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“[A] SOUL-WARMING BIOGRAPHY …

What a joy to stroll once more along the small farms and patchwork fields with James Herriot! Jim Wight’s memoir of his beloved father resurrects the warmth, kindness, delight, and simple magic that was James Herriot’s literary legacy to animal lovers the world over.”

—SUSAN MCELROY

Author of Animals as Teachers and Healers

“A fascinating read … A loving memoir … You’ll be charmed once again by the Yorkshire countryside and its laconic inhabitants, human and otherwise.”

—Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

The Real James Herriotprovides fascinating insight into an amazing man, one we all remember as a wonderful animal-lover, vet, and writer.”

—JACK HANNA

Director Emeritus, Columbus Zoo

Host, Jack Hanna’s “Animal Adventures”

“A thoroughly satisfying biography—believable, entertaining, and filled with engaging characters … A loving, unsentimental portrait.”

—Kirkus Reviews(starred review)

“Ebullient, moving … An affectionate, candid biography revealing many sides of Herriot unfamiliar to his fans … A worthy addition to the Herriot saga, it shares many of the same qualities as the beloved vet’s books: keen observation of human nature, gentle humor, vivid personalities, and lots of heartwarming anecdotes.”

—Publishers Weekly

“[A] heartfelt, affectionate memoir … Wight met many of the characters evoked so beautifully in Herriot’s books. Wight describes these real-life personalities fondly, with a flair that recalls his father’s remarkable storytelling abilities.… What better tribute could his father have asked for?”

—Bookpage

A Ballantine Book

Published by The Random House Publishing Group

Copyright © 1999 by Jim Wight

All rights reserved.

Published in the United States by Ballantine Books, an imprint of The Random House Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York. Originally published in Great Britain by Michael Joseph, a division of Penguin Books Ltd, in 1999.

Ballantine and colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.

www.ballantinebooks.com

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data 2001116502

eISBN: 978-0-307-79092-7

v3.1_r1

To

GILL, ROSIE AND MY MOTHER

who have heard it all before

Contents

Cover

Title Page

Copyright

Dedication

List of Illustrations

Acknowledgements

Bibliography

Prologue

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty-one

Chapter Twenty-two

Chapter Twenty-three

Chapter Twenty-four

Chapter Twenty-five

Chapter Twenty-six

Chapter Twenty-seven

Chapter Twenty-eight

Chapter Twenty-nine

Chapter Thirty

Photo Insert

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

  1. Hannah Bell, Alf’s mother

  2. James Henry Wight, Alf’s father

  3. The formal wedding photograph

  4. Alf on holiday with his parents near Loch Lomond

  5. On holiday with his mother and relations

  6. Alf with Stan Wilkins

  7. With Don as a young puppy

  8. The Glasgow Veterinary College football team

  9. On holiday with the Boys’ Brigade at North Berwick

10. With his mother in Llandudno

11. At Hillhead School

12. Alf with Donald Sinclair and Eric Parker

13. Alf in the vegetable garden at 23 Kirkgate

14. TB Testing in the Yorkshire Dales

15. Kirkgate in Thirsk

16. Alf with his baby son

17. Joan on the beach at Llandudno

18. Pop and Alf with Rosie and Jimmy

19. Alf and Jimmy Youth-Hostelling in the Dales

20. Alf with Jimmy and Rosie, Alex Taylor with Lynne

21. Picnic time with Pop and Granny Wight

22. Brian Sinclair in about 1948

23. Brian Nettleton, t’ vet wi’t badger

24. The author, with his father, ‘always a comforting presence’

25. Hector the Jack Russell and Dan the Labrador

26. Joan was as fond of the dogs as Alf

27. Bodie, the Border Terrier

28. Rosie with Bodie and Polly at Sanna Bay

29. The brass plate outside 23 Kirkgate

30. The brass plate outside ‘Skeldale House’

31. The fury of the chase

32. James Herriot meets the other James Herriot

33. Writing in front of the television in the evening

34. At the Authors of the Year party

35. The queue in W.H. Smith, Harrogate, 1977

36. Simon Ward and Lisa Harrow with Alf and Joan

37. James Alderton, Lisa Harrow and Colin Blakely

38. Partners in more sense than one

39. Arthur Dand with Alf

40. Alf, after receiving the OBE in 1979

41. With granddaughters Zoe and Katrina

42. With Sunderland F.C. fans on King’s Cross Station

43. After the memorial service at York Minster

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Many people have helped me with the writing of this book. Two I wish to thank especially; they have shown great patience and understanding in enduring the company of an inexperienced and mono-focused author: my wife Gill, and my editor Jenny Dereham. I also wish to express particular thanks to my agent Jacqueline Korn, at David Higham Associates, whose persuasion it was that I should – and could – write this biography.

I am deeply grateful to my mother, and to my sister Rosie, who have not only supplied so much vital information but have been very cooperative and unselfish in agreeing to my sharing so many details of my father’s life with his myriad fans.

Two important people who have been a tremendous source of essential material must be especially thanked: my late Grandmother Wight for saving so many letters and other memorabilia of her son, and Alex Taylor, my father’s oldest friend, for his informative and entertaining memories of the countless happy hours spent in my father’s company.