By Athena Lucero
"This is where we lived when we were kids," Rosie reminisced as she, her brother Jim and I walked the first floor of their childhood home in the rural town of Thirsk in northern England, now the World of James Herriot museum. She warmly greeted volunteers, expressing immense gratitude that "without them we couldn't exist." Then Jim talked about "Our Best Room," emphasizing "best."
"I have fond memories here," he said. "We would have tea here, and it doubled as an office. The veterinary practice was almost entirely farm-animal work, so we didn't need a waiting room, we didn't need an operating room and we didn't need kennels."
It was a delightful moment as I listened to stories and anecdotes of Rosie Page and Jim Wight, the offspring of Joan Wight and their famous father, James Alfred Wight, best known by his pen name, James Herriot, whose semi-autobiographical stories about life as a young veterinary surgeon tending to farm animals throughout the countryside won the hearts of millions around the world. His books of trials, tribulations, lessons and triumphs were translated into 20 languages and sold more than 60 million copies — putting Yorkshire, "God's own country," on the map.
If Wight had landed a small animal vet job in the city as he had hoped for back in 1940 fresh out of Glasgow Veterinary College, the world would have missed out on his compassionate, tear-jerker, hilarious, educational and inspirational insights on animals and their owners as he became one of the most popular writers of the 20th century. Thank goodness he took the only job available at the time — assistant vet to Donald Sinclair in Thirsk, where Wight worked hard and passionately until he retired.
Since the museum's opening in 1999, tens of thousands of James Herriot fans from around the world have journeyed to see the wild and rugged landscapes of the Yorkshire Dales and the North York Moors described so vividly in Wight's stories. The Dales and the Moors are national parks surrounding "Darrowby," the fictionalized village of Thirsk, and "Skeldale House" at 23 Kirkgate (the real address) where Wight and the eccentric Sinclair (fictionalized as Sigfried Farnon) practiced together at Sinclair and Wight for over 50 years. The award-winning museum is also a memorial to the veterinarian-author who passed away during the late spring of 1995 at the age of 78.
Wight, a humble and private man (known as Alf to his friends), was born in Yorkshire and raised in Glasgow, Scotland. He didn't start writing until he was 50 years old, accepting his wife's challenge to follow his life-long desire to write a book, something he'd always wanted to do but that took a backseat to his veterinary practice. At first he wrote on a variety of subjects without success. But the real magic happened when he wrote about what he knew best.
More than 15 books later, quite beyond his dream to author just one, Wight's best-selling memoirs — "All Creatures Great and Small," "All Things Bright and Beautiful," "All Things Wise and Wonderful," and his final memoir, "Every Living Thing," brought the stories of real people, real animals and real events to life.
It was "All Creatures Great and Small" that inspired the television series of the same name that ran for six years — 1978 to 1980, then 1988 to 1990 — becoming a Sunday-night family favorite and one of the BBC's most successful projects. Reruns are just as popular today, and his books still sell off the shelves.
Continuing through the former home/veterinary clinic sent me into a time capsule. The rooms had been restored to the way they looked back in the 1940s, right down to the smallest details, including Wight's library.
"All the books you see are Dad's," said Jim. "He read thousands and thousands of books ... that must have stood him in very good stead to be a good writer."
Peeking into the Breakfast Room, I envisioned young Rosie, Jimmie and their parents having a meal in what was the warmest room in the house — "because it was the only one with a fire." It later became a consulting room for the veterinary practice.
The Sitting Room had become the practice waiting room, and the Dispensary — with everything just as it was — shelves full of genuine bottles with genuine labels representing an era when veterinarians used homemade remedies.
"It was here that the vets made their own medicines," Jim explained, "... the days before antibiotics, antibacterial and anti-inflammatory drugs."
The dispensary was still used in the 1990s but replaced with modern medicine.
Then Jim pointed to a castor oil bottle and humorously recalled an old Scottish vet who told him: "The secret to a veterinary practice is to keep the bowels open and trust the rest to God!"
Following in their father's footsteps, Jim and Rosie also studied medicine — Jim became a veterinary surgeon and worked 20 years alongside his father and Sinclair, and Rosie became a "people" doctor. The two, as well as their mother, were also characterized in the famous stories.
Another room is filled with a remarkable collection of memorabilia acquired from an over-the-top James Herriot fan from Bristol, including photos of the Scottish goalkeeper, Jim Herriot from Birmingham City, who inspired Wight's pen name when he watched "on the tele" a football match against Manchester United. The use of a pseudonym was protocol for professionals who were discouraged from promoting their services.
The understated exterior of the three-story museum is deceiving because its content is so immense. Besides experiencing the original Thirsk home and veterinary practice, reminders of Hollywood kicked in as we navigated around camera equipment inside studio sets for "All Creatures Great and Small" that were re-created from plans and photographs of the BBC studios in Birmingham where interior scenes for the television series were shot. And the barn outside filled with farm implements portrays where veterinary surgeons performed makeshift operations.
Upstairs the bedrooms have transformed into a gallery of "tortuous-looking instruments," as Jim described cases displaying items from the 4,000-piece archive of veterinary instruments. Young aspiring vets (or not) will have a field day at the Children's Interactive Gallery that teaches curious kids everything they'd want to know about a day in the life of a veterinarian.
Without realizing it, Wight's stories also put a spotlight on his profession. Through letters received from practicing vets, he learned how his stories inspired men and women to pursue veterinary careers.
On March 28, 2015, a bronze statue of James Alfred Wight — "James Herriot" — was erected in the museum's garden on the day his wife, Joan Catherine Danbury Wight (she inspired the character Helen Herriot), would have turned 96 years old. She passed away in 1999, four years after her husband. The life-size and lifelike figure was sculpted by artist Sean Hedges-Quinn. At the same time, the James Herriot Legacy Fund commenced, which today provides scholarships for young people aspiring to become vets or to work in animal-care professions.
As his father's friend, colleague and "assistant" when he was a young boy, Jim embarked on a mission to bring Alf Wight's life full circle. In 1999 he wrote "The Real James Herriot," an authorized biography. The project was both a privilege and an honor to leave fans with yet another poignant James Herriot memoir. Unlike his father, though, Jim had never intended to write a book.
WHEN YOU GO:
www.worldofjamesherriot.com
www.yorkshire.com
![Jim Wight and Rosie Page, with the author [center], are the son and daughter of James Alfred Wight, alias "James Herriot." Photo courtesy of Athena Lucero.](https://cdn.creators.com/264/172951/tad032016bdAW.jpg)
Athena Lucero is a freelance writer. To read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.
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