AN English teacher who dedicated almost 40 years researching English place names, has had his work published just over a year after his death.

Victor Watts made it his life's work compiling a guide to the name of every hamlet, village, town and city in Britain.

The work took nearly 40 years to compile. Now all 790 pages of the mammoth work have been printed in a £200 book published by Cambridge University Press.

Mr Watts was a master at Grey College, Durham University and lectured in medieval English.

But he died 13 months ago, aged 63, before he could see his labour of love in print.

His wife, Elaine Watts, from Rosemount, Durham, said the publication of the book was an important moment.

She said: "One of the nice things is when Victor asked me to marry him in Easter 1998. He told me we couldn't get married until his book was finished but we were married that August."

Mr Watts had earned himself a reputation as a leading authority on English place names and was an honorary director of The English Place Name Society.

He first became interested in the subject after moving to Durham in 1962 when he discovered the university's archives and believed place names could provide important insights.

Mr Watts had launched a limited edition County Durham dictionary in early 2002. It contained some of his personal favourites, such as Bearpark, near Durham, which he discovered to be a corruption of Beaurepair, or beautiful retreat, possibly named after a Norman prior's retreat.

* The Cambridge Dictionary of English Place Names is available from most major bookshops and through the Amazon Internet book sellers.