Coordinates: 54°13′57″N 1°20′35″W / 54.23256°N 1.34293°W / 54.23256; -1.34293

Thirsk
Thirsk  Thirsk shown within North Yorkshire
Population	4,703 [1]
OS grid reference	SE429820
- London	227 miles (365 km)
Civil parish	Thirsk
District	Hambleton
Shire county	North Yorkshire
Region	Yorkshire and the Humber
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	THIRSK
Postcode district	YO7
Dialling code	01845
Police	North Yorkshire
Fire	North Yorkshire
Ambulance	Yorkshire
EU Parliament	Yorkshire and the Humber
UK Parliament	Thirsk and Malton (formerly Vale of York)
Website	http://www.thirsk.org.uk/
List of places: UK • England • Yorkshire

Thirsk is a small market town and civil parish in the Hambleton district of North Yorkshire, England. The parish has a population of 4,703 according to the 2001 Census.^[1] Thirsk is a popular tourist destination, known for the Thirsk Racecourse, the North York Moors, and as the home of author James Herriot.

History[link]

The town is mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1089 as Tresche, derived from the Viking (Old Norse) word þresk = "marsh". It is surrounded by a number of villages also having names of Danish origin, such as Thirlby, Boltby, Borrowby and Sowerby (the -by suffix (Danish in origin) meaning village or farmstead).

Thomas Lord, who founded Lord's Cricket Ground in London, was born in a house which now houses the Thirsk Museum. Another local attraction is the Kilburn White Horse, a chalk horse carved into the hillside about four miles (6 km) east of the town in 1857.

Thirsk's chief modern claim to fame is as the home of the veterinary surgeon and author James Herriot,^[2] although it was renamed "Darrowby" in the books. The veterinary practice at 23 Kirkgate, in which he was a partner along with Donald Sinclair (Siegfried Farnon in the books) now houses a museum dedicated to his life and works, The World of James Herriot.^[3]

Townscape[link]

The town lies in the Vale of Mowbray, 23 miles (37 km) north of York. Cod Beck runs through the centre of Thirsk - the area to the east of the river is called Old Thirsk.

Thirsk is built around a large medieval market square, which still hosts an open-air market each Monday and Saturday. Thirsk has a museum and the 15th century church of St Mary's. It is commonly said that Thirsk also has a hospital, cinema, town hall and swimming pool, but all four are actually located in the adjoining village of Sowerby.

The Ritz Cinema on Westgate, Sowerby is a small 200 seat (100 stalls, 100 balcony) cinema run by volunteers. It dates back to 1912 and is one of Britain's oldest operating cinemas.^[4] It shows in a period setting most of the current films and is run for residents and visitors to Thirsk and the local villages by a dedicated team of volunteers. In March 2012, the Ritz installed Digital projection equipment, purchased under a Digital Print Scheme through the Cinema Exhibitors Association CEA.

The racecourse at Thirsk is a leading venue for horseracing on the flat in the spring and summer months.

The market square adjacent to the clock tower was featured in the artwork to Pulps 1995 album "Different Class".

• Ritzfront.jpg

  Ritz Cinema

• 

  The Darrowby Inn, Thirsk

• 

  St Mary's Church

• 

  The veterinary surgery (office) of James Herriot, now the World of James Herriot museum, is a popular attraction

Transport[link]

The local travel links are located a mile from the town centre to Thirsk railway station and 20 miles (32 km) to Durham Tees Valley Airport. Local bus services to and from York, Ripon and Northallerton and nearby villages and long distance National Express Coaches call at the bus stop in the market place. Also, the main road running through the town is the A61, connecting Thirsk to Ripon. The A19 road now, after a bypass was built in the 1960s, passes Thirsk to the east; the former route of the A19 through the town is the A61 to the north to South Kilvington and the A170 to the south at the junction where the A19 joins the original route to the south.

