it here.
If he spent less time modelling with the DHC and more time fixing it, it might be on the road for summer 2021!?
If he’s not photographing an obscure bird, he’s either out running or playing polo. Despite not looking particularly adept at the sport he’s surprisingly competent and a skilled horseman of over a decade. When it comes to locomotion off the tarmac it isn’t just horses that catch Jesse’s attention, having begun a new hobby of green-laning since buying his Jimny. Again in a surprise, he’s only been stuck once, largely due to his own incompetence and balding tyres on slick mud.
Currently Jesse is juggling his work for Drivetribe and Foodtribe with bar work in a local pub, entertaining the locals as well as helping to coordinate the front of house. On top of that he maintains the odd shift for Air Equipment on his days off, mostly doing delivery runs and manual handling work with other engineers. This and all his other projects, such as his aforementioned book, a revised version of his first and to top it all off; trying to find a career path to get started on.
After a short spell of unemployment, a brief stint as a bicycle repairman he found work at Classic Car Weekly as the paper’s staff writer. Starting in the June of 2022 he’s enjoying his tenure of the role and looks forward to what it might bring in the future.