Donald Sinclair, Vet Who Inspired Herriot

LONDON - Donald Sinclair, the country veterinarian who inspired the Siegfried Farnon character in "All Creatures Great and Small," has died. He was 84.

Mr. Sinclair died Wednesday, four months after the death of his former veterinary partner, Alf Wight.

Wight's books, written under the pen name James Herriot, described the adventures of a trio of veterinarians in the Yorkshire dales of northern England. The books were the basis of a popular television series.

Wight's stories were set before and after World War II, when Mr. Sinclair, his brother Brian - who died in 1988 - and Wight worked together around Thirsk, the small north Yorkshire market town disguised as Darrowby in his books.

The James Herriot books and the television show became so popular that tourist authorities in north Yorkshire officially named the area where the stories are set Herriot Country.