James Herriot

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The 23 Kirkgate house in Thirsk, where Sinclair and Wight's practice was located

James Herriot , actually James Alfred "Alf" Wight (born  October 3, 1916 in Roker , Sunderland , †  February 23, 1995 in Thirlby near Thirsk ) was a British veterinarian and author . After working as a country veterinarian for 25 years, he began to work part-time to describe the life and work of a country veterinarian in humorous short stories that he set in the fictional town of Darrowby and its surroundings. From 1970 to 1992, eight successful books were created, from which two movies and the television series All Creatures Great and Small (German: The Doctor and the Dear Cattle ) emerged.

Life

Childhood and career entry

Wight was born on October 3, 1916 in Sunderland, Northern England, to James Henry Wight and Hannah Bell Wight. His father was a ship mechanic and also worked as a semi-professional musician, including as a silent film pianist in the cinema. His mother was a professional singer and also ran a successful tailoring business from the mid-1920s.

Even though they came from Sunderland, Wight's parents had lived in Glasgow since their marriage in 1915 , which also had a shipping industry, but there were more opportunities for their musical activities. Wight's mother had traveled to Sunderland to give birth to her son and returned to Glasgow three weeks later with the baby. Wight grew up there, where he attended Yoker Primary School from 1921 to 1928 and Hillhead High School from 1928 to 1933.

Wight's son Jim contradicts in his biography the assumption that Alf Wight grew up in abject poverty. Although Wight's parents were not exactly wealthy, they had their livelihood at all times and were able to offer Wight a good childhood:

One of the myths […] is that of his [Alfs] dragging himself up from the "grinding poverty" of his youth. The fact is that his Glasgow days were exceptionally happy [...]

“One of these legends [...] says that he [Alf] worked his way up from the bitter poverty of his childhood. In truth, his time in Glasgow was exceptionally happy [...] "

An article in the hobby magazine Meccano Magazine piqued Wight's interest in veterinary medicine. When a few weeks later a veterinary professor at Hillhead High School presented the profession of vet, the young Wight was enthusiastic and found out more about training and requirements. After school, he began studying at the Veterinary College in Glasgow, which he graduated in December 1939.

In his spare time he played a lot of sports, especially soccer and tennis , and went hiking in the hill country around Glasgow.

Kirkgate, Thirsk. View from the entrance of the former veterinary practice towards the market square
Place name sign of Thirsk "Home of James Herriot"

After graduation, Wight initially worked as an assistant in JJ McDowall's veterinary practice in Sunderland, where he had already completed internships as a student. McDowall thought highly of Wight and often left him the practice alone, but could not offer him permanent employment for financial reasons. Therefore, on July 18, 1940, Wight switched to the veterinary practice of the 5½ year older veterinarian Donald Sinclair in Thirsk , where he received not only a fixed salary, but also a share of the profit from the start. Since Sinclair was drafted into the military shortly after Wight's entry into the practice, Wight had little experience and in an unknown area to run the practice alone, which involved hard work but also intensive experience. But after a few weeks Donald Sinclair was released from military service. With him and his younger brother Brian , a year older than Wight, who was still studying but helped in practice, Wight experienced many of the events that he later described in his books. He remained active in this practice all his life.

marriage

In 1941 Wight met the secretary Joan Catherine Anderson Danbury (March 28, 1919 - July 14, 1999) at a dance event; they married on November 5, 1941 in Thirsk. Wight's mother was disappointed that her only son married a simple girl from a poor family. For Wight, who was very fond of his parents all his life, but was also convinced that he had found exactly the right partner, it was an exhausting conflict.

The Wights had two children: James Alexander ("Jim", born February 13, 1943) also became a veterinarian and took over the father's practice. Rosemary ("Rosie", born May 9, 1947) became a physician. She had originally wanted to be a country vet too, but Wight had talked her out of it, believing that a woman was not up to the physical demands of the job. However, after he later got to know excellent vets, he questioned his approach to Rosie several times in the books.

