A DORSET writer who will be remembered for his work translating Russian literature into English has died aged 84.

Paul Foote was born in Swanage in July 1926 and kept the area in his heart throughout his life, directing in his will that his ashes should be scattered across the Purbeck Hills.

He also enjoyed walking the Dorset hills and, later in life, had copies of the local papers sent to his Oxford home.

After school he joined the Royal Artillery and in 1946 was sent on an intensive Russian course at Cambridge.

He was then sent to Germany and worked as an interpreter with the Soviet Forces stationed there.

Later he received a double first in Russian and German studies from Oxford and in 1952 earned a diploma in Slavonic studies.

He met his future wife Ann Wild at Oxford and the couple married in 1953.

Mr Foote later lectured in Russian and for nearly 50 years he held a researchers card at the tsarist Russian State Historical Archives in St Petersburg. He translated many works of Russian literature into English including Mikhail Lermontov’s A Hero of Our Time and Leo Tolstoy’s Hadji Murad.

He also worked on the works of satirist Mikhail Evgrafovich Saltykov including his lone novel The Golovlevs.

Mr Foote is survived by his children, five grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.