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Interesting Questions, Facts and Information
- There are a total of 35 general entries. We are selecting 30 for display.
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 Interesting Questions, Facts, and Information
 Herriot, James
James Alfred Wight. James Alfred Wight (or Alf Wight, as he was known) wrote his stories under the pen name James Herriot. Christopher Timothy is the actor who played the role of James Herriot in the BBC series "All Creatures Great and Small".
"If Only They Could Talk". James Herriot wrote his first book "If Only They Could Talk" at the age of 50, although it took 4 years before it was published in 1970. "It Shouldn't Happen to a Vet" was his second book, published in 1972. "All Creatures Great and Small" is an omnibus edition incorporating his first two books, published in 1972. "Every Living Thing" was not published until 1992.
Darrowby. Despite the fictitious name, fans discovered quickly where the "real" Darrowby was and it became quite a tourist attraction. Today there are museums and libraries celebrating the life of the popular vet from Thirsk, North Yorkshire.
| How old was James when he first arrived in Yorkshire to interview for the veterinary assistant position at Skeldale House? | All Things James Herriot
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21. James arrived in "Darrowby" in 1937, shortly after graduating from Veterinary College. He was understandably concerned about finding employment in his chosen field, as he had heard plenty of horror stories at college, but he was hired and remained there until his retirement.
Siegfried and Tristan. Donald Sinclair was "Siegfried" in the books, and Brian Sinclair was "Tristan".
He had forgotten about the interview and gone out, and James had to wait for him all day. James was quite distressed to hear upon arriving that Siegfried had gone to visit his mother in Brawton. While he waited for Siegfried to return, he had a few confusing conversations with clients, an uncomfortable tea with a lady friend of Siegfried's, and eventually fell asleep in the garden before finally meeting his boss.
Tricki Woo. Some of Tricki Woo's unique ailments included going "flop bott" and "cracker dog". He often sent gifts and letters to his dear "Uncle Herriot".
Mrs Hall. Miss Harbottle was the secretary Siegfried hired to do the bookkeeping and who found his disorganized ways around the office extremely vexing.
| What was the name of the pub where James and the Farnon brothers used to unwind over a pint most often? | All Things James Herriot
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The Drover's Arms. Although they frequented many establishments in the area, the Drover's Arms was most often their local haunt of choice, and Tristan would regularly be chatting up the barmaids.
At her home when he was called to see an injured calf. He later would run into Helen at all of these times, and it always made him a bit flustered as he was so smitten with her - and she was often in the company of her boyfriend.
| Tristan was always playing tricks. Once he dressed as a monk and pretended to be a ghost to frighten motorists as they passed an old abbey late at night - what happened? | All Things James Herriot
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A policeman spotted him and gave chase, so Tristan hid in a smelly drainage pipe until he was gone. James did play a telephone prank on Tristan once in retaliation for the numerous tricks Tristan was always playing on him, but it wasn't in relation to this story.
A dinner dance at a posh hotel. James' suit didn't fit and Mrs Hall had to alter the seat of ths trousers, which the jacket was not long enough to cover. The road was flooded and they got soaked when the car filled with water, and had to push the stalled car. And when they finally arrived at the hotel the dance was not on after all. All in all, not a great first date!
| James once spent an evening at the home of a farmer whose hobby was winemaking. The family teased him, saying "Dad and his wine, he's always looking for a victim!" But James found the homemade wines quite delicious. What type of wine was NOT one of the ones he sampled? | All Things James Herriot
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Raspberry. After all the wine tasting, James was really in an interesting condition to say the least. He was called to a neighbouring farm where he had great difficulty with such things as slippery soap and coherent speech.
| Joe Mulligan often brought his Irish Wolfhound in to be seen, but the dog was so menacing that James and the brothers were never able to thoroughly examine him. Instead they prescribed some medicine, noting that the animal couldn't be seriously ill as it looked "pretty lively". What was the dog's malady? | All Things James Herriot
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Womitin'. "Oh aye, he's womitin' sorr! He's womitin' bad!"
| Mrs Pumphrey acquired an unusual pet to be a companion for her spoiled little dog - a pig! What was its name? | All Things James Herriot
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Nugent. Although she originally kept it in the kitchen, the cook was not happy about this arrangement and James managed to convince Mrs Pumphrey that the pig would be happier outdoors. Still, he lived outdoors in style. "Nudist" is how the gardener mistakenly (or perhaps not!) pronounced Nugent.
| When James and Helen married, they took in a ginger tabby cat that James had treated. However, the cat had the unusual habit of running away from home to attend all the local social functions. What was the cat's name? | All Things James Herriot
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Oscar. Unfortunately, the cat's owners turned up and James and Helen had to return Oscar to them.
| Granville Bennett was a colleague who seemed to always lead James into excesses of food and especially drink, much to James' discomfort and embarrassment. James particularly didn't like looking like a chump in front of the lovely Mrs Bennett. What was her name? | All Things James Herriot
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Zoe. Victoria and Phoebe (or Phoebles, as Granville called her) were the Bennetts' two dogs. Daphne was the "lavishly endowed" girl that James danced with - until he saw Helen that is - the night he finally kissed her.
