James Alfred Wight OBE FRCVS was a British veterinary surgeon and writer. 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. Wight retired in 1989, passing his share of the practice to his son.
About James Herriot in brief
James Alfred Wight OBE FRCVS was a British veterinary surgeon and writer. Born in Sunderland, Wight graduated from Glasgow Veterinary College in 1939. He returned 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. There have been several television and film adaptations of Wight’s books, including the 1975 film All Creatures Great and Small and the BBC television series of the same name. Wight retired in 1989, passing his share of the practice to his son. He was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 1991 and treated in Northallerton Hospital. He died on February 23, 1995 at age 78, leaving an estate valued at £5,425,873. His remains were cremated and scattered on Sutton Bank Bank in Sutton Sutton, Sutton-on-le-Yorks, and his wife Joan died on July 14, 1999.
In the preface of James Herriot’s Yorkshire, he claimed that he had begun to write the books only after his wife encouraged him at age 50, in fact he kept copious diaries as a child, and wrote at least one short story for his school’s magazine. In early 1960s he began analysing the successful authors that he enjoyed reading as a teenager, such as P.C. Escher, P.G. Wodehouse, and William Makepeace Thackeray. He began writing his first book, If Only They Could Talk, which was published in 1970. The book was adapted into a BBC TV series, which ran for a total of 90 episodes, in the 1970s and 1980s. It was the first of a number of books based on his experiences, including If Only they Could Talk: A Dog’s Life in the Dales, and If Only You Could Talk; A Dog’s Life In The Dales; If Only It Could Be A Dog, A Dog Can Be a Dog, and The Dog That Can Be A Vet; and If They Could Be a Vet;.
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