Book shop owner John Ritchie has been in touch to pay tribute to three esteemed local authors.

John, who owns Books Afloat in Park Street, said the late transport historian Brian Jackson was a long time customer and regular at his shop.

He writes: "Brian will sadly be missed by all, not only for his wonderful transport books but his willingness to answer any questions,his talks and his wonderful dry sense of humour (I once asked him when his next book on boring buses was coming out, he replied he was still checking the number of rivets.) I never heard a bad word said about Brian - his enthusiasm will be sadly missed.

"Likewise the late great Andy Hutchings, another long time customer and friend (and his mother before,when I first opened in 1983. Always generous, always chirpy despite health problems, he would come into Books Afloat most weeks, not just to buy but to chat often interrupting my coffee breaks!

"His excuse for coming in latterly was he was on the way to his baked beans on toast at Maria's cafe.!

"And then, there was another loss to local history buffs, the late Jo Draper, Dorchester and archaeology historian and another with a great dry sense of humour when she came to my shop,saying 'how's grotty Weymouth today?, I would reply 'one step better than boring Dorchester!', she liked that..

"All will be sadly missed for their friendliness, sense of humour, their great books...who will replace them especially in the local transport line. We will miss them all."

Thanks to John for his eloquent words.

Another reader and historian has also been in touch to pay tribute to Brian Jackson.

Peter Fry of Weymouth writes: "As a fellow historian I also knew Brian and greatly respected him as a great chap. One of the numerous items he knew about was my uncle Norman Wright, who ran a local coach company before running the Tods boat building business, famous for its pioneering glass fibre boats."