Military time and career

In March 1941, the German Air Force bombed the shipyards in Glasgow and badly damaged the house of Wight's parents. With this impression, Wight had volunteered for the Royal Air Force , despite being exempted from military service as a veterinarian. In November 1942 he was called up and trained as a pilot, but in August 1943 he was discharged as medically unfit. The reasons for this were an anal fistula , which he suffered from all his life, and an extraction that was poorly carried out in the military and medically unnecessary .

On May 2, 1949, Wight entered Sinclair's practice as a full partner - a move Sinclair had not been able to make up for for a long time. The fixed share of the profit represented great financial progress for Wight. In the winter of 1953 the Wight family moved from the old and much too large practice building to their own house "Rowardennan".

On April 8, 1960, Wight's father suddenly died of a heart attack while Wight was on his way to Glasgow to visit his parents. Wight, already heavily burdened by his exhausting job, fell into a depression as a result of this shock , which he overcame within two years thanks to the generous help of friends.

In 1961, Wight accompanied a sheep transport by ship to Klaipėda (Memel) as a supervising veterinarian , and in 1963 a cattle transport by plane to Istanbul . Privately, he spent several vacations on Mallorca . He was so fascinated by the countries he visited that he later learned Russian and Spanish .

Activity as a book author

In 1965, Wight decided to implement a long-held plan and write a book about life as a veterinarian; After several attempts, his first book appeared in 1970, which was extraordinarily successful for a work by a still completely unknown author. With much narrative material still available to Wight, other books followed with increasing success.

Wight was pleased with the popularity of his work, but he did not stop working as a veterinarian; he always viewed writing as a hobby. In particular, public appearances were uncomfortable for him. His son Jim quotes the saying several times in his biography: "I am a 1 percent author and 99 percent veterinarian." Most of the time, Wight wrote in the living room after a long day at work while the rest of the family sat in front of the television.

After the publication of his seventh book, The Lord God Made Them All, in 1981, he decided to stop writing and until 1988 did not put anything on paper, but returned to his profession. But when seasons 4 to 7 of the television series were produced from 1987 onwards, he was asked for further material. This resulted in his last book, Every Living Thing , within four years , which appeared in 1992, became an instant bestseller and stayed for months.

Sickness and death

Whitestone Cliff, for Wight "the best vantage point in England" - and his final resting place

In 1991 Wight, 75 years old, retired from the practice. In December 1991, a clinical examination found prostate cancer , and Wight went to Lambert Memorial Hospital in Thirsk for treatment. He made full use of the predicted remaining lifetime of three years, although his health deteriorated steadily. Despite the pain, he remained active in the house and garden, went for walks in the area and attended the games of his football club AFC Sunderland until a month before his death .

In the early morning of February 23, 1995, after two days of bed rest, he died at his home in Thirlby at the age of 78. With him were his wife, daughter Rosie, and their daughter Emma; his son Jim had woken up at his father's bed that night and was on a house visit to a farm at the time.

After death

According to Wight's wish, the farewell was first celebrated in a small family circle. The body was cremated and the ashes scattered on Whitestone Cliff east of Thirlby, one of Wight's favorite spots.

A grand memorial service to the public was held at York Minster on October 20, 1995, and 2,300 visitors attended.

The area around Thirsk between the North York Moors National Park in the east and the Yorkshire Dales National Park in the west is now also called Herriot Country . Thirsk bears the subtitle "Home of James Herriot" on its place name signs.

personality

Wight is described by his contemporaries as an exceptionally friendly person with a very positive attitude towards life. When his writing income was subject to high wealth taxation by the ruling Labor Party (Wight's taxable income in 1976 was £ 165,000, his tax rate was 83 percent), he declined to follow other best-selling English writers to the tax haven Jersey (the would have enabled him to legally bring a large part of his income to England after a year of residence). Apart from the fact that that would have meant interrupting the practice, he wanted to live as an Englishman in England and accepted the high taxes with the remark that there was still more than enough left.

Wight's favorite animal was the dog all his life, although he was also very fond of cats. It is said that Wight had a dog with him practically anywhere, anytime. His own dogs are known by name: Dan ( Labrador Retriever ), Hector ( Jack Russell Terrier ) and Bodie ( Border Terrier ).