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Thirsk

• Thirsk Town Council website
• Visit Thirsk website

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (December 2007)

James Herriot was the pen name of James Alfred Wight, OBE, FRCVS, also known as Alf Wight (3 October 1916 – 23 February 1995), a British veterinary surgeon and writer, who used his many years of experiences as a veterinarian to write a series of books of stories about animals and their owners. He is best known for these semi-autobiographical works, which are often referred to collectively as All Creatures Great and Small, a title used in some editions and in film and television adaptations.

Biography[link]

James Alfred Wight was born on 3 October 1916, in Sunderland, County Durham, England, to James (1890–1960) and Hannah Bell (1890–1980) Wight. Shortly after their wedding, the Wights moved from Brandling Street, Sunderland^[1] to Glasgow in Scotland, where James took work as both a ship plater and pianist for a local cinema, while Hannah was a singer, as well as a dressmaker.^[1] For Alf's birth, his mother returned to Sunderland, bringing him back to Glasgow when he was three weeks old. He attended Yoker Primary School and Hillhead High School. From his father he gained a passion for Sunderland Football Club and remained a lifelong fan. In 1992 he was named a Life President of the club.

In 1939, at the age of 23, he qualified as a veterinary surgeon with Glasgow Veterinary College. In January 1940, he took a brief job at a veterinary practice in Sunderland, but moved in July to work in a rural practice based in the town of Thirsk, Yorkshire, close to the Yorkshire Dales and North York Moors, where he was to remain for the rest of his life. On 5 November 1941, he married Joan Catherine Anderson Danbury. The couple had two children, James Alexander (Jim), born 1943, who also became a vet and was a partner in the practice, and Rosemary (Rosie), born 1947, who became a physician in general practice.

Wight served in the Royal Air Force in 1942. His wife moved to her parents' house during this time and, upon being discharged from the RAF as a Leading Aircraftman, Wight joined her. They lived there until 1946, at which point they moved back to 23 Kirkgate, staying until 1953.

Herriot’s former surgery at 23 Kirkgate, Thirsk is now the World of James Herriot tourist attraction.

Later, he moved with his wife to a house on Topcliffe Road, Thirsk, opposite the secondary school. The original practice is now a museum, "The World of James Herriot", while the Topcliffe Road house is in private ownership and not open to the public. He later moved with his family to the village of Thirlby, about four miles from Thirsk, where he resided until his death.

Wight intended for years to write a book, but with most of his time consumed by veterinary practice and family, his writing ambition went nowhere. Challenged by his wife, in 1966 (at the age of 50), he began writing. After several rejected stories on other subjects like football, he turned to what he knew best. In 1969 Wight wrote If Only They Could Talk, the first of the now-famous series based on his life working as a vet and his training in the Royal Air Force during the Second World War. Owing in part to professional etiquette, which at that time frowned on veterinary surgeons and other professionals from advertising their services, he took a pen name, choosing "James Herriot" after seeing the Scottish goalkeeper Jim Herriot play for Birmingham City F.C. in a televised game against Manchester United. If Only They Could Talk was published in the United Kingdom in 1970 by Michael Joseph Ltd, but sales were slow until Thomas McCormack, of St. Martin's Press in New York City, received a copy and arranged to have the first two books published as a single volume in the United States. The resulting book, titled All Creatures Great and Small, was a huge success, spawning numerous sequels, movies and a successful television adaptation.

Wight was found to have prostate cancer in 1991,^[1] and underwent treatment in the Lambert Memorial Hospital in Thirsk. He died on 23 February 1995, aged 78, at home in Thirlby.^[2]

On 29 July 2009, UK-based open-access rail operator Grand Central Railway, which operates train services from Wight's birthplace of Sunderland to London King's Cross (calling at Thirsk), named Class 180 DMU No. 180112 (British Rail Class 180) "James Herriot" in his honour. The ceremony was carried out jointly by Alf Wight's daughter Rosie and son Jim.^[3]

Author[link]

This section may contain original research. Please improve it by verifying the claims made and adding references. Statements consisting only of original research may be removed. More details may be available on the talk page. (April 2010)

In his books, Wight calls the town where Herriot lives and works, "Darrowby", which he based largely on the towns of Thirsk^[4] and Sowerby. He also renamed Donald Sinclair and his brother Brian Sinclair as Siegfried and Tristan Farnon, respectively, and used the name "Helen Alderson" for Joan Danbury.

