It’s a Vet’s Life
James Herriot’s sparkling books celebrated
THE tales of the gentle, and not so gentle, challenges of a Yorkshire vet in the 1930s first hit our bookshelves 50 years ago. If Only They Could Talk was the debut book in the James Herriot series, telling the story of one vet and his colourful cast of clients, such as Mrs Pumphrey, with her cake-eating Pekinese Tricki-Woo. Its success wasn’t immediate but, in time, fondness for the books grew.
This fondness escalated once the books were picked up by the BBC. The resulting television programme, All Creatures Great and Small, ran for seven series and 90 episodes in all – making a household name of actor Christopher Timothy. It attracted millions of viewers, and now there’s a revival in the offing on Channel 5, scheduled to air later in the year.
James Herriot was the nom de plume of James Alfred Wight, and Jim Wight is his son. Jim followed in his father’s footsteps, becoming a vet and at one time working alongside his father and Donald Sinclair, his father’s partner, whom he would make famous as the hugely entertaining Siegfried Farnon in the Herriot books.
Jim saw first-hand how his father combined his love of being a rural vet alongside the writing of his books.
“My father had always wanted to write a book, from his first days of leaving school in Glasgow, but it was not until the early 1960s that he began writing in earnest. Getting his first book published was harder, and he experienced many rejections before it was finally accepted in 1969. I remember him opening the letter which held the advance on its publication, a cheque to the value of £200, which was a lot of money to him in those days.
“‘Look at this, Jim! This must be the pinnacle of my achievements!’” How wrong he was, Jim says. “Many people have asked me how he managed to find the time to write a book when he was working full time. The first book took him many years, as he had so many rejections. I believe that those rejections turned him into a better writer. Every time he was rejected, he rewrote his book and each rewrite was better than the last.”
That first book sold well, but it was in the USA in 1973 that James Herriot first became a household name.
Within two to three months of the publication of If Only They Could Talk, it topped The New York Times bestseller list, remaining there for weeks. This soon had a rebound effect. His book sales soared not only here, but in many other countries, too. Now, his books have been translated into over 30 different languages. It was the combination of a fledgling vet, atmospheric Yorkshire Dales scenery, salty characters and real veterinary cases, mixed and delivered with light humour, that made the self-effacing Herriot such a hit. He soon became regarded as the world’s most famous vet and, some 24 years after his death, his name is still synonymous with the profession.
Witness his first task as assistant vet. He was called out to a case concerning Lord Hulton’s valuable hunting horse. Hulton’s yard manager, the demanding Mr Soames, thought it was suffering from colic. Mr Soames glowered at having to deal with Herriot rather than his boss whilst the young assistant diagnosed a twisted gut, and asserted that the horse had to be put down as soon as possible. Herriot had to hold firm and Soames’s parting shot was: “I’m going to inform his lordship . . . and Mr Farnon, too. I’ll let him know what kind of assistant he’s landed himself with . . .” Herriot was of course proved correct by the post mortem, and by that stage we were all rooting for him.
Before the BBC series there were two feature films made of Herriot’s work. However, it was the television series that propelled the name James Herriot into millions of households.
“My parents were delighted with the TV series,” explains Jim. “The acting was great. Robert Hardy, who played Siegfried Farnon, was already a well-known actor and played the part superbly. Christopher Timothy, a virtual unknown until his portrayal of James Herriot, also shone in his role, and my father was very pleased that Chris did not assume too much dominance.
“My father had always regarded himself as a bit of an onlooker among all the incredible characters who crossed his path. Peter Davison, as Tristan, and Carol Drinkwater, as Helen, also fitted in perfectly. Although it is different in many ways from the first series, I am pleased that there is going to be a new iteration. It will introduce the name of James Herriot to a whole new generation.”
Jim retired in 2001, at the age of 58. Following his father’s death over 25 years ago, he was persuaded to write the authorised biography of his dad.
“Writing this book – The Real
James Herriot – was a huge challenge. I had to learn fast, and the result was that practice work went on to the back burner. Having completed the book, I wondered what I was going to do with my time. Now, twenty years later, I fail to understand how I ever had time to work at all!
