He spent most of life in southern Spain, living in the hills, walking and writing about Spanish history, life and culture. When, in 1984, his health was failing he was taken by his carers to a residential home for the elderly in Pinner, near London. This so outraged some of his admirers in his adopted country, Spain, that two members of the Junta de Andalucia flew to London, kidnapped him, and took him back to care for him in Alhaurin, where he lived until his death.
