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Curious to recall, but in 1972, when All Creatures Great and Small was published in America– combining If Only They Could Talk (1970) and It Shouldn’t Happen to a Vet (1972)--it made me want to become a veterinarian. Rereading it today, it is shocking to hear, within the first few pages, the casual discussion of beheading an unborn calf in order to remove it from the mother safely. Kind of brutal stuff for an 11 year-old kid, no? And did I really long for the compensation the good Dr. receives when a grateful farmer shares the local delicacy–a slice of cake with cheese–washed down with a whiskey? Lately, we’ve been watching the original tv series and The Wife could barely watch as a dog gets put down. What is going on here?
Well, the truth of it seems to be that, no matter how messy the practice of these vets, there is undeniable comfort in the communality and pace of life the stories depict. Heck, I’d toss a fair chunk of modern life just to be able to walk to the local for a pint with the regulars. I’d urge you to read (re-read?) the books–and watch both tv series–but there’s a representative story on-line, to give you a feel for the tragic/cozy balance, that also makes for a good Christmas read: -The Christmas Day Kitten. And the Daily Mail ran a Christmas-themed excerpt a few years ago that also demonstrates the challenges Herriot faced dealing with buzzardly old farmers, on the one one hand, and grateful ones on the other: My Christmas lie-in was shattered by the phone. (Reviewed:) Grade: (A+) Tweet Websites:-WIKIPEDIA: James Herriot -FILMOGRAPHY: James Herriot (IMDB) -ENTRY: James Herriot British veterinarian and writer (Encyclopaedia Britannica) -JamesHerriot.org -World of James Herriot: The original home of All Creatures Great & Small! -Herriot Country -AUTHOR PAGE: James Herriot (Pan MacMillan) -ENTRY: James Herriot (Britannica kids) -ENTRY: Herriot, James (Encyclopedia.com) -FAN SITE: James Herriot: Musings of a James Herriot Fan -ENTRY: James Herriot, English Veterinarian, Born (1916) (Today in Conservation) -REVIEW ARCHIVE: James Herriot (Kirkus) -VIDEO ARCHIVE: “james herriot” (YouTube) -OBIT: BEST-SELLING BRITISH WRITER JAMES HERRIOT DIES AT 78 (Associated Press, 2/24/95) -OBIT: James Herriot, 78, Writer, Dies; Animal Stories Charmed People (Mary B. W. Tabor, Feb. 24, 1995, NY Times) -VIDEO: James Herriot - Museum Visit - Creator of All Creatures Great and Small -PODCAST: Exploring the World of James Herriot with Ian Ashton (PreserveCast, 18 April 2022) -PODCAST: The Real James Herriot: A Conversation with Jim Wight (The Bridgehead, 1 June 2016) -PODCAST: The Blessed Life of a Country Vet - Jim Wight (The Good Life, 5 May 2022) -EXCERPT: from All Things Bright And Beautiful: My Christmas lie-in was shattered by the phone (James Herriot, 4 Dec 2020, Daily Mail) -ETEXT: The Christmas Day Kitten (James Herriot) -AUDIO: James Herriot Audio Books -AUDIO: Let Sleeping Vets Lie & Vet in Harness by James Herriot -VIDEO: All Creatures Great and Small Episodes -AUDIO: The Market Square Dog by James Herriot (Story Time with Aussia Dad, 1 February 2020) - -STUDY GUIDE: James Herriot (TV Tropes) -STUDY GUIDE: James Herriot (eNotes) -INTERVIEW: Remembering a bygone era: A conversation with James Herriot’s son (Jonathon Van Maren, 6/13/17, The Bridgehead) -PROFILE: Who was the real James Herriot? Meet the man who became the world's most famous - and beloved - vet: Uncover the blend of fact and fiction in his narratives and learn about James Herriot's lasting impact on veterinary medicine and literature. (Debbie Graham, September 19, 2024, BBC Countryfile) -PROFILE: Who is James Herriot and How “True” is All Creatures Great and Small? (13 PBS, January 10, 2021) -ESSAY: 8 Things to Know About the Real James Herriot (PBS) -PROFILE: Who was the real James Herriot? The true story behind All Creatures Great and Small (Lauren Good, September 16, 2024, History Extra) -PROFILE: