AHEAD OF TONIGHT’S Supervet Christmas Special on Channel 4, the nation’s favourite animal expert joined Rochelle Humes and Phillip Schofield on ITV’s This Morning for a chat, where he spoke about his book, his tour and how the idea of the Supervet came about. 

Noel Fitzpatrick began by saying that his show was never supposed to be about science, but rather love and hope. Phillip Schofield was impressed, and brought up the fact that Noel’s book is beautifully written and extremely descriptive. Modestly, Noel replied, “I’m delighted you even read it. I’m quite honoured, Phil.”  Phil then said, “There’s gotta be some sort of poetic influence in this.”

Noel explained that was in fact true. 

I wrote the book because I got hundreds of letters from kids around the world, in all kinds of situations. Everything from the war in Syria right through to having a bad time because of cancer or because of domestic abuse. They were sending me letters and getting that hope from the show, so I thought “I’m gonna distill this, I’m gonna go back into my life.” You ask me about the poetic influence? That came from being bullied at school. 

When Noel was eleven or twelve years old, he was bullied quite badly because he couldn’t read or write very well when he was transitioning from primary school to secondary school. Some of the boys were even making fun of him because he had never kissed a girl. Well, they should see what a hit he is with the ladies nowadays. Anyway, Noel said that during this difficult time of his life, he found salvation in the work of Oscar Wilde and Dylan Thomas.

I found those books liberating. If Oscar Wilde could write about the cracks in the rocks in which he might hide his tears, I thought that maybe one day I could conjure up a world that mattered. 

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Noel said that there’s even some lines in the book that he wrote as a 13-year-old child, like when he said, “February frost had starched the meadows in silent rigidity”. 

I said to the publisher, I wanna do a book that actually has some literature in it. I’m gonna make it of the now. I wanted it to be my voice. I wanted people to close their eyes and think, “Am I in that field with Noel when he lost his first lamb and decided he wanted to be a vet?” 

The 50-year-old veterinarian said that as a child he felt completely useless, and that he would never make anything of his life because he wasn’t “strong enough, brave enough, clever enough.” To cope with these feelings, Noel invented what he called ‘Vet-man’. 

He wasn’t nearly as salubrious as the Supervet. He was a superhero who wanted to build a world of compassion. What he wanted to do was take the love that we have with an animal and what I had for my dog Pirate, who was our sheepdog. He was such a source of salvation for me from all of the bullying that was happening and I wanted that love to be embodied by a human being. His name was Vet-man and he was going to save all of the animals and put bionic legs on a hedgehog and save the world. That’s what he did. 

Noel said that this book was never about him, but it was about anybody who ever felt lonely, isolated and unworthy. 

If you have a dream, it can sustain you. If you really believe and have faith. 

Well, if you’ve ever wondered what the hell Noel Fitzpatrick talks about on his tour, it’s clear that he’s been putting a lot of practice into motivational speaking. 

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