Book description
'We had no antibiotics, few drugs. A lot of time was spent pouring
things down cows' throats. The whole thing added up to a lot of
laughs. There's more science now, but not so many laughs.'
We all know James Herriot, possibly the most famous vet in the world.
But how did a young student named Alf Wight become the man who would
charm millions of readers the world over?
Young Herriot
tells the fascinating story of James Herriot's formative years at
veterinary college. Set in Glasgow in the 1930s - pre-antibiotics, when
veterinary practise was, as Herriot wrote, 'more art than science' - the
book shines a light on his calling to work with animals (which began
when he read an article in Meccano Magazine
entitled 'Veterinary Surgery as a Career'), his early friendships and
quest for knowledge at Glasgow's Veterinary College and the early
development of his legendary compassion for animals.
Accompanying a major BBC drama series, Young Herriot
uses previously unpublished diaries and casebooks from Herriot's days
as a student to bring to life a fascinating time and place, and
represents a thrilling new addition to the James Herriot canon.
John Lewis-Stempel
is the author of a number of books, including Six Weeks
, The Autobiography of a British Soldier
, England: The Autobiography
and The Wild Life
, in which he lived on food foraged and hunted for in the fields and
cops around his seventeenth-century farm, in Herefordshire. Coming from
a long line of farmers and being a farmer himself, breeding a variety of
livestock, John has always had a warm admiration and respect for vets
and is a long-time admirer of James Herriot.
James Herriot
was the pen name of Alf Wight, who only turned to writing at the age of
50, after a long career in veterinary medicine. Alf Wight qualified as a
vet from Glasgow's Veterinary College in 1939 and moved to Thirsk, in
Yorkshire, in 1940. He remained there until his death at the age of 78
in 1995. His experiences as a vet living in Yorkshire have been
immortalised in a number of internationally best-selling novels,
including If Only They Could Talk
and It Shouldn't Happen to a Vet
, as well as the long-running television series and film adaptation both
entitled All Creatures Great and Small
.