Works

Origin of the books

Wight's first draft of a veterinarian novel entitled “The Art And The Science” was finished in 1967. In the third person it was about a fictional vet named "James Walsh"; The title goes back to a saying by Wight's first employer, JJ McDowall, that a young veterinarian may have mastered the scientific side of the profession, but still has to learn the "art", namely the skillful handling of patients and customers.

The publisher we asked for refused to publish, but an enthusiastic editor suggested to Wight that the episodes, apparently based on true events, be told in the first person in an autobiographical style. Wight took up this suggestion and a year later had completed the first book in the new form, which stood out from the first original in a much more lively narrative style. Wight owed the idea for the title "If Only They Could Talk" (German: If only they could talk) to one of his customers as a veterinarian, a farmer who was passionate about literature. This manuscript was also initially rejected, which deeply disappointed Wight.

In the spring of 1969, at the suggestion of his wife, he made another attempt and asked the London publisher Michael Joseph Ltd. through an agency . on. He was finally ready to publish the book. However, since the first work by an unknown author was not expected to be a great success, this work was initially published in April 1970 with an edition of 3,000 copies, but later in the same year 1,000 more were printed. Wight received an advance payment of £ 200.00. At the same time, the London Evening Standard published the work as a series and paid the surprisingly high sum of £ 36,710.00 for the rights.

The second book "It Shouldn't Happen to a Vet" (German: That shouldn't happen to a veterinarian) was published in January 1972 with an edition of 8,000 copies; the third, “Let Sleeping Vets Lie” (German: Let sleeping vets lie), followed in April 1973 with a circulation of 15,000 copies, which was soon sold out. Each of the other books was also more successful than its predecessor.

The book titles are often modified phrases or otherwise known formulations. The title of the second book alludes to the 1946 crime comedy "It Shouldn't Happen to a Dog", the third to the English version of the saying not to wake sleeping dogs ("Let sleeping dogs lie").

The Yorkshire Dales highlands, where the Herriot stories take place, still have the same character today as they did in Herriot's time

Characteristics

Wight's books consist of individual short, largely independent stories, in which the author autobiographical professional and personal experiences as well as his time with the Royal Air Force (in All Things Wise and Wonderful ) and his two business trips abroad (in The Lord God Made Them All ) describes. The places and times of the events as well as the people involved are mostly modified (up to the change of gender), so the narratives are not historically exact, even if they are based on facts.

Wight moved the setting of his stories to the Yorkshire Dales , which actually did not belong to his central field of work in Thirsk, but which made a deep impression on him as a landscape. Almost all person, place and field names in the stories are fictitious, but the descriptions are based on actually existing originals, even if these mostly came from the area around Thirsk and not the Yorkshire Dales, 50 km away. The stories are also hardly embellished, but for the most part actually happened in one way or another. The fictional town of Darrowby, in which the practice is located in the books, is made up of the actual towns of Richmond, Leyburn, Thirsk and Middleham.

The pseudonym "James Herriot"

Since Wight wrote his books in the first person , he could not publish them under his real name, as this would have been regarded as self-promotion, which was prohibited by the statutes of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons . He could not use the name of the protagonist of his first book, "James Walsh", as a registered veterinarian had this name.

The final idea came to Wight when he was watching a football match between Birmingham City and Manchester United on television on February 11, 1969 , with Jim Herriot in goal for Birmingham City . The name fascinated him and was not on the veterinary register, so he decided to write under the name "James Herriot". The athlete found out about this sponsorship only in 1988 through a newspaper article in the Glasgow newspaper Sunday Mail , whereupon he visited Wight in his practice and made friends with him.

Adaptations

The first book If Only They Could Talk was made into a film in 1974 with Simon Ward as James Herriot and Sir Anthony Hopkins as Siegfried Farnon. In 1978 the sequel It Shouldn't Happen to a Vet appeared with a different cast.

Skeldale House (right) in the village of Askrigg is the practice seat in the TV series

Also in 1978, the BBC began filming the Herriot books for the television series All Creatures Great And Small . The series was also successful on German-speaking television from 1979 under the title “ The Doctor and the Dear Vieh ” and made “James Herriot” known in German-speaking countries.

Wight made it a point not to be involved in any way in the production of the films or the television series, apart from reading the scripts, but said he was pleased with the authentic representation, even the supporting roles.

