The Story of James Herriot

On a cold and icy Wednesday morning on the 17th of January 40 members braved the weather to hear the Forum’s guest speaker John Gilleghan MBE.

John was entertaining us for the fifth time; this time his subject was The Story of James Herriot, the vet from Thirsk whose real name was James Alfred Wight who had adopted his nom- de-plume for his very successful series of books about the life of a Yorkshire Dales vet.

All the main characters in the books were based on real people but were given fictitious names and the setting for the stories, the town of Darrowby was loosely based on Thirsk.

John has personally researched the lives of Alfred Wight and his family and obtained copies of many of their photographs which he shared with us in the form of a slide show with musical accompaniment.

The books were adapted for two films and a very successful television series of 91 episodes and details of these featured in John’s presentation.

John also introduced us to the James Herriot Museum in Thirsk which has recently re-opened after refurbishment.

Mike Earle thanked John Gilleghan for a very entertaining talk which brightened up a miserable day.