Whimsy: October 2019 Archives
The James Herriot centenary: a vet who changed his profession - Telegraph
"...there's a phenomenon known as "the Herriot effect" that's blamed for the huge increase in popularity of the career as a vet which started in the mid-Seventies. Back in the sixties, a typical vet student was son of a vet or a farmer, and there was no need for academic prowess to get a place at vet school. By the time I was a student in the early eighties, most of us had no rural background and straight "A"s were needed in school exams. The gender balance changed too, with females now making up 80 per cent of new veterinary graduates. The glamorisation of the job by Herriot has played a role in these changes. Budding vet students soon learned that it didn't help their chances of success to mention the books in selection interviews....
"When I took up my first job as a mixed practice vet, in the Scottish borders, I experienced many parallels with his books: I even gleaned useful practical tips from them (such as pouring sugar onto a cow's prolapsed uterus to shrink it down before stuffing it back in). I had the same types of experiences with farmers, both good (hearty breakfasts in the farmhouse after a successful calving) and bad (I used Herriot's trick of reversing the car into the farmyard to allow for a rapid exit in an uncomfortable situation).
"I ended up leaving farm practice, disheartened by the trend away from smallholdings towards large scale production, ending up attending to pets as my full time job. Herriot's tales ring equally true in this line of veterinary work: every small animal vet has clients reminiscent of 'Mrs Pumphrey' and her beloved Pekes, and we've all had occasions when we have difficulty understanding what a client is saying because of a local brogue (in Herriot's case it was a strong Yorkshire dialect, but there are variations on this theme across the world)."
World of James Herriot, Thirsk, Yorkshire, England
If you're ever in Yorkshire, the James Herriot Museum in Thirsk, in Alf Wight's home and veterinary surgery, is well worth a visit. It's about a half-hour north of York. It's a combination museum: The life and career of Alf Wight, domestic life in 1930s Yorkshire, the history of veterinary practice, and the history of the TV series. We spent a fascinating morning there.
British Arctic Territory Flag Hoax - Flags of the World
Flags and fake news: A story from April Fools Day 1995 of the fabrication of a British territory by a flag-fancier from Mississippi.
"...inspiration for making up a British territory and its flags came to me in early 1995 while I was looking at a rather sizable map of Ellesmere Island, Canada. The north part of the island was basically a territorial park except for a stumpy thumb shaped peninsula sticking out on the north east end of the island. When I saw this peninsula, I knew I had found my territory....Based on what little knowledge I had, I fabricated a story about native desires to rejoin the British empire because the empire had given them more freedom. I went on to say the Canadian Government was tired of the whole issue and was glad to let the 'BAT' rejoin the empire. And then of course, I proceeded to create a set of British flags and ensigns....
" I suspected our info firm was doing a poor job verifying information before sending it out. In a nutshell, I wanted to send the article and newsletter to other vexi-publications as an April Fools joke, and our info firm to see if they would circulate the BAT story without getting verification. Everyone agreed to go to print provided I made it obvious the article was a joke.
"This is where I made a mistake. I believed the story in and of itself was so absurd, that no one would fall for it. Thus, I gave very little indication of a hoax except for the date and an archaic British reference to April Fools....
"...for 4 days after being asked if my story were true, the British Government would neither confirm nor deny the existence of the territory. The Canadian government contacted me as well, not to tell me I was mistaken, but for verification of the story. The US government also briefly added the BAT to its "official" list of nations and territories. It took quite a bit of effort to convince them the territory didn't really exist. I never dreamed the hoax would have this kind of affect. The only explanation I have for the US government's action is the information firm I referred to earlier. Sure enough, said info firm sent out word that the BAT had in fact been created. I suspect Uncle Sam picked up on it. Our organization soon dropped its subscription."
