Tributes to Wordsworth director

Grasmere has become a worldwide centre for the study of Wordsworth

Tributes have been paid to the director of the Wordsworth Trust who has died after a battle with cancer.

Dr Robert Woof, who died at 74, had been involved with the trust, which celebrates the work of poet William Wordsworth, for more than 30 years.

The £3m Jerwood Centre, at the poet's former home in Grasmere, Cumbria, was opened in June.

Among those who paid tributes were broadcaster Melvyn Bragg and former Culture Secretary Chris Smith.

Lord Bragg said: "He was just terrific fun. He had the most incredible enthusiasm and energy.

'Outstanding man'

"You could never go to Grasmere without Robert taking you round the latest thing he had bought, the latest bit of the archive, the latest collection.

"Everybody who came across him was knocked sideways by his enthusiasm and his determination that this great poet should be remembered in his home county of Cumbria."

Lord Smith said: "Robert was a completely outstanding man. He had wonderful scholarship.

"He knew absolutely every single line that Wordsworth had written, he knew virtually every movement that Wordsworth and his family had made during the course of their lives.

"And he brought to that scholarship an understanding and a verve for Romantic verse and the Romantic period second to none.

"And I think he established the Wordsworth Trust not just as the pre-eminent collection of Romantic books and literature and art anywhere in the world but also established it as a centre both for visitors and for scholars."