Fictional main characters and real role models

Wight often used real people from his environment as models for the fictional characters in his books. He described their characteristic traits and properties in an alienating and sometimes caricaturing form. It is known of individual people that they recognized themselves in Herriot's descriptions: while Brian Sinclair felt comfortable in characterizing himself as a light-hearted connoisseur 'Tristan Farnon', his brother Donald absolutely disagreed and threatened his portrayal of the moody choleric 'Siegfried Farnon' after the first film came out, they even brought a lawsuit, which saddened Wight because of their long friendship. Objections from readers that the real Donald Sinclair is certainly not as eccentric as Siegfried Farnon in the books, countered Wight's son Jim:

You are right! [...] He was not like that at all. His character was considerably toned down.

"That's true! [...] He wasn't like that at all. His character has been toned down considerably [in the books]. "

  • Siegfried Farnon: Wight's eccentric superior and colleague was Donald Vaughan Sinclair (born April 22, 1911 in Harrogate Borough, North Yorkshire , † June 28, 1995 in Southwoods Hall near Thirsk). He graduated from the Royal School of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Edinburgh in 1933 . In 1939 he took over the veterinary practice in Thirsk , Yorkshire , where he worked with Wight. On June 3, 1943, he married Audrey Weston Adamson, with whom he lived for 53 years. The couple have two children. On June 28, 1995, two weeks after his wife's death, Donald Sinclair committed suicide with an overdose of barbiturates . In 1988 his brother Brian Sinclair, Alf Wight had died four months earlier.
  • Tristan Farnon: Donald Sinclair's younger brother was called Wallace Brian Sinclair (born September 27, 1915 , † December 13, 1988 in Harrogate, North Yorkshire). He graduated from the same university as his brother in 1943 and then enlisted for military service in World War II. He was assigned to the Royal Army Veterinary Corps in India, where he conducted infertility studies in water buffalo . After his discharge from military service, he first worked in the Sterility Advisory Unit of the British Department of Agriculture in Inverness and then in the Veterinary Investigation Center in Leeds . In 1944 he married Sheila Rose Seaton; the couple has three daughters. In the late 1970s he spoke on several lecture tours through the USA about the works of his colleague and his role as "Tristan". Sinclair died in 1988.
  • Mrs. Pumphrey , a wealthy and eccentric lady, was modeled after Miss Marjorie Warner, who lived with her Pekingese Bambi (in the books: "Tricky Woo") on the country estate Thorpe House near Thirsk.

expenditure

Great Britain

The English originals, as they are at Michael Joseph Ltd. have appeared:

  • If Only They Could Talk ("If only they could talk", 1970)
  • It Shouldn't Happen to a Vet ("That Shouldn't Happen to a Vet ", 1972)
  • Let Sleeping Vets Lie ("Don't Wake Sleeping Vets ", 1973)
  • Vet in Harness ("Veterinarian in Armor", 1974)
  • Vets Might Fly (" Vets Might Fly ," 1976)
  • Vet in a Spin ("Tierarzt im Trudeln", 1977)
  • The Lord God Made Them All (" The Lord God Made Them ", 1981)
  • Every Living Thing ("Everything that lives", 1992)

United States

Wight's works had great success in the United States of America. The director of New York's St Martin's Press , Tom McCormack, had brought Wight's first book back from a business trip from London, but did not expect much from a veterinarian from the English provinces. However, after his wife accidentally read it, she urged him to publish it. Within a few months, 200,000 hardback copies of the first book and over a million paperback copies were sold in the USA, which saved the economically ailing publisher from bankruptcy . In order to adapt to the American market, which preferred more extensive books, two of the original British works were initially combined into one book; the last two correspond to the British editions:

  • All Creatures Great And Small ("All creatures big and small"; the last three chapters were written by Wight especially for this issue to give the book a nice ending. Published 1972)
  • All Things Bright And Beautiful (1974)
  • All Things Wise And Wonderful (1977)
  • The Lord God Made Them All (" The Lord God Made Them ", 1981)
  • Every Living Thing ("Everything that lives", 1992)

The first four titles are taken from the verse of a hymn by Cecil Frances Alexander (1818–1895), in a different order:

All things bright and beautiful, all creatures great and small,
all things wise and wonderful: the Lord God made them all.

more books

  • James Herriot's Yorkshire (1979; an illustrated book of the landscapes in which the Herriot books are set, with commentary by Wight)
  • James Herriot's Cat Stories (1994)
  • James Herriot's Favorite Dog Stories (1995)

Children's books

(For the most part individual stories taken from the main work as a special edition)

Germany

Wight's stories were initially published in German as selected volumes that do not fully correspond to the compilations of the original English editions. All editions were published by Rowohlt Verlag .

