James Alfred Wight always enjoyed writing.
But when he finally started chronicling his experiences as a country vet, prohibitions against advertising in the veterinary profession meant he had to publish his stories under a different name.
For a while, every surname he thought of already belonged to someone else. Then, one day, he was watching a soccer match and was taken with the name of the goalie. He hastily thumbed through the list of veterinarians. It wasn’t there.
And so, James Herriot was born.
His son, Jim Wight, creates a loving portrait of the man behind the pen in “The Real James Herriot, The Authorized Biography.” Audio Renaissance abridged and recorded it (3 hours, $17.95), with actor Christopher Timothy, widely regarded as “the voice of James Herriot,” reading.
As so often seems to be the case, the elder Wight had to shop his first book around before anyone bought it. But he was to become a household name. His books sold 50 million copies in 20 countries; they were made into movies and a BBC television series.
Herriot became rich while still keeping up his modest veterinary practice. Eventually, however, he quit, worn out by the acclaim and heavy demands of fame.
But for years thereafter, before he died in 1995, he set aside two afternoons a week to visit with the people from around the world who came to the small town where he lived in rural Scotland to see where he worked and pay homage.
That’s the kind of guy he was.
Herriot’s son writes not about the father’s experiences with animals — that’s already been well-documented — but about the private, unassuming man behind it all, his “best friend.”
The early part of the book seems a tad dry. It’s almost more of a chronicling than a story, but perhaps that’s the fault of the abridgment.
It is also somewhat disconcerting at first to hear the James Herriot I have loved for years referred to as “Alf.” But that soon passes, and it is both fascinating and heartwarming to read his son’s tribute.
Christopher Timothy is the one who really makes this recording work. His voice is perfect — warm, gentle and affectionate, with a note of amusement for the people and animals Herriot meets and treats.
Having portrayed Herriot in the BBC television series based on the books, Timothy went on to narrate virtually all the Herriot books on audio.
Audio Renaissance has just about all of them — 11 titles, many of them unabridged.
The going length for “All Creatures Great and Small,” for instance, plus “All Things Bright and Beautiful,” “All Things Wise and Wonderful” and “The Lord God Made Them All” is 12 hours, costing $49.95.
Christopher Timothy reads each one.
For budget-minded fans, Chivers Audio (1-800-704-2005) has British-produced recordings for rent in addition to sale. These are the same stories, but with the British titles — “It Shouldn’t Happen to a Vet,” “Let Sleeping Vets Lie,” “Vet in a Harness,” etc.
The going rental price is $11.50 for the 12-hour recordings, each with Timothy reading.
Herriot probably changed forever the way we look at the veterinary practice. His son’s book is a fitting capstone for both his veterinary and his literary legacies.