The true story of All Creatures Great and Small: Meet the real James Herriot, Helen, Siegfried and Tristan (Nicky Morris, September 26, 2024, Hello!) -PROFILE: ‘All Creatures Great and Small’: Who Was the Real James Herriot? (Jennifer Vineyard, Feb. 19, 2021, NY Times) -ESSAY: How To Read James Herriot's All Creatures Great and Small Books In Order: The beloved PBS show is based on a series of eight books. (Emma Dibdin, Dec 06, 2022, Town & Country) -ESSAY: Summer Reading: James Herriot’s All Creatures Great and Small (Suzanne Rezelman, home.school.life) -ESSAY: US superfans making pilgrimages to Herriot country (Rachel Russell, 10/20/24, BBC News) -ESSAY: James Herriot and the Desire for Home (Jonathon Van Maren, 1 . 28 . 21, First Things) -ESSAY: The real James Herriot world: The James Herriot stories described the world in which the 1930s practitioner was seen, but the world in which he worked was a much harder reality (Bruce Vivash Jones, 02 November 2020, Veterinary Practice) -ESSAY: The impact of James Herriot: Appreciating the vet behind the legend (Jaclyn Krymowski, July 28, 2021, AG Daily) -ESSAY: James Herriot Fact into fiction: The double image of James Herriot (Amy Hanson) -ESSAY: Why vet and author James Herriot never got rich (Ray Bennett, February 24, 2015, The Cliff Edge) -ESSAY: Lessons from James Herriot (The Veterinary Idealist, January 19, 2018) -PROFILE: Alf Wight - the "real James Herriot" (Real Yorkshire Blog, Dec 2, 2020) -ESSAY: James Herriot and burnout (Sylvia Pamboukian, 8/17/21, Hektoen International: A Journal of Medical Humanities) -ESSAY: The Brave Mental Health Battle of Author James Herriot: Writing the warm-hearted All Creatures Great and Small book series helped James Herriot, real name Alf Wight, manage his depression. (Pete Samson, January 28, 2022, Mr. Feelgood) -ESSAY: James Herriot's real-life children and marriage to secretary wife (Katie Palmer, Sep 19, 2024, Daily Express) -ESSAY: This Profession Is Hard: How to be more like James Herriot (Duffy Jones, GVMA) -ESSAY: James Herriot's private hell: The shocking truth about the man behind TV's most famous vet (JENNY JOHNSTON, 24 September 2010, Daily Mail) -ESSAY: The real James Herriot's heartbreaking illness explained after it 'spawned depression': James Herriot's Brucellosis symptoms returned in the heartbreaking season finale of All Creatures Great and Small. (Katie Palmer, 24 OCT 2024, LancsLive) -ESSAY: The madness of Siegfried (Patrick Kidd, September 30 2020, The Times uk) -PODCAST: Voices from Herriot Country - -REVIEW: of The Christas Day Kitten by James Herriot (Publishers Weekly) -REVIEW: of All Creatures Great and Small by James Herriot (The Book Whisperer) FILM/TV: -FILMOGRAPHY: James Herriot (IMDB) -WIKIPEDIA: All Creatures Great and Small (1978 TV series) -FILMOGRAPHY: All Creatures Great & Small TV Series 1978–1990 (IMDB) -SERIES SITE: All Creratures Great and Small PBS) -WIKIPEDIA: All Creatures Great and Small (2020 TV series) -FILMOGRAPHY: All Creatures Great & Small TV Series 2020 (IMDB) - -REVIEW ESSAY: More tales from the kindly, warm world of James Herriot (Sue’s News) -REVIEW ESSAY: Why All Creatures Great and Small is About So Much More Than a Charming Country Vet: Poised on the Ledge of WWII, the PBS Series Based on James Herriot’s Life Captures the Writer‘s Ethos (Ethan Warren, January 20, 2023, LitHub) -TV REVIEW: Christmas with James Herriot — the All Creatures Great and Small special: This new adaptation of the vet’s classic tale is every bit as good as the original, says James Jackson (James Jackson, December 19 2020, Times uk) -TV REVIEW: Animal magic! All Creatures Great and Small is the comforting TV we all need : The reboot of the Yorkshire vet drama is a gentle back-rub of a show, and proved the perfect answer to lockdown woes. As it returns, its winning formula looks even more charming (Stuart Heritage, 16 Sep 2021, The Guardian) Book-related and General Links: |
Copyright 1998-2015 Orrin Judd