  • Der Doktor und das liebe Vieh (1979) - selection from the original works: If Only They Could Talk , It Shouldn't Happen to a Vet and Let Sleeping Vets Lie
  • Der Tierarzt (1980) - Selection from the original works: Let Sleeping Vets Lie and Vet in Harness
  • The Veterinarian Comes (1982) - Selection from the original works: Vets Might Fly and Vet in a Spin
  • From two-legged and four-legged friends (1984) - selection from the original work: The Lord God Made Them All
  • Each according to its kind (1996) - Translation of: Every Living Thing
  • Tricki Woo - Dog Stories (1996) - seven selected dog stories
  • Got to the dog: Ten animal stories (2000) - translation by: James Herriot's Favorite Dog Stories
  • Anything for the Cat : Ten Purring Stories (2001) - Translation by: James Herriot's Cat Stories

also:

  • Dr. James Herriot, Veterinarian (1980) published in the Bertelsmann Club

Reviews

If there is any justice, this book will become a classic of its kind… With seemingly effortless art, this man tells his stories with perfect timing. Many more famous authors could work for a lifetime and not achieve more flawless literary control.

“If there is justice, this book will be a classic of its own very special ... Apparently this man is telling his stories effortlessly with perfect timing. Many more famous authors could strive for a lifetime and still not achieve such impeccable storytelling. "

- Alfred Ames in the Chicago Tribune, November 12, 1972

James Herriot, a British veterinary surgeon, is one of those rare men who know how to appreciate the ordinary… He's a veterinarian, that's what he is, and when his right arm is free, he's a helluva writer as well.

"James Herriot, a British veterinarian, is one of the few people who can appreciate the ordinary ... He's a veterinarian through and through, but when his right arm has nothing to do, he's a hell of a writer too."

- Anatole Broyard in the New York Times, December 14, 1972

Superlatives aren't enough. This book is absolutely super, a rarity, magnificently written, insightful, unforgettable. If you have ever loved a friend, human or otherwise, this is the book for you.

“Superlatives are not enough. This book is absolutely great, a rarity, wonderfully written, full of insight, unforgettable. Anyone who has ever loved a friend, be it a person or something else, will find their book here. "

- Houston Chronicle, January 1973

Awards

  • 1975: American Veterinary Medical Association's Award of Appreciation (recognition award from the American Veterinary Association)
  • 1975: Honorary Member of the British Veterinary Association
  • February 1979: Order of the British Empire
  • July 1979: Honorary Doctorate in Literature from Heriot-Watt University , Edinburgh
  • October 1979: Invitation to Queen Elizabeth II , whom he valued as a humorous woman and great animal lover
  • June 8, 1982: Fellowship in the Royal Veterinary Association (FRCVS)
  • 1984: Honorary Doctor of Veterinary Science from Liverpool University
  • March 1984: British Tourist Authority Award
  • April 1984: Yorkshire Salver
  • 1986: Naming of the asteroid (4124) Herriot
  • 1991: Honorary President of Sunderland AFC
  • 1992: Chiron Award from the British Veterinary Association
  • October 1993: Appointed the Honorable Yorkshireman with his TV actor Christopher Timothy
  • In 1994 the Veterinary College in Glasgow asked to name the new library there after James Herriot. Wight considered this a great honor, but never lived to see it come true; the James Herriot Library opened the day after his death.

museum

The World of James Herriot . Kirkgate 23 is on the left, the entrance and shop are in the adjacent house.

House 23 Kirkgate, Thirsk, where Wight lived and practiced for a long time, was bought by the city after the veterinary practice moved out and converted into the museum "The World of James Herriot", whereby the premises described by Wight are preserved in their authentic condition.

