Students at an English university can take a break from their studies and enjoy some modern literature in a new reading room, thanks to a former Premier of Bermuda.

David Saul has made a donation to his alma mater, Loughborough University in Leicestershire, where he studied in the early 1960s, to enable the opening of the ‘Hon David J Saul JP PhD Reading Area’.

The facility features volumes of modern fiction and poetry and, according to Dr Saul, provides a “peaceful retreat from normal library studies”.

“It has proved very popular since it opened at the beginning of the academic year,” he said.

The 74-year-old former politician and director of Odyssey Marine Exploration recently visited the reading room on a trip to Loughborough to give a sold-out talk on deep sea underwater exploration.

His lecture detailed the recovery by Odyssey of tens of millions of dollars worth of silver ingots from the torpedoed Second World War steam ship Gairsoppa.

Dr Saul said he had fond memories of Loughborough, where he obtained a diploma of education more than 50 years ago before coming back to the Island to teach.

His talk was attended by five of his graduating class, including Robbie Brightwell, captain of the British Athletics Team at the 1964 Olympics and the silver medal winner in the 400 metres, and his wife Ann (née Packer), who won the gold medal at the same Olympics.