“I remember my father’s words to me many years ago, when he suggested that ‘you cannot spend all your time sitting in the lay-by of retirement; you have to keep at least in touch on the motorway of life. You cannot just dig the garden and walk the dog!’
“I do dig the garden, and walk miles with the dog, but I also spend time public speaking and giving the proceeds to charity. In addition, with my sister, Rosie, I help out in the World of James Herriot museum in Thirsk, usually by showing visitors around and giving them some inside stories.
“Last year, more than 35,000 people from all over the world visited the centre. It is a great success story, especially given that a few years ago it was threatened with closure. Luckily, a local entrepreneur, Ian Ashton, took over. He transformed the finances of the centre.”
Jim says that, years ago, veterinary practice was a vocation.
“I never got the impression that my
father regarded the making of a great deal of money as a priority. The welfare of the animal always came first. Over the years, he built up a trust and working relationship with his clients. In fact, with so many smaller farms in the district, the vet became almost one of the family.
“I remember going round the farms with him from a very early age. It was a time when we were doing up to twenty farm visits per day. It was such an enjoyable life that I knew from a tender age that I wanted to enter the veterinary profession.”
Jim explains Alf did have trouble getting some clients to pay their bills.
“With some, he would have to wait several months before seeing any money, whilst there were others who never settled their accounts in full. In his own words, they were ‘those who make a good living out of simply not paying anyone.’ It certainly took a toll on his finances. Also mine.
“Late one evening I remember performing a caesarean section on a little Jack Russell bitch, and producing three good live pups. The owner, a young guy, was delighted. ‘Thanks a lot, Jim! I’ll be in soon to pay you!’ And off he went. I am still waiting.”
Veterinary practice has changed a lot since the days of James Herriot. Today, Jim says it is more about big business than it was in Alf’s day.
“This is not necessarily a bad thing, but I do believe that, in general, the profession is not held in such high esteem as it was years ago. This is probably due partly to the high fees.
The vets of today have to endure very different pressures than those of James Herriot’s era: a far better informed and more demanding clientele, piles of paperwork, never-ending bureaucracy and threats of litigation lurking around every corner.
“These are very different from the more physical pressures that my father endured as a rural vet: energy-sapping work like dehorning, foot trimming, exhausting calving cases in the days prior to caesarean section, as well as huge numbers of night calls to attend to big, rough, unco-operative animals with little respect for the human frame! So I can see why vets need to charge realistic fees.”
He also believes that it’s a much more nine-to-five, five-days-a-week occupation than it used to be.
“This is so different from my father’s day and, indeed, my own. I worked every other night and every other weekend for the first fifteen years of my professional life. My father worked every night and weekend for the first eleven years of his! I am not saying this is such a good thing – in my father’s case it was akin to slavery – but I do remember that my out-of-hours cases were some of the most interesting ones.”
Jim’s own practice in Thirsk has become well-known through the popular TV series The Yorkshire Vet .It follows Peter Wright and Julian Norton on their rounds in North Yorkshire, dealing with anything from inseminating alpacas to surgery on a sock-swallowing Labrador.
“One thing I find positive about the future is that there are some fine veterinary surgeons who are a credit to the profession. Peter Wright and Julian Norton in The Yorkshire Vet carry on that timeless quality that made Herriot so popular: care, compassion and thoroughness. Meanwhile, Noel Fitzpatrick, The Super Vet, illustrates the great strides that the profession has made in the treatment of animals through his clinical and surgical excellence.”
Jim feels his father would be delighted a new series is being made.
“It will show the younger generation just what it was like in the ‘good old days’ fifty and more years ago. We look back nostalgically on those days, but often they were not quite so good at the time: crawling out of bed in the early hours of a winter morning, to strip off to the waist, and attend to a rough calving!
“This is not just a remake. The series does not rigidly follow the original James Herriot narrative, and could be more accurately described as ‘being inspired by the works of James Herriot’. The Herriot characters are still there, and the Herriot stories appear, but much of what is depicted will be new to long-time fans and readers of the James Herriot books.
“I have seen a private showing of episode one. It is most enjoyable, brilliantly acted, and it does capture the ethos and style of the country vet of James Herriot’s day. I wish the new series well, especially as it will appear in an iconic year, the 50th anniversary of the publication of my father’s very first book, If Only They Could Talk.”