The practice is now located in an industrial area of ​​Thirsk under the name Skeldale Veterinary Center - the name comes from Skeldale House , the fictional practice house in Wight's stories.

literature

  • Graham Lord: The Life of a Country Vet . Carroll & Graf, New York 1997, ISBN 0-7472-5720-5 .
  • Michael J. Rossi: James Herriot: A Critical Companion . Greenwood Press, Westport CT 1997, ISBN 0-313-29449-6 .
  • Sanford Starlight: All Things Herriot: James Herriot and His Peaceable Kingdom . Syracuse University Press, Syracuse NY 1999, ISBN 0-8156-0611-7 .
  • Jim Wight: The Real James Herriot: The Authorized Biography . Penguin Books, 2000, ISBN 0-14-026881-2

Web links

Commons : James Herriot  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Jim Wight: The Real James Herriot: The Authorized Biography. Penguin Books, 2000, ISBN 0-14-026881-2 , p. 20
  2. ↑ Jim Wight: The Real James Herriot: The Authorized Biography. Penguin Books, 2000, ISBN 0-14-026881-2 , pp. 14/15
  3. ↑ For example, as expressed by Graham Lord: James Herriot. The Life of a Country Vet, Carroll & Graf, New York 1997, p. 4, translated: "[In his books he said] practically nothing about his childhood and youth in Glasgow, which was overshadowed by poverty [...]"
  4. ↑ Jim Wight: The Real James Herriot: The Authorized Biography. Penguin Books, 2000, ISBN 0-14-026881-2 , p. 18
  5. ↑ Jim Wight: The Real James Herriot: The Authorized Biography. Penguin Books, 2000, ISBN 0-14-026881-2 , p. 37. Wight was particularly concerned about his weakness in mathematics. He was told that math is important to a veterinarian - but only to add up the day's earnings.
  6. ↑ Jim Wight: The Real James Herriot: The Authorized Biography. Penguin Books, 2000, ISBN 0-14-026881-2 , chap. 7th
  7. ^ Joan Catherine Anderson Danbury Wight , findagrave.com
  8. ↑ Jim Wight: The Real James Herriot: The Authorized Biography. Penguin Books, 2000, ISBN 0-14-026881-2 , chap. 10
  9. ↑ James Herriot: The Lord God Made Them All , Chapter 22 and Every Living Thing , Chapter 7
  10. ↑ Jim Wight: The Real James Herriot: The Authorized Biography. Penguin Books, 2000, ISBN 0-14-026881-2 , chap. 12
  11. ↑ Jim Wight: The Real James Herriot: The Authorized Biography. Penguin Books, 2000, ISBN 0-14-026881-2 , p. 162
  12. ↑ Jim Wight: The Real James Herriot: The Authorized Biography. Penguin Books, 2000, ISBN 0-14-026881-2 , p. 188
  13. ↑ Jim Wight: The Real James Herriot: The Authorized Biography. Penguin Books, 2000, ISBN 0-14-026881-2 , chap. 18th
  14. ↑ Jim Wight: The Real James Herriot: The Authorized Biography. Penguin Books, 2000, ISBN 0-14-026881-2 , chap. 21st
  15. ↑ Jim Wight: The Real James Herriot: The Authorized Biography. Penguin Books, 2000, ISBN 0-14-026881-2 , p. 261
  16. ↑ Jim Wight: The Real James Herriot: The Authorized Biography. Penguin Books, 2000, ISBN 0-14-026881-2 , p. 345
  17. ↑ Jim Wight: The Real James Herriot: The Authorized Biography. Penguin Books, 2000, ISBN 0-14-026881-2 , p. 359
  18. ↑ Graham Lord: James Herriot. The Life of a Country Vet, Carroll & Graf, New York 1997, p. 6: "Alf Wight was among the nicest men I have ever met."
  19. ↑ Jim Wight: The Real James Herriot: The Authorized Biography. Penguin Books, 2000, ISBN 0-14-026881-2 , pp. 282-284.
  20. ↑ www.telegraph.co.uk : "the" real "James Herriot, who hardly went anywhere without a dog."
