Herriot, goalkeeper who gave name to TV vet, dies at 85

Jim Herriot, the Scotland goalkeeper who gave his name to the character in the books and TV show All Creatures Great and Small, has died at the age of 85.

As a practising vet, writer Alf Wright needed a pen name to comply with professional rules banning advertising and chose James Herriot after seeing the goalkeeper play for Birmingham City in a televised match against Manchester United.

After he starred in the 2-2 draw with the star-studded Red Devils, rival winger George Best had said: "Jim Herriot was safer than the Bank of England."

Herriot, who was capped eight times and also played for Dunfermline Athletic, Hibernian, St Mirren, Partick Thistle, Greenock Morton, Durban City and Mansfield Town, also became famous for adopting the American Football technique of applying boot polish under and around his eyes to reduce the effects of glare from the sun.

North Lanarkshire born, he started his career with Dunfermline, playing in high-profile European ties against Valencia and Athletic Bilbao for Jock Stein's side and reaching the 1965 Scottish Cup final.

After the Hampden defeat by Celtic, he was sold to Birmingham and it was during his six years there that he earned all his Scotland caps under manager Bobby Brown.

Having fallen out of favour, he had loan spells with Mansfield Town and Aston Villa before a brief spell with Durban in South Africa.

However, he returned to Scotland to join Hibs in 1971, kept a clean sheet as they famously beat Heart of Midlothian 7-0 on New Year's Day at Tynecastle in 1973 and later that season earned a Scottish League Cup winners' medal after a 2-1 win over Celtic.

Herriot also won the Drybrough Cup on two occasions, both times against Celtic.

He left for St Mirren in 1973, moved to Partick Thistle two years later, had a spell on loan to Morton before returning to Dunfermline in 1976, then joined Morton permanently for the 1976–77 season, at the end of which he retired.

Hibs will honour Herriot's memory by wearing black armbands against Aberdeen on Saturday - and their home game to follow against Dundee United.