Contrary to popular belief, Wight's books are only partially autobiographical, with many of the stories being only loosely based on real events or people. Wight's son, Jim, states that a lot of the stories, although set in the 1930s, 40s or 50s in the books, were actually inspired by cases that Wight attended in the 1960s and 70s.^[1]

From an historical standpoint, the stories help document a transitional period in the veterinary industry; agriculture was moving from the traditional use of beasts of burden (in Britain, primarily the draught horse) to reliance upon the mechanical tractor and medical science was just on the cusp of discovering the antibiotics and other drugs that eliminated many of the ancient remedies still in use. These and other sociological factors, like increased affluence, prompted a large-scale shift in veterinary practice over the course of the 20th century; at its start, virtually all of a vet's time was spent working with large animals: horses (motive power in both town and country), cattle, sheep, goats and pigs. By the year 2000, the majority of vets practised mostly on dogs, cats, and other companion animals belonging to a population having a larger disposable income, people who could afford, and had the leisure time, to keep animals merely for pleasure. Wight (as Herriot) occasionally steps out of his narrative to comment, with the benefit of hindsight, on the primitive state of veterinary medicine at the time of the story he is relating; for example, he describes his first hysterectomy on a cat and his first (almost disastrous) Caesarean section on a cow.

The Herriot books are described often as "animal stories", (Wight himself was known to refer to them as his "little cat-and-dog stories".^[5]) and given that they are about the life of a country veterinarian, animals certainly play a significant role in most of the stories. Yet animals play a lesser, sometimes even a negligible, role in many of Wight's tales: the overall theme of his stories is Yorkshire country life, with its people and their animals as primary elements, which provide their distinct character. Furthermore, it is Wight's shrewd observations of persons, animals, and their close inter-relationship, which give his writing much of its flavour. Wight was just as interested in their owners as he was in his patients and his writing is, at root, an amiable but keen comment on the human condition. The Yorkshire animals provide the elements of pain and drama; the role of their owners is to feel and express joy, sadness, and, sometimes, triumph. The animal characters also prevent Wight's stories from becoming twee or melodramatic; animals, unlike some humans, do not pretend to be ailing, nor have they imaginary complaints and needless fears. Their ill-health is real, not the result of flaws in their character, which they avoid mending. In an age of social uncertainties, when there seem to be no remedies for anything, Wight's stories of resolute grappling with mysterious bacterial foes or severe injuries have an almost heroic quality, giving the reader a sense of assurance, even hope. Best of all, James Herriot has an abundant humour about himself and his difficulties. He never feels superior to any living thing and is ever eager to learn — about animal doctoring and about his fellow human creature.

Part of the BBC TV set for All Creatures Great and Small on permanent display at the World of James Herriot museum in Thirsk, North Yorkshire.

The books have been adapted for film and television, including a 1975 film titled All Creatures Great and Small and a long-running BBC television programme of the same title.

At the time of his death, the Reader's Digest Condensed Book volume containing All Creatures Great And Small (Volume 96, 1973 #5) was the most popular book in that series' history.^[5] His last book, Every Living Thing, immediately went into the top 10 bestseller list in Britain, and had an 865,000 copy first edition printing in the United States.^[5]

Herriot's fame has generated a thriving tourist economy in Thirsk. Local businesses include the "World of James Herriot" museum (located at 23 Kirkgate, the original practice surgery) and a pub called the "Darrowby Inn". Many of the original contents of his surgery can be found at the Yorkshire Museum of Farming in Murton, York. Parts of the BBC TV series set, including the living room and the dispensary (see picture, right), are on display at the James Herriot museum in Thirsk, which is also open to the public.

