ACTOR, writer and raconteur Sir Peter Ustinov, died on Sunday aged 82.

The Oscar-winning star, who was Chancellor of Durham University, died in Switzerland, his home for many decades.

Sir Peter suceeded Dame Margot Fonteyn to become the tenth chancellor of Durham University in 1992.

Vice-chancellor Sir Kenneth Calman said: "The university has lost an outstanding friend and ambassador.

"He will be remembered with great affection and appreciation for the wisdom and humour and the generosity of spirit that he gave to the university.

"He will be missed not only by the staff and students but also by the huge family of graduates and their relations who enjoyed his unique contribution to our degree ceremonies."

It could be some time before a new chancellor is appointed.

A spokeswoman for the university said: "It is quite a lengthy process as various bodies within the university look at the recommendations.

"It is unlikely that we will have a new Chancellor by the time of the next congregation (degree ceremony) in June. It could take up to a year."

No details of Sir Peter's funeral had been announced as The Advertiser went to press.

Last year, the university's Graduate Society was renamed Ustinov College in his honour. Sir Peter unveiled a sign marking the change in a simple ceremony at the Howlands Farm site, on the outskirts of Durham.

Sir Peter, who was then mostly wheelchair-bound, said that the honour of having a college named after him was 'an extraordinary generous gesture by the university'.

He said: "I am extraordinarily flattered that this initiative should have been taken in my lifetime, so that I am here to enjoy it."

Sir Peter also opened an institute bearing his name which is helping to develop links between the North-East and Europe. The Ustinov Institute for the Study of Central and Eastern Europe at Durham University was set to open up new opportunities for academics and businesses.

As chancellor, he presented degrees to nearly 30,000 graduates. In 1992, the 1,800 graduates did not know that, between degree ceremonies, tennis fan Sir Peter was nipping out of the Great Hall at Durham Castle to keep up with the action at Wimbledon.

A retiring room was set aside for him in the castle, with a television, so that he could watch the exploits of Seles and Navratilova, Graf and Sabatini.

While chancellor, Sir Peter recorded for free two parts for a play, written and performed by Durham University students, entitled Reach For Tomorrow, which was performed in a 280-seat hall in Durham City - even though the great man himself was hundreds of miles away. He said of the role: "It is a pleasure to help in some small way."

Sir Peter, who died of heart failure at a clinic near his home in Switzerland on Sunday night, was born in London on April 16, 1921, two months after his artist mother arrived from St Petersburg to be with her journalist husband.

He was later to make great play of his cosmopolitan background, claiming to have Swiss, Ethiopian, Italian and French blood. He noted proudly in his autobiography, Dear Me, that he was conceived in Russia, baptised in Germany and brought up by nurses from Cameroon, Ireland and Germany.

His best remembered screen role was as Agatha Christie's Belgian detective Hercule Poirot in films such as Death On The Nile. He won two best supporting actor Oscars - for Spartacus in 1961 and Topkapi in 1965. He appeared in 90 films, had an illustrious television career, and his one-man stage show delighted audiences around the world.

But it was away from performing that Sir Peter made perhaps his greatest contribution, spending the last 35 years as a goodwill ambassador for Unicef. Executive director Carol Bellamy said: "The children of the world have lost a true friend in Sir Peter Ustinov."

The actor was knighted in 1990 but was happy to be known as plain Peter Ustinov.