20. Alf with Jimmy and Rosie, Alex Taylor with Lynne

21. Picnic time with Pop and Granny Wight

22. Brian Sinclair c. 1948

23. Brian Nettieton, t’ vet wi’t badger

24. The author, with his father, ‘always a comforting presence’

25. Hector the Jack Russell almost seemed to want to drive the car himself, while Dan was content to be passenger.

26. Joan was as fond of the dogs as Alf.

27. Bodie, the border terrier, Alf’s last dog

28. Rosie with Bodie and her dog Polly at Sanna Bay on the Ardnamurchan Peninsula

29. The brass plate outside 23 Kirkgate: Mr D. V. Sinclair and Mr J. A. Wight, Veterinary Surgeons

30. The brass plate outside Skeldale House, announcing S. Farnon and J. Herriot, Veterinary Surgeons

31. The fury of the chase: pigs are almost impossible to catch in the open.

32. James Herriot, author, meets the other James Herriot, who lent him his name.

33. After a hard day’s work as a vet, Alf would write his books on a portable typewriter in front of the television in the evening.

34. Dick Francis and Donald Sinden with Alf at the Authors of the Year party

35. The queue in W. H. Smith, Harrogate, 1977

36. Simon Ward and Lisa Harrow played James and Joan in the first film. This shows them after their considerably more splendid wedding than the real couple, right, had thirty-two years previously.

37. In the second film, James Alderton played James Herriot, again opposite Lisa Harrow. Colin Blakely, right, played Siegfried.

38. Partners in more sense than one: the television actors stand behind their true-life counterparts. Christopher Timothy and James Herriot/Alf Wight, Robert Hardy and Siegfried Farnon/Donald Sinclair, and Peter Davison and Tristan Farnon/Brian Sinclair

39. Arthur Dand, farmer and fellow author, with Alf

40. The ultimate honour: at Buckingham Palace after receiving the OBE in 1979

41. With granddaughters Zoe and Katrina

42. With Sunderland F. C. fans on King’s Cross Station in London

43. After the memorial service at York Minster: the author, Chris Timothy, Joan, Robert Hardy, and granddaughter Emma Page