The embodiment of flamenco: Celebrating the 80th birthday of a Spanish national treasure
CRISTINA Hoyos Panadero was born in Sevilla on 13 June, 1946. She is 80 today, and she is one of Spain’s national treasures. More than
ON THIS DAY: The Spanish villagers who refused to go to war – and the moment Real Madrid won the first-ever Champions League final
BLINK and you’d miss it. La Nava has two bars and an auto-repair shop – and 270 inhabitants. The Spanish word for a place that’s
Spain’s infamous summer colds – and how to avoid catching them
Article first published on June 22, 2025. EVEN the word ‘cold’ gives the game away. We British people can’t shake the belief that the illness
ON THIS DAY: The moment Franco closed the border with Gibraltar – and the Brits annoyed Spain by pinching the Falklands
IN 1967 Gibraltar voted by 99.6% of the electorate to remain British. In other words, one vote in 250 went against Britishness. Franco wasn’t happy.
The awe-inspiring genius of Sagrada Familia architect Antoni Gaudi, 100 years on from his tragic death
THE month of June is inextricably linked with Barcelona’s Antoni Gaudi. This year will be extra special as a host of VIPs – including Pope
The oldest of Spain: A tour through centuries of history – including theatres, bullrings and delicious age-old recipes
HERE is part two of our series celebrating Spain’s oldest things. SPAIN’S OLDEST CHEMIST – ESTEVE Sixteenth-century blue ceramic jars (alborellos), nineteenth-century glass, boxes with
The oldest of Spain: A tour through centuries of history – including football clubs, bars and restaurants
FOLLOWING the interest shown in our recent piece about Spain’s oldest bookshop, we thought readers might like to learn about some other ‘oldest’ things. We
ON THIS DAY: How a deal struck by a Spanish pope shaped our world – and explains why Brazilians speak Portuguese
HAVE you ever wondered why they speak Spanish all over Central and South America, except in Brazil, where they speak Portuguese? It’s Christopher Columbus’s fault!
ON THIS DAY: A tragedy in the ring and an outrage on the streets – paving the way for decades of ETA violence
IGNACIO Sanchez first saw the light of day in Sevilla on 6 June 1891, and later married into a bullfighting dynasty. Apart from those two
ON THIS DAY: The birth of Lorca and Velazquez – and the Holland surrender that inspired a masterpiece
DIEGO Rodriguez De Silva y Velazquez, one of the world’s greatest artists, was baptised in Seville on 6 June of the last year of the
How the USA almost belonged to Andalucia thanks to a 1778 Malaga expedition that brought Spanish settlers to the heart of Louisiana
PERHAPS it sounds preposterous to suggest that the United States of America could have belonged to Andalucia, but it almost happened. When the Seven Years’
ON THIS DAY: The birth of an English actor, Spanish singer-songwriter and great friend of Lorca
31 MAY, 1910 – LUIS ROSALES IS BORN When he first saw the light of day, 116 years ago, Luis Rosales entered Granada’s elite. His
ON THIS DAY: The bravery of the ‘Spanish Joan of Arc’ and the plucky donkey who inspired a book adored by all
The year 1808 was a bit like 1940. An aggressive conqueror, seemingly invincible, was sweeping across Europe, using his armies to subject nation after nation
ON THIS DAY: A clumsy British accent created Andalucia’s most iconic wine empire and an unregulated firework factory blew Alicante to pieces
PART I: THE SHERRY REVOLUTION SPAIN’S multi-million euro sherry empire was built entirely on a bizarre twist of fate, an ancient accident, and a clumsy
Where to find the best delicious Espeto de Sardinas on Spain’s Costa del Sol as the summer heat rolls in
IN Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations, the boy-hero Pip contemplates the gravestones of his dead brothers. Because of their shape, he assumes that they were buried
ON THIS DAY: Two Spanish royal marriages, the death of a poet and a brutal mutilation
WHEN the current king and queen of Spain married twenty-two years ago yesterday, 25 million Spaniards – more than half the population – watched on
Andalucia elections 2026: All you need to know about the winners and losers – and what it means for Spain’s prime minister Pedro Sanchez
ANDALUCIA has just been to the polls. Sunday’s election for control of the Junta de Andalucia (a bit like the Welsh or Scottish devolved assemblies
ON THIS DAY: How one gypsy achieved legendary status in 1920s Sevilla – only for a fateful bullfight to end it all
THERE’S a church in Sevilla which was built specifically to house a beautiful statue. Many people go there, to see the image of The Virgin.
From the death of Marbella’s most corrupt mayor to a royal wedding and a meteorite strike – some of the wild things to have happened on this day in Spain
FROM celestial visitors and royal controversies to the death of an infamous Costa del Sol crook, May 14 has proven to be quite the date
ON THIS DAY: The chilling tale of the ‘Vampire of Barcelona’ – but was she framed by wealthy Catalan elites?
ON February 10, 1912, Teresita Guitart, a five-year-old daughter of a family of bakers, disappeared. She seemed to have vanished into the middle of nowhere.
‘Living on borrowed time’: Spanish media react as the pressure ramps up on Sir Keir Starmer in the UK
BRITISH people know that Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour Party all but became a cropper in last week’s local elections. Calls for Sir Keir’s resignation are
ON THIS DAY: The life of Julio Romero de Torres – a precocious and ‘sexy’ painter adored by the men and women of Cordoba
DEEP in Cordoba’s historical heart, there’s a square called ‘the Foal’ (‘la plaza del Potro’). It gets its name from the 500-year-old fountain in the
What you need to know about the hantavirus, which has killed three cruise ship passengers – and Gene Hackman’s wife
HANTAVIRUS is an incredibly rare but potentially lethal disease transmitted by rodents through their bodily fluids and excrement. Interest in the pathogen has skyrocketed this
Guernica: The horror behind Picasso’s masterpiece – and Hitler’s decision to decimate the Basque town in 1937
THERE is an invisible glue that holds civilised society together: ordinary human decency. It is the instinct that makes you run a sick neighbour to
The story behind Spain’s iconic Seat Ibiza – the best-selling runaround thanks to a touch of American marketing and German engineering
THE very first SEAT Ibiza rolled off the assembly line at Martorell, Barcelona on 27 April, 1984. Marketing had come to Spain. SEAT (the Sociedad
The wonderful history behind El Escorial – the world’s largest Renaissance building and a must-visit for all culture lovers
ON April 23, 1563, the first stone was laid in the construction of The Monastery of Saint Lawrence of El Escorial, 30 miles west of