I am also particularly grateful to Professor Norman Wright, the Dean of the University of Glasgow Veterinary School and his staff; also Ken Cunningham, Head Master of Hillhead High School and his staff: from these I received invaluable help and vital information.
Many others, among them relatives, friends and colleagues of my father, have provided me with anecdotes, photographs and other such important pieces of information that went to make up the final accurate picture of his life. In particular, I would like to thank: Fred Banks, George Bell, Bertram Bosomworth, Jim Chadwick, John Crooks, Arthur Dand, The Lady Dean of Harptree, Piers Dudgeon, Marjorie Eves, Alan Goldsborough, Janet Grey, Ellen Grout, Audrey Hancock, Robert Hardy, Dr Ken Hibbitt, Professor Peter Holmes, Ken Kilvington, R. M. Major, Martha Nettleton, Eve Pette, Dr Alistair Porter, Ossy Sandy, Peter Shaw, Anthea Sinclair, Bob Smith, Joan Snelling, Jimmy Steele, Eddie Straiton, Chris Timothy, Juliana Wadham.
Without the help and willing cooperation of all these people, the completion of this book would not have been possible.
Photographic credit
The author would like to thank his family and friends for providing many of the photographs which appear in this book. In addition, the author acknowledges the following for permission to reproduce photographs. Every effort has been made to contact all copyright holders: the publishers will be glad to make good in future editions any errors or omissions brought to their attention.
Life Magazine25, 33, 39; Daily Express26 and 31; Sunday Express32; Desmond O’Neill Features 34; Barratts Photo Press 40; Ian Cook /People Weekly41; Evening Press (York) 43
BIBLIOGRAPHY
(First American edition is listed in bold.)
IF ONLY THEY COULD TALK Michael Joseph 1970; Pan Books 1973
IT SHOULDN’T HAPPEN TO A VET Michael Joseph 1972; Pan Books 1973
published together in an omnibus volume
ALL CREATURES GREAT AND SMALL Michael Joseph 1975; Pan Books 1976; St. Martin’s Press 1972
LET SLEEPING VETS LIE Michael Joseph 1973; Pan Books 1974
VET IN HARNESS Michael Joseph 1974; Pan Books 1975
published together in an omnibus volume
ALL THINGS BRIGHT AND BEAUTIFUL Michael Joseph 1976; Pan Books 1978; St Martin’s Press 1974
VETS MIGHT FLY Michael Joseph 1976; Pan Books 1977
VET IN A SPIN Michael Joseph 1977; Pan Books 1978
published together in an omnibus volume
ALL THINGS WISE AND WONDERFUL Michael Joseph 1978; Pan Books
1979; St Martin’s Press 1978
THE LORD GOD MADE THEM ALL Michael Joseph 1981; Pan Books 1992; St Martin’s Press 1981
EVERY LIVING THING Michael Joseph 1992; Pan Books 1993; St Martin’s Press 1992
JAMES HERRIOT’S YORKSHIRE Michael Joseph 1979; Mermaid Books 1982; St Martin’s Press 1981
JAMES HERRIOT’S YORKSHIRE REVISITED St Martin’s Press 1999
Other omnibus editions
THE BEST OF JAMES HERRIOT Michael Joseph in association with Readers Digest Association Ltd 1982; St Martin’s Press and Reader’s Digest Association Ltd. 1998
JAMES HERRIOT’S DOG STORIES Michael Joseph 1986; Pan Books 1992; St Martin’s Press 1980
JAMES HERRIOT’S CAT STORIES Michael Joseph 1994; St Martin’s Press 1995
JAMES HERRIOT’S FAVOURITE DOG STORIES Michael Joseph 1995; St Martin’s Press 1986
JAMES HERRIOT’S YORKSHIRE STORIES Michael Joseph 1997; St Martin’s Press 1979
JAMES HERRIOT’S TREASURY FOR CHILDREN St Martin’s Press 1992
JAMES HERRIOT’S ANIMAL STORIES St Martin’s Press 1997
Books for children
MOSES THE KITTEN Michael Joseph in association with A & C Black Ltd 1984; Piper Books 1988; St Martin’s Press 1991
ONLY ONE WOOF Michael Joseph in association with A & C Black Ltd 1985; Piper Books 1988; St Martin’s Press 1985
THE CHRISTMAS DAY KITTEN Michael Joseph 1986; Piper Books 1988; St Martin’s Press 1986
BONNY’S BIG DAY Michael Joseph 1987; Piper Books 1989; St Martin’s Press 1991
BLOSSOM COMES HOME Michael Joseph 1988; Piper Books 1991; St Martin’s Press 1988
THE MARKET SQUARE DOG Michael Joseph 1989; Piper Books 1991; St Martin’s Press 1989
OSCAR: CAT ABOUT TOWN Michael Joseph 1990; Piper Books 1992; St Martin’s Press 1990
SMUDGE’S DAY OUT Michael Joseph 1991; Piper Books 1993; St Martin’s Press 1994
PROLOGUE
23 February 1995 was a beautiful day in my part of North Yorkshire. From the top of Sutton Bank on the western edge of the North York Moors National Park, it was possible to see right across the Vale of York to the Yorkshire Dales over thirty miles away. The sun shone brightly out of a cloudless winter sky and I could clearly see the familiar bulk of Pen Hill, standing majestically over the entrance to Wensleydale – the fresh whiteness of its snow-dusted slopes in vivid contrast to the dark green dale below. It was a cold, crisp, perfect winter’s day, one that normally would have had me longing to walk for mile after mile in the clean air. It was a day when I should have felt glad to be alive.
The timeless magic of the Dales has always thrilled me but, on that brilliant February day, my mood was one of emptiness as I knew that I would never again gaze across at those distant hills without a feeling of nostalgia and regret. On that day a great friend had died. His name was James Alfred Wight, a father in whose company I had spent countless happy hours. A man I shall never forget.
I was not alone in my sorrow. On that same day, others all over the world were also mourning the loss of a friend. His name was James Herriot, the country practitioner whose skill as a writer had elevated him to the status of the world’s most famous and best-loved veterinary surgeon. This incredibly successful storyteller, who sold more than 60 million books which had been translated into over twenty languages, wrote with such warmth, humour and sincerity that he was regarded as a friend by all who read him.
James Alfred Wight, the real James Herriot, was every inch the gentleman his many fans imagined him to be. He was a completely modest man who remained bemused by his success until the end of his life, yet this self-confessed ‘run of the mill vet’ is likely to be remembered for decades to come. My own memories of him, however, are not of a famous author but of a father who always put the interests of his family ahead of his own.
I think it is true to say that in everyone’s life, no matter how happy they may be, there is always a dark cloud somewhere on the horizon. My own particular cloud had been my father’s health which had given the family cause for concern for a number of years; it had assumed threatening proportions in December 1991 when I learned that he had cancer, and the final blow fell when he died just over three years later.