Donald Sinclair (veterinary surgeon)

He was made famous as the inspiration for the eccentric character Siegfried Farnon, in the semi-autobiographical books of James Herriot (Alf Wight), adapted for film and television as All Creatures Great and Small.

In July 1940, Sinclair began war service in the Royal Air Force, and hired Alf Wight to run the practice.

He could have been redeployed within the service, but the fact that he was a veterinary surgeon meant that he was considered to be more useful to the war effort by resuming his peacetime profession.

When Sinclair was about to leave for RAF training, he gave Wight all the income of the practice, in return for looking after it during his absence.

(He never called Wight "Alf", mirrored in the books by Siegfried always referring to Herriot as "James" rather than "Jim".)

Sinclair killed himself with an overdose of barbiturates[8] on 28 June 1995 at his home Southwoods Hall, near Thirsk, two weeks after the death of his wife.

His brother Brian (Tristan in the books) had died in 1988 and his friend and partner, Alf Wight, four months previous to Sinclair's suicide.