  21. ↑ Jim Wight: The Real James Herriot: The Authorized Biography. Penguin Books, 2000, ISBN 0-14-026881-2 , p. 256, with a text example
  22. ↑ Jim Wight: The Real James Herriot: The Authorized Biography. Penguin Books, 2000, ISBN 0-14-026881-2 , chap. 20th
  23. ↑ Jim Wight: The Real James Herriot: The Authorized Biography. Penguin Books, 2000, ISBN 0-14-026881-2 , p. 254
  24. ↑ Jim Wight: The Real James Herriot: The Authorized Biography. Penguin Books, 2000, ISBN 0-14-026881-2 , p. 253
  25. ↑ Jim Wight: The Real James Herriot: The Authorized Biography. Penguin Books, 2000, ISBN 0-14-026881-2 , p. 259
  26. ↑ Jim Wight: The Real James Herriot: The Authorized Biography. Penguin Books, 2000, ISBN 0-14-026881-2 , p. 261
  27. ↑ Jim Wight: The Real James Herriot: The Authorized Biography. Penguin Books, 2000, ISBN 0-14-026881-2 , p. 260: the innkeeper, Mr. Worley , who kept pigs next to the restaurant, was actually a woman named Mrs. Bush.
  28. ↑ Jim Wight: The Real James Herriot: The Authorized Biography. Penguin Books, 2000, ISBN 0-14-026881-2 , chap. 8th
  29. ↑ Jim Wight: The Real James Herriot: The Authorized Biography. Penguin Books, 2000, ISBN 0-14-026881-2 , chap. 8th
  30. ↑ James Herriot in Yorkshire, destinations-uk.com , accessed April 2, 2014
  31. ↑ Jim Wight: The Real James Herriot: The Authorized Biography. Penguin Books, 2000, ISBN 0-14-026881-2 , p. 252
  32. ↑ a b James Wight: The Real James Herriot: A Memoir of My Father . Ballantine Books, 2001, ISBN 978-0-345-43490-6 , pp. 276 .
  33. ↑ Jim Wight: The Real James Herriot: The Authorized Biography. Penguin Books, 2000, ISBN 0-14-026881-2 , p. 295
  34. ↑ Jim Wight: The Real James Herriot: The Authorized Biography. Penguin Books, 2000, ISBN 0-14-026881-2 , p. 91
  35. ↑ Entry: Donald Vaughan Sinclair. In: Thepeerage.com. Retrieved October 2, 2019 .
  36. ↑ Eric Pace: Donald Sinclair, 84, Inspiration For Herriot's Veterinary Tales , The New York Times . July 8, 1995. 
  37. ↑ James Wight: The Real James Herriot: A Memoir of My Father . Ballantine Books, 2001, ISBN 978-0-345-43490-6 , pp. 357 .
  38. ↑ James Herriot in the Find a Grave database . Retrieved October 27, 2019.
  39. ↑ James Wight: The Real James Herriot: A Memoir of My Father . Ballantine Books, 2001, ISBN 978-0-345-43490-6 , pp. 114, 178 .
  40. ^ Entry: Wallace Brian Sinclair. In: findagrave.com. March 5, 2012, accessed October 3, 2019 .
  41. ↑ Thorpe House Today , accessed October 31, 2019.
  42. ↑ Jim Wight: The Real James Herriot: The Authorized Biography. Penguin Books, 2000, ISBN 0-14-026881-2 , p. 269. In literal translation she said to him: "You just have to read this - and if you're so stupid as not to get this out, I'll kill you!"
  43. ↑ Jim Wight: The Real James Herriot: The Authorized Biography. Penguin Books, 2000, ISBN 0-14-026881-2 , p. 273
  44. ↑ a b c Jim Wight: The Real James Herriot: The Authorized Biography. Penguin Books, 2000, ISBN 0-14-026881-2 , p. 272
This version was added to the list of articles worth reading on January 14, 2015 .
personal data
SURNAME Herriot, James
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Wight, James Alfred; Wight, Alf (nickname)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British veterinarian and author
DATE OF BIRTH October 3, 1916
PLACE OF BIRTH Roker , Sunderland
DATE OF DEATH February 23, 1995
Place of death Thirlby near Thirsk