In a feat of procrastination even the laziest humanities student would struggle to achieve, a book has been returned to the Cambridge University Library almost 60 years too late.

On Thursday, the UL tweeted “Better late than never!”, a line generations of students have tried while returning late books to the UL's front desk, alongside a photo of the runaway book, Cultures and Societies of Africa.

The book was returned by a former student to Gonville & Caius College on Wednesday, and travelled back to the main library from there.

The UL tweeted: “Must have been a great book – or a very slow reader?”

The fine would have come in at almost £4,700, according to a BBC calculation. “Suffice to say we waived the fine”, the UL tweeted.

Since the book was borrowed, the world has seen the moon landing and the fall of the Berlin Wall. This may provide comfort to any student worried about returning their vacation loans late.

It is unclear whether the book was kept for so long deliberately, but we’ve all had that book that seems to take years to get through.

We wouldn’t blame the former student in question if it was just one of those weeks – albeit over 3,000 of them.

The book is now back on the shelf, ready to be borrowed by future generations of students – although hopefully it won’t take 60 years to return it this time.