In July 2010 it was announced that Koco Drama,^{[6][not in citation given]}, a subsidiary of Shed Media, would be producing a three-part drama called Young James Herriot for the BBC, inspired by the true story of James Herriot/James Wight and how he learnt his trade in Scotland. This series will draw on archives and exclusive access to the diaries and case notes he kept during his student days in Glasgow, as well as the biography written by his son.^[7] The book to accompany the BBC series, Young Herriot, was written by the historian and author John Lewis-Stempel. The first episode was shown on BBC1 on 18 December 2011.

In September 2010, the Gala Theatre in Durham presented the world premiere professional stage adaptation of All Creatures Great & Small.^{[citation needed]}

Bibliography[link]

Books for adults[link]

• If Only They Could Talk (1970) ISBN 0-330-23783-7
• It Shouldn't Happen to a Vet (1972) ISBN 0-330-23782-9
• All Creatures Great and Small (1972)
• Let Sleeping Vets Lie (1973) ISBN 978-0-7181-1115-1
• Vet in Harness (1974) ISBN 0-330-24663-1
• All Things Bright and Beautiful (1974)
• Vets Might Fly (1976) ISBN 0-330-25221-6
• Vet in a Spin (1977) ISBN 0-330-25532-0
• All Things Wise and Wonderful (1977)
• James Herriot's Yorkshire (1979) ISBN 0-7181-1753-0
• The Lord God Made Them All (1981) ISBN 0-7181-2026-4
• Every Living Thing (1992) ISBN 0-7181-3637-3
• James Herriot's Cat Stories (1994) ISBN 0-7181-3852-X
• James Herriot's Favourite Dog Stories (1995) ISBN 0-7181-4062-1

Omnibus editions[link]

In the United States, Herriot's novels were considered too short to publish independently, and so several pairs of novels were collected into omnibus volumes. The title All Creatures Great and Small was taken from the second line of the hymn All Things Bright and Beautiful, and inspired by a punning suggestion from Herriot's daughter, who thought the book should be called Ill Creatures Great and Small.

• All Creatures Great and Small (1972) (incorporating If Only They Could Talk and It Shouldn't Happen to a Vet) ISBN 0-330-25049-3
• All Things Bright and Beautiful (1974) (incorporating Let Sleeping Vets Lie and Vet in Harness) ISBN 0-330-25580-0
• All Things Wise and Wonderful (1977) (incorporating Vets Might Fly and Vet in a Spin) ISBN 0-7181-1685-2

Dog Stories: fly leaf lists publishing dates of 1970, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1976, 1977, 1981 and 1986.

Books for children[link]

• Blossom Comes Home (1969) ISBN 0-7181-3060-X
• Moses the Kitten (1984) ISBN 0-312-54905-9
• Only One Woof (1985) ISBN 0-312-09129-X
• The Christmas Day Kitten (1986) ISBN 0-312-13407-X
• Bonny's Big Day (1987) ISBN 0-312-01000-1
• The Market Square Dog (1989) ISBN 0-312-03397-4
• Oscar, Cat-About-Town (1990) ISBN 0-312-05137-9
• Smudge, the Little Lost Lamb (1991) ISBN 0-312-06404-7
• James Herriot's Treasury for Children (1992) ISBN 0-312-08512-5

Biographies[link]

• Lord, Graham. James Herriot: The Life of a Country Vet (1997) ISBN 0-7472-1975-3
• Wight, Jim. The Real James Herriot: The Authorized Biography (1999) ISBN 0-7181-4290-X
• Lewis-Stempel, John. "Young Herriot: The Early Life and Times of James Herriot" (2011) ISBN 1-84990-271-2

See also[link]

• All Creatures Great and Small (film)
• All Creatures Great and Small (TV series)
• Young James Herriot (TV series)
• Donald Sinclair
• Brian Sinclair

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: James Herriot

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: James Herriot

• Official James Herriot Website (worldofjamesherriot.org)
• James Alfred Wight OBE (thirsk.org.uk)
• Information on days out in Herriot Country and where to stay
• James Herriot at the Internet Movie Database