Alf’s transition from schoolboy to veterinary student was a vitally important part of his life. The enthusiastic, but studious and well-behaved boy, had discovered a totally new world. The social life of the Glasgow veterinary student was a vibrant one, liberally laced with wild nights of carousing and drinking, and Alf found little difficulty in adapting to it. He was a major participant in the social functions that the students enjoyed; indeed, he was much in demand at parties where his natural ability to thump out tunes on the piano contributed in no small way to the memorable nights they all had. His popularity on the piano extended to Buccleuch Street itself, where he could frequently be seen happily playing his favourite tunes – ‘Stardust’ or the old Duke Ellington classic, ‘Mood Indigo’ – on the battered piano in the common-room. It is no surprise that Alf regarded his veterinary college days as some of the happiest of his life.
But one thing had not changed – his deep respect for his mother. After an evening of serious drinking with his friends, he would walk for miles through the streets around his home, making sure that he was thoroughly sober before returning to the house. Even in later years when visiting his mother in Glasgow, he would never have a drink in front of her – instead, he kept the odd secret bottle of gin around to fortify himself when the need arose.
Whether his actions were out of respect for, or fear of his mother, is debatable, but I remember a wry smile flitting across his face one day, after I had recounted an incident during my days at veterinary school in Glasgow when I had endured the wrath of my grandmother who had observed with disgust my unsuccessful attempts at climbing the stairs after a particularly enjoyable night on the town. I certainly saw a stern side to my grandmother on that occasion. She was then in her early seventies but she came at me like a force ten gale. I can only imagine what a strong personality she must have been as a younger woman.
Alf, however, by adopting a far more subtle approach, never experienced her wrath during his college years. She remained totally unaware of his nights of revelry until the end of her days, believing her son to be a virtual teetotaller. The many James Herriot fans were to hear little of Alfred Wight’s memorable days as a veterinary student, but he would often recall those far-off days in Glasgow – and with good reason. That sudden invasion of his life by so many varied and interesting characters, many of whom were as colourful as any he would make famous through his writing years later, impressed him so deeply that he never forgot them, even down to the smallest detail.
The making of so many new friends at the veterinary college did not mean that Alf neglected his others. His great friend Alex Taylor, after leaving school, had not pursued his further education. Instead, he got employment at Drysdales, a big engineering firm where he worked in the wages department, but he and Alf still saw a great deal of each other.
At around this time, Alex and Alf met a young man from Yoker called Eddie Hutchinson. Eddie, like Alf and Alex, was a member of the Yoker Tennis Club where the three played for many an hour through the long summer evenings. Eddie was one who introduced a new level of ferocity into the game, venomously thrashing the little white ball around the court. Off the court, he was a different man, with an attractive, slow, easy-going manner. He just went through life at his own pace. This likeable man, whose company Alf found both enjoyable and relaxing, became one of his greatest friends; photographs taken of Alf, Alex and Eddie clearly reflect the happy times the three young men enjoyed during their years together in Glasgow.
Hiking and camping in the hills around Glasgow was another pastime shared by the three friends, often accompanied by other chums, notably Pete Shaw and Jock Davey. Alf’s love of spending days in the hills was just as strong during his college years as it had been throughout his days at school, but now he had to combine work with pleasure. He would frequently take his books with him and set off for several days at a time to do some studying alone; then, his friends, who were working in Glasgow, joined him at weekends. A great deal of his time attempting to absorb the vast amount of material necessary to pass the veterinary exams was spent under canvas.
Favourite camping sites were near Fintry, in the Campsie Fells – rolling, heath-covered hills to the east of Glasgow – and the village of Rosneath on the Firth of Clyde. This village is situated on a pretty peninsula of quiet woods and fields, overlooked by the big mountains of Argyll, and it was here that Alf was able to work in total peace. Although only a short distance from Glasgow, once he had pitched his tent in one of the green fields that ran down to the seashore, he felt himself to be in another world. In later years, a large naval base was constructed near to Rosneath and some of its charm was lost, but even now it is still a most attractive village.
Despite his ambitions to explore further afield, Alf rarely ventured north to the big mountains of Scotland. They beckoned to him from his camp sites at Fintry and Rosneath but he climbed very few mountains, despite his youthful aspirations to do so. He did, however, undertake one major expedition into the Scottish Highlands in July 1938, shortly after having sat and failed his dreaded Pathology exam at the veterinary college. With his good friends Eddie Hutchinson and Pete Shaw, he ‘conquered’ the towering mountain called the Streap, near Loch Arkaig. The effort, in boiling hot weather, ensured that this was to be the last mountain Alf would climb for many years, and was an experience he would never forget.
Alf had been very unfit on that foray into the mountains, having just spent weeks shut away, studying for his exams but, in general, during his college years, he kept himself in pretty good shape. As well as regular games of tennis, he endured his cold baths and exercises most days, and walked miles with his dog, Don.
From the age of twenty, he began to play tennis more regularly, joining the nearby Scotstounhill Tennis Club. Although tennis acted as a great antidote to his hours of study, he took the game very seriously and won a number of key matches in the West of Scotland Tennis Championships. His partner in these matches, and one with whom he practised for hours, was a young man called Colin Kesson, a fine player who taught Alf a great deal about the game. Alf could never get the better of him and would joke with his college chums that, apart from finally qualifying as a veterinary surgeon, his other great ambition was to be able to say that he had – just once – managed to beat Colin Kesson.
More relaxing games of tennis were played at the Boys’ Brigade Camps, usually at St Andrew’s or North Berwick. The Boys’ Brigade was a church organisation of which Alex Taylor and Eddie Hutchinson were also members. Together with other friends, the young men had happy, carefree days walking, bathing in the sea and playing tennis.
Another sport he began to play in his college years was football. While at Hillhead, he had played rugby but, apart from kickabouts in the park with his friends and the ‘gentry of the corner’, he had not played the game seriously, despite being, in common with thousands of other citizens of Glasgow, a fanatical follower of the game. The city pulsated with football and he did not have to venture far to see it. Very close to his home, in Dumbarton Road, was the ground of the local Junior League football team, Yoker Athletic. He was a great supporter of this team and was overjoyed when they won the Scottish Junior Cup Final in the 1932–33 season. Such was the following that this team enjoyed, more fans sang on the terraces of Yoker than on those of the neighbouring Scottish Football League side, Clydebank. Alf and Alex sang and shouted with the rest of the crowd while watching Yoker play teams with singularly Scottish names like Duntocher Hibs and Kirkintilloch Rob Roy.
It was while watching this team that the first ideas of playing the game properly entered his head. Whilst many players in the Junior League went on to play professional football in the Scottish League, Alf did not aspire to play at that level, considering that his studies were too demanding. He decided to play instead in the Juvenile League. Although not playing football to the standard of the Juniors, the Juveniles took their game very seriously, with each team carrying its own dedicated gang of supporters.