James Herriot was the pen name of James Alfred (Alf) Wight. His parents were from Sunderland, but had settled in Glasgow, and his mother returned to Sunderland for the birth in 1916. Wight practised as a vet in Thirsk, North Yorkshire, from 1940 to around 1975, except while serving in the RAF during World War II.
He took his pen name from the Scottish goalkeeper who played for Birmingham City FC from 1965 to 1971.
His books took off commercially after the first two were published in the USA in a single volume entitled All Creatures Great and Small. The hugely successful television adaptation ran to seven series and was originally broadcast from 1978 to 1990.
Wight was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 1991, and died in 1995 aged 78.
© Haydn Thompson 2017