BEST-selling travel writer Bill Bryson has been appointed Chancellor of the University of Durham.

The announcement was made on Tuesday, and the 54 year-old author, who famously wrote about falling in love with the city, said he was "honoured."

The love affair between Durham and American-born Mr Bryson began in 1995 when, in Notes From A Small Island, he described Durham as "perfect" and offered to lend readers his car to visit.

Last summer, the writer was awarded an honorary doctorate of civil law by the university and has now become the 11th Chancellor of Durham.

"I could ask for no greater honour," he said, "I hope it goes without saying that I will do my utmost to serve the university with credit."

Mr Bryson has emerged as one of the best-known writers in the English language over the last decade. Born in Iowa, he came to the UK as a backpacker, worked as a journalist and moved to North Yorkshire where he wrote travel articles to supplement his income.

Most recently he was back in the best-sellers list with his work A Short History Of Nearly Everything but he remains best known for the travel book documenting his tour of Britain in which he described seeing Durham Cathedral as "one of the greatest sights in the world" and added: "every single part of the city seemed a real delight".

Those few paragraphs, which are now used in Durham's official guidebooks, endeared him to the city.

Sir Kenneth Calman, vice- chancellor, said: "This is a wonderful cause for celebration.

"We are absolutely delighted that Bill Bryson has accepted our invitation to be chancellor. He is a man whose values and vision have so much in common with our own students, staff and graduates.

"We welcomed him to the family of the university by conferring on him an honorary degree and now we look to him as head of our family."

Mr Bryson, who follows in the footsteps of Sir Peter Ustinov and Dame Margot Fonteyn, is the first chancellor to take the post for a fixed period of five years.

He will act as an ambassador for the university and will confer degrees on thousands of graduates each year.