| When James found a tiny black kitten half-frozen among the rushes, the farmer's wife gave it "the old cure". What did she do? | All Things James Herriot
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Put the kitten in a warm oven. Unusual, but it worked. She named the kitten Moses because it was found in the rushes, and it ended up joining a family of pigs in the barn.
| James and Tristan once were called to see an extremely hostile and difficult cat, and had an impossible time trying to catch it as it raced around the room "like a wall of death rider". What was the cat's name? | All Things James Herriot
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Boris. Anyone who has ever tried to give a cat a pill will relate to James' difficulty, but Boris was a particularly uncooperative kitty! When James wrapped him in a towel to keep him still, it was no time at all before he had shredded his way out!
| Mr Partridge's dog Percy attracted a lot of embarrassing attention - first because of his ailment, and later because of a side-effect of the treatment. What was this side effect? | All Things James Herriot
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All the neighbourhood dogs congregated at their house, with amourous intentions. Poor Mr Partridge was mortified, but still took Percy out for daily walks, armed with a stick - all in vain. The besotted animals were all over Percy, making for a most humiliating procession through the town.
Helen Alderson. James asked Helen to various things around the town of Darrowby, often going on the advice of his boss' brother, Tristan. These attempts to win Helen's favour seemed to always end in some sort of disaster, although it seems that Helen herself didn't really mind.
| "Tristan once chose to bring his bicycle into the house and ride around in it in order to set the dining-room table for dinner." Is the previous statement true or false? | The Books of James Herriot
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True. Tristan was the brother of James' boss, Siegfried. In the television series based on the books of James Herriot, "All Creatures Great and Small", Tristan was portrayed by the actor Peter Davison. Apparently the kitchen was too far from the dining room to walk.
| Whilst serving in the RAF, James was forced to have his tooth, for want of a better word, removed. What was the nickname that the infamous dentist who attempted to perform this deed had acquired? | The Books of James Herriot
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The Butcher. It turned out that the "Butcher" only snapped James' tooth in half, leaving the root inside his mouth, as well as causing him to have stitches. James was annoyed at the time because, not only had he already had a previous check-up telling him his teeth were fine, but the tooth that was "removed" was the tooth he used to hold his pipe.
| James Herriot used to have to visit a woman called Mrs Bond who had numerous cats. What was the name of the savage cat that Tristan let out of a cage just before James was supposed to examine it? | The Books of James Herriot
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Boris. Boris the cat. James, Tristan and Mrs Bond then had to spend ages trying to re-catch the cat. Tristan had wreaked havoc trying to capture Boris, having a wonderful time in the process, saying, "That was great Jim. I didn't realise you had so much fun...". Mrs Bond, after this little occurance, said on a different visit, "Mr Herriot, I hope you aren't going to bring that young man with you again."
Nugent. Mrs Pumphrey, as well as having a pet pig, originally had a pet dog named Tricki Woo, to whom James was the uncle. Although he was teased by Siegfried and Tristan because of it, James realised the advantage of being Tricki Woo's uncle when he was sent hampers, kippers and various other expensive items in the dog's name.
Jimmy. When James first saw Jimmy, he couldn't believe that a baby could look that strange, so he quickly compared him to another newborn child in the building. According to James: "He's a funny looking thing, isn't he?"
| When James sent a letter to his canine nephew Tricki Woo, thanking him for a hamper, why was the dog apparently offended? | The Books of James Herriot
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James addressed the letter to "Master" Tricki Woo. Mrs Pumphrey said: "Tricki adored your charming letter and he will keep it always, but he was very put out about one thing - you addressed it to Master Tricki and he does insist upon Mister. He was dreadfully affronted at first, quite beside himself, but when he saw it was from you he soon recovered his good temper. I can't think why he should have these little prejudices. Perhaps it is because he is an only dog - I do think an only dog develops more prejudices than one from a large family."
| After visiting a racecourse with a group of others, Siegfried found it necessary to polish the windscreen of the car. What did he polish it with? | The Books of James Herriot
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A dead chicken. This was quite an unfortunate occurance. It could, possibly, be blamed on the fact that Siegfried was drunk at the time.
A dog. Well, I suppose a dog would be the logical choice. Richard Carmody was the student vet who went round with Siegfried and James on the farms. On one of the first visits, Carmody questioned and, in fact, completely disagreed in a rude way, with James' diagnosis of a lame calf. Carmody said, as they were driving away from that particular farm, "You know, that wasn't joint ill." James then wrote, "I made a mental note to try and keep this fellow away from Siegfried; one remark like that and Siegfried would unhesitatingly hurl him out of the car."
Zoe. Whenever James went to visit Granville Bennett and his wife, Zoe, Granville would offer him large amounts of food and drink, looking offended when James declined. By the time he left each time, James was pretty much a drunken wreck.
Saturday. One of the disastrous ideas of Tristan.
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