22 Oct, 2010 @ 08:50
1 min read

Brigade hero dies

AN English hero of the International Brigades has died age 95.

Born in 1915, Sam Russell was one of the first British volunteers to sign up to fight Franco during the Spanish Civil War.

After being wounded near Cordoba he became a radio reporter for the Republicans and later the Spanish correspondent for the British paper The Daily Worker.

He later reported from many countries including Vietnam, Yugoslavia and China and he famously witnessed the 1973 coup in Chile writing, “I saw democracy murdered”.

In 1996, 60 years after the formation of the International Brigades, Russell returned to Spain to receive honorary citizenship.

The Spanish national El Pais dedicated half a page to the life of the hero, who is survived by his daughter Ruth.

Click here to read more News from The Olive Press.

Jon Clarke (Publisher & Editor)

Jon Clarke is a Londoner who worked at the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday as an investigative journalist before moving to Spain in 2003 where he helped set up the Olive Press.

After studying Geography at Manchester University he fell in love with Spain during a two-year stint teaching English in Madrid.

On returning to London, he studied journalism and landed his first job at the weekly Informer newspaper in Teddington, covering hundreds of stories in areas including Hounslow, Richmond and Harrow.

This led on to work at the Sunday Telegraph, Sunday Mirror, Standard and even the Sun, before he landed his first full time job at the Daily Mail.

After a year on the Newsdesk he worked as a Showbiz correspondent covering mostly music, including the rise of the Spice Girls, the rivalry between Oasis and Blur and interviewed many famous musicians such as Joe Strummer and Ray Manzarak, as well as Peter Gabriel and Bjorn from Abba on his own private island.

After a year as the News Editor at the UK’s largest-selling magazine Now, he returned to work as an investigative journalist in Features at the Mail on Sunday.

As well as tracking down Jimi Hendrix’ sole living heir in Sweden, while there he also helped lead the initial investigation into Prince Andrew’s seedy links to Jeffrey Epstein during three trips to America.

He had dozens of exclusive stories, while his travel writing took him to Jamaica, Brazil and Belarus.

He is the author of three books; Costa Killer, Dining Secrets of Andalucia and My Search for Madeleine.

Contact jon@theolivepress.es

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