Pete Wedderburn : Pet Detective

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

As regular readers will be aware. I've had an occasional series (based on the books I've taken out from the library) on whether there's a writer who could replace James Herriot's unique position in the field (where the cows don't roam) of veterinary autobiography.

We have had so far the young vet, the out of hours vet in London and the vet whose USP is that he works in James Herriot's old practice and wanders round Yorkshire...yes I know. All though unsuccessful in usurping the crown of the king.

(As a quick aside on Tuesday when our finds from the South Wales Valleys came down to see us
 the subject of the Yorkshire Vet came up...no idea why. Apparently his TV series is now on season four. Which says everything you need to know about how up to date I am.

Anyway I mentioned that I've read his autobiography which brought surprise given we don't have a pet. Hey I'm a reader...don't judge me.

So I was asked what I thought of the book.

"Well" I began "It's not James Herriot".

And there was a nod of understanding. I did not need to say anything else. The most succinct piece of literary criticism I've ever given.It was all you needed to know)

So here's the latest contender:

Pet Subjects - Pete Wedderburn

Let's start by saying this...… it's not James Herriot.

But in Mr Wedderburn's case it does not matter. Because he doesn't attempt to be. There are no descriptions of [insert landscape here] , no courtship tales, no eccentric pet owners or work colleagues. What we have is no so much a vet (though he is that) but more of a medical detective.

Mr Wedderburn is the resident vet in the Telegraph who answers reader's problems. You'd have thought Telegraph readers would have issues like "Why doesn't my dog stand to attention when God Save The Queen is playing?" But no. Their problems are the same as other animal lovers.

So what Mr Wedderburn does is tell us a particular case history from his practice in the Irish Republic how he solved the mystery that was brought before him (such as the case of the dog who stopped eating, or the parrot who stopped talking) before ending discussing general animal problems that the chapter related to.

And it as a casebook of medical mysteries that the book works for the reader. He entertains but also informs.

So it's not James Herriot. But certainly the best book of it's kind I've read this year simply by not trying to be.

Until the next time.

On Books: Chatting About An Unlikeable Penguin And An Almost Mad Vet

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

It has been a long while since I've finished reading a vintage Penguin paperback but at last I've finished it. Why at last? Well regular readers might recall I actually started The Spotted Deer by J H Williams in July?

Why so long? Well quite frankly I hated it. The author is working for the British Government (and let's say here from now on) "the Empire". Not clear of the date but I think the early fifties. He's in Burma (now Myanmar).

In the beginning he makes it quite clear that he believes in empire. Now you might think that given how Myanmar has turned out he's correct. But two wrongs don't make a right. An empire is quite simply inexcusable.

Whilst not approving of it he also apparently accepts a colour ban on people not pale enough in bars. And whilst he might take the advice of local people he is British so he makes the decisions. He is the leader of an expedition to the Andaman islands. Whose inhabitants I think (I've forgotten this part to be honest - Quickly wiping away this from my memory) are described once as savages

Brexiteers will probably love this.

There has been a short and (very) occasional series on this blog seeing whether we can find a writer capable of usurping James Herriot from his status as the colossus of veterinary autobiography. We've had the young vet going off to South Africa from time to time. We've had the out of hours vet in Brighton. So let's see the USP of the next contender.

What???!!!

Is this man mad? Yorkshire? James Herriot's Yorkshire? Surely not...but yes it is.

The answer is he's not mad...just. Apparently there was a TV series called Yorkshire Vets which he was in. The practice he has was James Herriot's one. And it has an introduction by his son. Also whilst mainly in Yorkshire it's not solely set there.

It's also not awful. There is a particularly moving chapter, ironically not animal related, which I won't spoil. Ultimately though I didn't think it was anything special. I feel I've read this sort of thing before....and I have.

I think the point is this. If you approach this book as a fan of the programme you'll love it. If you approach it as a reader however, you will know in the end that it's been done better.

The search continues.

Until the next time.

Why In Britain Anyway Do Vets Bother To Write Autobiographies? Part Two : The Out Of Hours Vet

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Ok I know what you're thinking. After having read one failure to supplant the titan of the genre of veterinary autobiography that is James Herriot why have I read another in quick succession?

Well it's a fair question. The answer though admittedly slightly mad is simple enough. It was the next book on the shelf in the local library. As I've said before I intend to read every practical book in the library (when I mean practical for example if there's a book on tending goldfish, given that I don't have goldfish it will be avoided).

So anyway here was the book.

Marc Abraham - Vet On Call

Focusing on the vet being out of hours being the book's unique selling point I suppose. Well the thing is it isn't. Whether out of hours or not for the most part vet's have to deal with emergencies so it's not that different.

Wipe that away and you get tales of unwell [insert animals here] , life with others in the surgery, a bit of outside life and a touch of romance. Everything the Tolstoy of tortoises did before....and better.

It's not an awful book. It just doesn't topple Herriot.

You know if anybody ever writes a veterinary autobiography that does displace Zeus from his place in Mount Olympus, it will be a book(or a series) everybody should read. After all it would be a literary milestone. And in the unlikely event I find that book I'll tell you all about it.

Until the next time.

Why (In Britain Anyway) Do Vets Bother To Write Autobiographies?

Britain. Land of febrile uncertainty at the moment as the Brexit cliff edge approaches. A land where according to reports the government is actually stockpiling canned food in the event of a hard Brexit (I was at the Post Office cum grocery store in Sully last week and I actually looked at the canned items on offer as I was waiting in the queue thinking whether I should start a stockpile now. Didn't buy anything but the fact that I considered it says all you need to know about Britain today)

And yet Britain is also a place you can ask the questions which other places would consider you mad for asking them. So to repeat the title of this post:

Why in Britain do vets bother to write autobiographies?

I ask this question as it occurred to me whilst reading Tales from a Young Vet by Jo Hardy (co/ghost? written by Caro Handley) Ms Hardy was a star of the BBC Two series "Young Vets". It was a series that I wasn't even aware of at the time. But that doesn't matter. As regular readers of this blog will know I wouldn't have been it's target audience.

But anyway the problem Ms Hardy has is this. For the general reader, and probably uniquely in any aspect of literature one man stands as a colossus. In the sub genre that is veterinary autobiography one man alone is used as comparison to any new writer's work. The Dostoevsky of doggies the Pushkin of the Pussy Cats he is the star others try to reach.

I am of course talking of James Herriot.

Even in this book he's mentioned in the blurb where being a trainee vet is described as not "as easy as James Herriot made it seem". Really?

As a child/teenager  I read some of James Herriot's books and whilst not for a moment did it make me consider vetenarionship as a profession I did enjoy them as a reader for reasons I'll be mentioning in the next few paragraphs.

Whilst it would be wrong to say Ms Hardy's book is bad. It does not compare well when facing the Herriotian hurdle of comparison. It's biggest flaw is that it seems too rushed. One moment we're at a surgery, then in South Africa then back in Britain in a stable/zoo etc. This did not happen in the James Herriot books. We were in the Yorkshire Dales and that was that.

This rushing also applies to characters. People are introduced then ignored only to turn up chapters later. James Herriot probably subconsciously knew that the weirdest animals were humans. So there was a regular cast around the Herriotmeister a sort of mini drama when the other animals were not around.

It would appear that the only way Ms Hardy could go away from the shadow of James Herriot was to literally go away. Her next book is set in Africa. In writing terms the logic is simple "How can you be compared to James Herriot when you're in a completely different continent with completely different problems? It's an approach certainly. Whether successful is a different issue.

For the moment James Herriot rules.

Until the next time.