WELCOME to the latest edition of This Week in Spanish History, written by Michael Coy.
OCTOBER 14, 1784 – The ‘Felon King’ is born
Most European countries have one particular king, in their history, who is generally disliked.
English people might think of John of Magna Carta, but for Spanish people it’s the ‘felon king’, Fernando VII.
His reign coincided with Napoleon’s conquest of Spain, and he is a symbol of the national humiliation.
For much of his time on the throne, he was a prisoner of the French, and wasn’t even present in Spain.
After the fall of Napoleon, Fernando tried to show his strength by ‘cracking down’ on citizens with progressive ideas. A lot of innocent people were put to death.
OCTOBER 14, 1983 – The rock star Jesus de la Rosa Luque dies
If you follow music, you’ll know that some bands have a kind of tragic aura: for example, Lynyrd Skynyrd.
The Sevilla group Triana hold that place in Spanish culture.
The very name is evocative: Triana is the suburb, across the river, where the city’s passion is said to reside.
The 1970s group invented a fusion of rock and flamenco which was instantly popular.
By 1983, just as Triana was breaking through to superstardom, leader Jesus de la Rosa Luque was killed in a car crash.
OCTOBER 15, 1922 – The cartoonist Alfons Figueras is born
A native of Barcelona, Alfons Figueras started making a living as a humorous cartoonist during the Civil War, while he was still in his teens.
However, it was in the 1940s that he really hit his stride.
He saw his art as every bit as valuable as that of, say, a novelist, and he took illustration out of the newspaper funny pages and into the bookshops.
His characters became household names (Gummo, Pistolini) – by the time of his death in 2009 he was a respected cultural icon.
OCTOBER 16, 1930 – TV and film star Carmen Sevilla is born
Carmen Sevilla (unsurprisingly, from Sevilla) is best thought of as a Spanish cross between Lulu and Helen Mirren.
Singer, dancer and film star, Maria del Carmen García Galisteo, to give her her real name, was a welcome face in every Spanish household from 1950 until her death in 2023.
She appeared in Spain’s most successful films of the 1950s, and skilfully transitioned to pop in time for the boom of the 1960s.
Later, she changed again – becoming a much-loved TV presenter from 1990 onwards.
OCTOBER 17, 1934 – Death of Santiago Ramon y Cajal
To be a neurologist in Spain in the early 20th century was a struggle.
The nation had just lost its empire, and therefore its income. Funds were tight. Wealthy nations like the USA, Britain and France were making all the advances in research.
The achievement of Santiago Ramon y Cajal, who won the Nobel Prize in 1906, is therefore little short of astonishing.
His intricate drawings of brain cells, showing how they grow and divide, are now regarded as works of art.
OCTOBER 17, 2014 – 23rd edition of the Spanish dictionary issued
The English language is truly democratic. A new word enters daily use as if by magic.
Take, for example, ‘simp’, meaning a weak man who tries to impress women through excessive shows of sympathy. No-one approved it, but everyone accepts it.
The Latin languages are very different. Spain has a Royal Academy which studies each newly-coined term, and rules on whether or not it’s okay.
The results are published every couple of decades in the latest edition of the official dictionary.
The current version, issued in 2014, said that it’s now permissible to write solo without an accent. No, seriously!
OCTOBER 18, 1997 – The Guggenheim Museum opens in Bilbao
One of the biggest and most popular museums in Spain, the Bilbao Guggenheim is approaching its 30th birthday.
Devoted to modern art, and holding major exhibitions, it has quickly established itself as one of the country’s ‘must-see’ monuments.
The site was rather sad, representing both the devastation of the Civil War and the sharp decline in Bilbao’s traditional heavy industry.
Frank Gehry’s striking architecture has wrought a complete revitalisation of the district (and, arguably, the city).
OCTOBER 21, 1805 – The Battle of Trafalgar
Fought just off Andalucía’s west coast, the famous clash which cost Nelson his life determined the future of Europe.
A massive, combined French-Spanish fleet was heading north, to transport Napoleon’s army from what is now Belgium across to Britain.
Napoleon saw it as the culmination of his 20-year campaign, but the Royal Navy intercepted and wrecked the fleet as it left Cadiz.
Two interesting facts: firstly, the battle was fought in slow motion, because there was almost no wind that day; secondly, to preserve Nelson’s body for a London funeral, the admiral was placed in a barrel of brandy!
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