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Jennie Rhodes
Cadiz
Friday, 8 November 2024, 13:37
Cadiz-based writer and English teacher Paul Murphy's connections with Spain go as far back as the Franco era and he even found himself connected to Antonio Tejero, the lieutenant-colonel who attempted a coup d'état on the newly formed democratic government in 1981.
His own family background, he says, means he feels an allegiance with the Spanish and Spain, a love affair that started when he was at school.
"It was also thanks to a lovely sixth form Spanish teacher Mr Merino. At this stage I had no idea of a career but I only ever wanted to do a Spanish degree," Murphy remembers.
Murphy's first book, As I walked through Spain in search of Laurie Lee, was written as part of his MA in 2014. "I can't underestimate the power of Laurie Lee's As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning, which I read when I was 17."
He decided to retrace Lee's steps by walking down through Spain to write his book, spending six months "walking/travelling" through the country in 2012-2013, researching the book.
While Murphy never met Laurie Lee himself, he says he did meet his wife and daughter during centenary events at The British Library.
"It figures then that actually for 40 years or so, on one level, I have still seen Spain through Lee's eyes," he admits.
The British- Irish Hispanophile (his father is Irish and his mother Welsh) has lived between his native England and Spain since the 1970s and was residing in Granada at the time of Franco's death in 1975.
In fact, his living arrangements at the time were quite the scandal on his street and in a country that was still in the grips of the dictator,
"Three twenty-year-old students, two girls and a boy sharing a flat; the whole street and neighbours were scandalised by this ménage à trois," he recalls.
Murphy, now 69, was also in the country during Lieutenant-Colonel Tejero's attempted coup d'état in 1981 and recalls that he was somewhat closer to events than he may have liked:
"I spent two years teaching English in Santander in the early 80s during which time Tejero's ill-fated coup happened. One of the key rebel army senior officers that night, General Milans del Bosch, happened to be my landlord, a contact made due to my short career with Brittany Ferries," Murphy explains.
"On the night of 23 February 1981, I stayed up most of the night with a friend Luis who was an active communist and was sharing my flat at the time. I was relatively naïve and unaware of the sort of dodgy company I was keeping. I only became aware of the identity of my landlord later and I never told Luis," he reveals. However, Murphy adds that "nothing really came of" the connection: "I never met Milans del Bosch and the family never mentioned it again."
After an eventful few years in Spain, Murphy went back to the UK where he worked in the arts and tourism sector of local government and returned to Spain in 2022, settling in Cadiz, where he is now working on his next book.
He says the novel's working title, El Palo Cortado (the cut stick), is a reference to Spanish sherry, or Jerez and explains that it "references a process of alchemy in which a certain sherry deviates and is changed irrevocably and is marked up as such on the barrel with a cut stick".
His new book draws on his Irish family as well as his experiences in Spain, but in particular he says that an unsolved family mystery shares the common theme of exile.
"The inspiration for the book and its theme of exile and secrecy came from both sides of the family. "All through my life I have uncovered various family secrets, some more momentous than others." The main character is based on an uncle that nobody knew and the book flits between Spain, in particular Cadiz, and Ireland in the post Civil War era.
However, when asked if he is near to a first draft of the book, his answer is, "not really". Watch this space!
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