James Herriot

James Herriot

BornJames Alfred Wight
(1916-10-03)3 October 1916
Sunderland, County Durham, England
Died23 February 1995(1995-02-23) (aged 78)
Thirlby, North Yorkshire, England
Pen nameJames Herriot
Occupation
  • Veterinary surgeon
  • author
LanguageEnglish
NationalityBritish
EducationRCVS
Alma materGlasgow Veterinary College
Period1940–1992
Subject
  • Autobiographical
  • memoirs
Spouse
Joan Catherine Anderson Danbury
(m. 1941)
Children2

James Alfred Wight OBE FRCVS (3 October 1916 – 23 February 1995), better known by his pen name James Herriot, was a British veterinary surgeon and author.

Born in Sunderland, Wight graduated from Glasgow Veterinary College in 1939, returning to England to become a veterinary surgeon in Yorkshire, where he practised for almost 50 years. He is best known for writing a series of eight books set in the 1930s–1950s Yorkshire Dales about veterinary practice, animals, and their owners, which began with If Only They Could Talk, first published in 1970. Over the decades, the series of books has sold some 60 million copies.[1]

The franchise based on his writings was very successful. In addition to the books, there have been several television and film adaptations of Wight's books, including the 1975 film All Creatures Great and Small; a BBC television series of the same name, which ran 90 episodes; and a 2020 UK Channel 5 series, also of the same name.[2]

  1. ^ Vineyard, Jennifer (1 March 2021). "All Creatures Great and Small: Who was the real James Herriot". Irish Times/New York Times. Retrieved 3 March 2021.
  2. ^ "The Yorkshire Vet". channel5.com. Retrieved 3 March 2021.