Tom Jarvie


Thomas Jarvie was a Scottish professional footballer, veterinary surgeon and television personality.

Early and personal life

Born in Glasgow and raised in Douglas, [South Lanarkshire], Jarvie was married with two sons.

Football career

After beginning his career in Junior football with Douglas Water Thistle, before turning professional in 1935 with Hamilton Academical. Due to the disruptive effect that Association football during [World War II|World War II had on football], Jarvie played a number of unofficial wartime games for Rangers, Hibernian, Falkirk and Third Lanark. During the 1950s he was player-manager of Crawley Town.

Veterinary career

After graduating from the University of Glasgow with a degree in veterinary medicine, Jarvie moved to England to practice, where he was a colleague of James Herriot, author of the All Creatures Great and Small series of books. In fact, he was instrumental in Herriot's - real name James Alfred Wight - choice of pen name as he was told by publishers that he could not use his 'practising' name as an author. They chose the name after watching Jim Herriot in action, as it had a nice ring to it. Jarvie also worked as a vet for TV show Blue Peter.