From the author whose books inspired the BBC series All Creatures Great and Small, It Shouldn’t Happen to a Vet is the second volume of James Herriot's classic memoirs; a book for all those who find laughter and joy in animals, and who know and understand the magic and beauty of Britain’s wild places. Lesson number one: When taking a cow’s temperature the old-fashioned way, never let go of the thermometer . . . Now firmly ensconced in the sleepy Yorkshire village of Darrowby, recently qualified vet James Herriot has acclimatized to life with his unpredictable colleagues, brothers Siegfried and Tristan Farnon. But veterinary practice in the 1930s was never going to be easy, and there are challenges on the horizon, from persuading his clients to let him use his ‘modern’ equipment, to becoming an uncle (to a pig called Nugent). Throw in his first encounters with Helen, the beautiful daughter of a local farmer, and this year looks to be as eventful as the last . . .

No one is better poised to write the biography of James Herriot than the son who worked alongside him in the Yorkshire veterinary practice when Herriot became an internationally bestselling author. Now, in this warm and poignant memoir, Jim Wight talks about his father--the beloved veterinarian whom his family had to share with half the world. Alf Wight (aka James Herriot) grew up in Glasgow, where he lived during a happy rough-and-tumble childhood and then through the challenging years of training at the Glasgow Veterinary College. The story of how the young vet later traveled to the small Yorkshire town of Thirsk, aka Darrowby, to take the job of assistant vet is one that is well known through James Herriot's internationally celebrated books and the popular All Creatures Great and Small television series. But Jim Wight's biography ventures beyond the trials and tribulations of his father's life as a veterinarian to reveal the man behind the stories--the private individual who refused to allow fame and wealth to interfere with his practice or his family. With access to all of his father's papers, correspondence, manuscripts, and photographs--and intimate remembrances of all the farmers, locals, and friends who populate the James Herriot books--only Jim Wight could write this definitive biography of the man who was not only his father but his best friend.

When taking a cow's temperature the old-fashioned way, never let go of the thermometer... James Herriot has settled happily into life as a Darrowby vet, tending to livestock and pets alike - not to mention dealing with his mercurial boss Siegfried and his irrepressible, puckish vet student brother Tristan. Day to day, he finds himself testing entire herds of cattle for tuberculosis; acquiring another generous animal nephew alongside Tricki Woo the Peke (this time, Nugent the pig); fending off a ferocious Great Dane with a rickety chair - and attempting to court a farmer's daughter, the lovely Helen Alderson...

James Herriot presents more of his adventures as a veterinarian in Yorkshire, England.

When the newly qualified vet, James Herriot, arrives in the small Yorkshire village of Darrowby, he has no idea of the new friends he will meet or adventures that lie ahead. From the author whose books inspired the BBC series All Creatures Great and Small, this first volume of unforgettable memoirs chronicles James Herriot’s first years as a country vet, with the signature storytelling magic that has made him a favourite the world over. Here is a book for all those who find laughter and joy in animals, and who know and understand the magic of wild places and beautiful countryside.

I have long held the notion that if a vet can't catch his patient there's nothing much to worry about... It's not all chasing livestock around fields, though - James Herriot is also kept busy judging the Family Pets contest at the Darrowby village show (discovering the cut-throat, backstabbing politics seething beneath the fete's surface), and attempting to calve a cow whilst drunk (on a farm full of strict Methodists). And he's over the moon after proposing successfully to Helen Alderson - even if it looks like they'll be spending a romantic honeymoon travelling around farms tuberculin testing cattle...

A few months of married bliss, a lovers' nest in Darrowby and the wonders of home cooking are rudely interrupted for James Herriot by the Second World War. From the author whose books inspired the BBC series All Creatures Great and Small, Vets Might Fly, James Herriot's fifth volume of memoirs relocates him to a training camp somewhere in England. And in between square pounding and digging for victory, he dreams of the people and livestock he left behind him.