James Herriot

Wight was born on 3 October 1916 in Sunderland, England, the son of James Henry Wight and Hannah Bell Wight. His father was a shipfitter and also worked as a semi-professional musician, including as a silent film pianist in the cinema. His mother was a professional singer and also ran a successful tailor's shop from the mid-1920s.Although they were from Sunderland, Wight's parents had lived in Glasgow since their marriage in 1915, where the shipping industry was also based, but there were more opportunities for their musical activities. Wight's mother had travelled to Sunderland for the birth of her son and returned to Glasgow with the baby three weeks later. Wight grew up there, attending Yoker Primary School from 1921 to 1928 and Hillhead High School from 1928 to 1933.

In his biography, Wight's son Jim contradicts the assumption that Alf Wight grew up in abject poverty. Although Wight's parents were not exactly wealthy, they always had their livelihood and were able to offer Wight a good childhood: An article in the hobby magazine Meccano Magazine sparked Wight's interest in veterinary medicine. A few weeks later, when a veterinary professor at Hillhead High School introduced the veterinary profession, young Wight was thrilled and continued to learn about the training and requirements. After school, he entered the College of Veterinary Medicine in Glasgow, graduating in December 1939.

In his spare time, he did a lot of sports, especially football and tennis, and went on hikes through the mountains around Glasgow.

After graduating, Wight worked as an assistant in J. J. McDowall's veterinary practice in Sunderland, where he had already completed internships as a student. McDowall thought highly of Wight and often left the practice to him alone, but could not offer him permanent employment for financial reasons. Therefore, on July 18, 1940, Wight moved to the veterinary practice of the veterinarian Donald Sinclair in Thirsk, who was 5 years his senior, where he not only received a fixed salary, but also a share of the profits from the beginning. Since Sinclair was called up to the military shortly after Wight joined the practice, Wight, with little experience and in unfamiliar territory, had to run the practice alone, which involved hard work but also intense experience. But after just a few weeks, Donald Sinclair was released from military service. With him and his younger brother Brian, a year older than Wight, who was still studying but helping in the practice, Wight experienced many of the events he later described in his books. He remained active in this practice for the rest of his life.

In 1941, Wight met secretary Joan Catherine Anderson Danbury (March 28, 1919 – July 14, 1999) at a dance; they married on November 5, 1941 in Thirsk. Wight's mother was disappointed that her only son was marrying a simple girl from a penniless family. For Wight, who was very fond of his parents throughout his life, but was also convinced that he had found exactly the right partner, this was an exhausting conflict.The Wights had two children: James Alexander ("Jim", February 13, 1943) also became a veterinarian and took over his father's practice. Rosemary ("Rosie", May 9, 1947) became a medical doctor. Actually, she had also wanted to become a country veterinarian, but Wight had talked her out of it, believing that a woman was not up to the physical demands of this profession. However, after he later met excellent veterinarians, he questioned his approach to Rosie several times in the books.

In March 1941, the German Luftwaffe had bombed the shipyards in Glasgow and severely damaged the house of Wight's parents. Under this impression, Wight had volunteered for the Royal Air Force, although he was exempt from military service as a veterinarian. In November 1942 he was called up and trained as a pilot, but in August 1943 he was discharged as medically unfit. The reason for this was an anal fistula, from which he suffered all his life, and a bungled and medically unnecessary Extraktion.Am May 2, 1949, Wight joined Sinclair's practice as a full-fledged partner – a step that Sinclair had not been able to make up his mind to take for a long time. The fixed profit share meant a great financial advance for Wight. In the winter of 1953, the Wight family moved from the old and much too large practice house to their own house "Rowardennan". On April 8, 1960, Wight's father died suddenly of a heart attack while Wight was on his way to Glasgow to visit his parents. As a result of this shock, Wight, who was already under a lot of strain due to his energy-sapping profession, fell into depression, which he overcame within two years thanks to the generous help of friends.In 1961, Wight accompanied a sheep transport by ship to Klaipėda (Memel) as a veterinarian, and in 1963 a cattle transport by plane to Istanbul. In his private life, he spent several holidays in Mallorca. He was so fascinated by the countries he visited that he subsequently learned Russian and Spanish. In 1965, Wight decided to implement a long-cherished plan and write a book about life as a veterinarian; after several attempts, his first book was published in 1970, which was exceptionally successful for a work by a still completely unknown author. Since Wight still had a lot of narrative material at his disposal, other books followed with increasing success.

Wight was pleased with the popularity of his works, but he did not interrupt his veterinary practice; he always regarded writing as a hobby. He was particularly uncomfortable with public appearances. Several times in his biography, his son Jim quotes the saying: "I am 1 percent author and 99 percent veterinarian." Wight usually wrote in the living room in the evening after a long day at work, while the rest of the family sat in front of the TV. After the publication of his seventh book, The Lord God Made Them All, in 1981, he decided to stop writing and did not put anything on paper until 1988, but returned to his profession. But when seasons 4 to 7 of the television series were produced from 1987 onwards, he was asked for more material. Within four years, this resulted in his last book, Every Living Thing, which was published in 1992, immediately became a bestseller and remained so for months.

In 1991, Wight, 75 years old, retired from working in the practice. In December 1991, a clinical examination revealed prostate cancer, whereupon Wight went to Lambert Memorial Hospital in Thirsk for treatment. He made full use of the predicted remaining life of three years, although his health steadily deteriorated. Despite the pain, he remained active in the house and garden, took walks in the area and also attended the matches of his football club AFC Sunderland until a month before his death.

In the early morning of February 23, 1995, he died at the age of 78 at his home in Thirlby after two days of bedriddenness. With him were his wife, his daughter Rosie and her daughter Emma; his son Jim had watched over his father's bedside during the night and was on a home visit to a farm at the time.

According to Wight's wishes, the farewell was initially celebrated in a small family circle. The body was cremated and the ashes scattered on Whitestone Cliff east of Thirlby, one of Wight's favourite spots.

On 20 October 1995, a large public memorial service was held at York Minster, which was attended by 2,300 visitors. The area around Thirsk between the North York Moors National Park in the east and the Yorkshire Dales National Park in the west is now also known as Herriot Country. Thirsk bears the subtitle "Home of James Herriot" on its town signs.

Wight is described by his contemporaries as an exceptionally friendly person with a very positive attitude to life. When the income from his writing activities subjected him to the high wealth tax of the ruling Labour Party (in 1976 Wight's taxable income was £165,000, his tax rate was 83 percent), he refused to follow other English bestselling authors to the tax haven of Jersey (which would have allowed him to legally bring a large part of his income to England after a year of residence). Apart from the fact that this would have meant interrupting his practice, he wanted to live in England as an Englishman and accepted the high taxes with the remark that there was still more than enough left. Wight's favorite animal throughout his life was the dog, although he was also very fond of cats. It is said that Wight had a dog with him practically always and everywhere. His own dogs are known by name: Dan (Labrador Retriever), Hector (Jack Russell Terrier) and Bodie (Border Terrier).