British · 1916–1995
James Herriot was the pen name of James Alfred Wight, a British veterinary surgeon who spent nearly fifty years treating farm animals in rural Yorkshire. Born in Sunderland and raised largely in Glasgow, he trained at Glasgow Veterinary College before settling into general practice in the market town of Thirsk, the model for his books fictional Darrowby. At fifty, prompted by his wife, he began writing about his life as a country vet, publishing under a pseudonym borrowed from a footballer he had watched on television. All Creatures Great and Small (1972) and its sequels blended comic anecdote with real affection for animals, farmers, and the Yorkshire Dales, and sold tens of millions of copies worldwide. The books were adapted into a long-running BBC television series and several films, cementing Herriot as one of the best-loved chroniclers of rural British life. He continued practicing veterinary medicine alongside his writing career until his retirement.