Julian Norton


Julian Norton is a British veterinary surgeon, author and TV personality, best known for his appearances on the Channel 5 TV series The Yorkshire Vet.

Early life

Norton was born and brought up in the mining town of Castleford and went to school in Wakefield at Queen Elizabeth Grammar School, before gaining a place to study veterinary medicine at Cambridge University.

Career

From 2015 to 2018, Norton was involved, taking the titular role in Channel 5 docuseries The Yorkshire Vet, produced by Daisybeck Studios in Leeds. The programme has been popular, achieving viewing figures of over 2 million, making it one of the channel's most successful. Julian has also featured as a regular guest on The Wright Stuff as well as Springtime on the Farm and Big Week at the Zoo.
From 2018 Norton worked at Rae, Bean and Partners in Boroughbridge, North Yorkshire. He moved to a new independent small animal practice – Sandbeck Veterinary Centre – in Wetherby, North Yorkshire in 2019.
Norton also co-authored a paper in the Veterinary Record 142: 107–109, "Measurement of arterial oxygen-haemaglobin saturation in newborn lambs by pulse oximetry".
He performs regular "in conversation" events with comedian and stand up poet, Kate Fox.
Norton attained a certificate in Small Animal Practice in 2007 and has been awarded the Dalesman "Yorkshireman of the Year 2017".

Sporting achievements

Held the world record for 24-hour tandem indoor rowing in 2010 with friend Roger Brown, an ex-Olympic rower.
Completed UK Ironman championships and finished in the Top 50 in 2013.
He has completed the challenging ski mountaineering race the Patrouille des Glaciers in 2018, reputed to be the worlds most challenging team endurance race, which traverses from Zermatt to Verbier.
Represented Team GB at age-group level for European Long Course Duathlon in 2014 and 2015 and Team GB age-group for European Middle Distance Triathlon championships in Majorca 2014 and Rimini 2015.

Personal life

Norton is a mixed practice veterinary surgeon, in North Yorkshire, where he lives with his wife, Anne and two sons, Jack and Archie. He has spent the majority of his working life in Thirsk, working as, first, an assistant, then partner in the practice that was once the surgery from which Alf Wight worked, from where he penned his famous stories under the pseudonym of James Herriot.

Works

Filmography

;Television
YearTitleRoleChannel
2015—The Yorkshire VetHimselfChannel 5
2017The Wright StuffHimself – Special GuestChannel 5
2018Springtime on the FarmHimselfChannel 5
2018Big Week at the ZooPresenterChannel 5

Books

Norton has written five books, and he also contributes a weekly column in The Country Week of The Yorkshire Post.