The Real James Herriot by Jim Wight Read Free Book Online

school. That suits me down to the ground as I am a great admirer of Dickens.’ Dickens gets another mention: ‘Dad is smoking Kensitas. They give coupons and I sent away for a catalogue; included is the works of Dickens in 16 superb volumes for 10 shillings. I’m going to get them.’
    Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, H. G. Wells and H. Rider Haggard were amongst his favourite adventure writers and he wrote that O’Henry was ‘a joy to read’. The Kensitas coupons came in very useful; as well as the complete works of Dickens, volumes of O’Henry and Shakespeare were obtained with their assistance. On the lighter side, P. G. Wodehouse was his number one author, and the
Jeeves Omnibus
his favourite book of all. He read and re-read this book throughout his life, the antics of Jeeves, Bertie Wooster, Young Bingo and others invariably rendering him helpless with laughter.
    P. G. Wodehouse must have had a profound effect on young Alf. Some turns of phrase that he used in his diaries smack of passages from Wodehouse’s books. While on holiday in West Kilbride in July 1933, he wrote the following about some people he had met: ‘David Somerville seems to be crackers over Evelyn, the poor fish! Monty and I regard Dorothy as a fairly decent spud.’ This style appears frequently in his diaries, revealing evidence of his admiration for Wodehouse’s work.
    As a boy, he shared these moments of laughter over Wodehouse with his own father who was also an avid reader and whose home was always full of books. The high quality of the English teaching at Hillhead under ‘Johnny’ Gibb and ‘Big Bill’ was a great stimulus but Pop was also very influential in steering Alf towards the joy of reading, deserving a greatdeal of credit for the encouragement he gave his son in those formative years.
    As well as encouraging his son to read, Pop was largely responsible for instilling in him a great love of music. The intense satisfaction his father gleaned from both playing and listening to it did not go unnoticed by the young boy who grew up to appreciate good music every bit as much as his father. Pop loved all kinds of music. During our many visits to Glasgow in my younger days, I used to be fascinated by the old gramophone player that stood in a corner of the house next to the grand piano. This venerable machine had to be wound up by hand, after which the turntable began to revolve and a huge steel arm with a wicked-looking needle would be lowered onto the record. The result was a wild crackling, behind which could be heard some music. It was, however, Pop’s pride and joy. One of his favourite operatic records was of the great Caruso singing ‘Vesti la Giubba’ from
I Pagliacci.
One of Alf’s enduring boyhood memories was of his father, sitting night after night next to the old gramophone, listening to this great performer. When Caruso’s magnificent voice began to slip into a lower gear, Pop would leap to his feet and crank vigorously at the handle of the gramophone until musical perfection was restored. That overworked record is still in my possession.
    Alf’s parents first started him at the piano at the age of six. He had years of lessons – his teacher being none other than his father – but he was a poor pupil and practised with little enthusiasm. This became a source of intense frustration for Pop, and many hours of raised voices and discordant notes were endured by father and son before Pop finally conceded defeat. Alf did perform, at the age of thirteen, at a concert in Clydebank Town Hall but that was to be the pinnacle of his piano-playing career.
    None of this lessened Alf’s love of music. Although he was never to be the accomplished player his father had been, he had inherited his, and his mother’s, ear for music – something that would give him untold pleasure throughout his life.
    It was not only the academic and cultured side of his schooldays that Alf enjoyed; he loved playing sport and Hillhead had a proud