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 All creatures great and small
Topic Originator: suffolkpar  
Date:   Fri 22 Dec 10:10

Did anyone watch last nights programme leading up to the Christmas episode of the above. It was about the author of the James Herriot books who was a Yorkshire vet but had to use a name other than his own because vets were not allowed to advertise any name associated with a veterinary practise.
In reality this proved quite difficult and he eventually had to resort to some other way of getting a name for his main character. He resorted to the sports pages for a solution and plumped for Jim Herriot who was the Dunfermlne goalkeeper at the time!
He went from Dunfermline to Birmingham City and various other clubs after that and as far as I can see is alive aged 84.
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 Re: All creatures great and small
Topic Originator: wee eck  
Date:   Fri 22 Dec 10:45

I always thought Jim Herriot was playing for Birmingham when `Alf Wight` chose his name as his pseudonym and this is borne out by wikipedia which says he saw him play in a match for City and that`s when he got the idea.



Post Edited (Fri 22 Dec 10:58)
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 Re: All creatures great and small
Topic Originator: Stanza  
Date:   Fri 22 Dec 11:06

Quote:

wee eck, Fri 22 Dec 10:45

I always thought Jim Herriot was playing for Birmingham when `Alf Wight` chose his name as his pseudonym and this is borne out by wikipedia which says he saw him play against Sunderland and that`s when he got the idea.


I think that origin story is likely to be correct. Wight had to adopt a pseudonym for his first book in 1970 because of the prohibition on a vet "advertising", and Jim Herriot played for Birmingham 1965-71.

Wight had been working as a vet in Yorkshire since 1940, so it`s unlikely that Herriot`s Dunfermline background played any big part in the choice of name.

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