lived at 109Culduthel Road, Inverness, and he travelled around Scotland advising farmers and crofters on livestock fertility. In 1950, the ministry offered him a transfer to the MAFF Veterinary Investigation Centre in Weetwood Lane, Leeds, a diagnostic laboratory for veterinarians in Yorkshire. He had enjoyed working and living in the Highlands, but decided to accept the transfer to his native Yorkshire, saying later, "I would never have accepted any transfer other than one to Yorkshire... I loved the North and Northeast that much." In 1953, Sinclair and Ken Sellers, a veterinary colleague at the centre, reported a crossspecies infection of Salmonella typhimurium in shorthorn cows on a farm in Northumberland. The herd was milked in a shed that opened onto a duck house and a pigsty. The pigs, hens, and ducks were all found to be carrying Salmonella typhimurium, although none showed signs of infection. Sinclair and Sellers concluded that the poultry had caused the infection as they had only recently been introduced to the farm. In 1959, he joined the joint MAFF Veterinary Laboratory Services and Public Health Laboratory Services committee on salmonellosis. From 1965 until his retirement in 1977, he was the lead veterinary investigation officer for the centre. From 1970 to 1974, Sinclair was the advisor to a veterinary clinical trial that attempted to eliminate scrapie from sheep by breeding out susceptibility to it. Scrapie can kill up to twentyfive percent of sheep in an infected flock and there is no known cure. Six sheep farms, located in Yorkshire and Cumberland, were included in the trial. The farmers recorded the offspring of ewes and rams, and if they displayed symptoms of scrapie, then all affected sheep, including their relatives, would be culled from the flock. The detailed recording and culling did have some success as at least one farm was able to declare itself free of scrapie by 1974. Sinclair coauthored a number of papers on infections in cattle and sheep, such as Brucellosis and ringworm, but in general, he was not interested in academia. He considered that "having a sense of responsibility to the animal" is the most important value a veterinarian must have. Literary and dramatic portrayals When Wight's first book was published, Sinclair was delighted to be captured as Tristan and remained enthusiastic about all Wight's books. He had stated that the Herriot books and television shows were faithful to the truth, although occasionally,