David Baird's Blog, page 4

Seeking Winter Sun — A Spanish Travel Adventure

EVERYBODY remembers the first time they stepped on to Spanish soil. Dazzling light, dramatic landscapes, colourful personalities, pungent smells…they make an impact on the most travel-jaded.

You may be exhilarated or exasperated, enthralled or appalled, but you cannot remain indifferent, for this is a land which invites extreme emotions.

However, my first visit contradicted all the stereotypes for I came away convinced that the rain in Spain fell mostly on green, misty hills inhabited by short, broad people who wore large berets and carried black umbrellas everywhere. This impression arose from a day trip from France to San Sebastian.

To cross the border I had to contend with the legendary bureaucracy. General Franco still ruled and journalists were not welcome.

“Just for one day?” The Spanish consul eyed me suspiciously. “And you’re on holiday? Hmmm…well, I can stamp your visa but you must promise not to write anything.”

Naturally I nodded, although we both knew it was a ridiculous request. Now I realise that it was a first lesson in how Spain functions: establish human contact and what moments before appeared out of the question is suddenly possible.

Years later I returned to Spain, this time with my wife. Fleeing the British winter, we were searching for a place in the sun. We headed south.

Arriving late at night in a coastal city, we stumbled through darkened streets seeking a cheap hostal. Next morning, as we prepared to go for breakfast, my wife put on her thick overcoat.

“Why are you wearing that?” I asked her.

“I don’t want to catch cold,” she replied.

“But look out there,” I said, pointing through the window at the street below. The passersby were in blouses and shirt sleeves. Not a coat or a scarf in  sight.

We had arrived in the land of eternal summer. And it felt great. Taking a bus along the coast, we passed fields of sugar cane and found a humble fishing village. Women were drawing water from a fountain and the odour of frying churros and coffee wafted through streets uncluttered by traffic, except occasional herds of goats.

It was the ideal bolthole. Now and again I bought the local newspaper just to confirm that we were in the right place. The heavily censored stories, each ending with the exhortation “Viva el Caudillo!”, all conveyed the same message: Spain was an oasis of peace and prosperity while the rest of the world was in turmoil.

One day we trekked up a dry riverbed to a village perched way above the coast, a mere splash of white on the hillside. Mules plodded along the narrow main street lined with immaculately whitewashed houses. So rare were visitors that a gaggle of giggling children followed us about.

After trying the local wine, we drifted happily back to the coast as the setting sun tinged the sierras with gold. It was good to be alive. And, did we but know it, we had just visited the pueblo which would become our home

Between Two Fires wins acclaim in US

Between Two Fires — Guerrilla war in the Spanish sierras, a poignant account of how a  village was trapped in a brutal conflict for years after the Civil War, has been setting sales records in the United States.

Since it became available in the Lightning Source edition, which can be ordered through Amazon online, it has been selling steadily to American readers keen to know more about this forgotten war — a war which went virtually unreported due to strict censorship.

The book has won critical praise from across the world. ”As exciting as any thriller yet deeply moving, it deserves to be read by everyone concerned with the history of contemporary  Spain,”says historian Paul Preston, author of The Spanish Civil War and Franco – A Biography.

Ian Gibson, author of acclaimed biographies of Lorca and Dalí, says: “There could be nobody better suited to tell this story than David Baird, and he has done so magnificently.”

California historian Mark Williams, declares: “A masterful job! Every kid growing up in southern Spain should be required to read this book to place his/her life in perspective.”

Australian social commentator Phillip Grenard notes: “Absolutely rivetting… a wonderfully evocative footnote to history presumably  experienced in many parts of Spain. I  can’t put it down…. a great piece of research.

London journalist Perrott Phillips comments: “Profoundly researched, deeply sympathetic to the subject  and compellingly written.”

Author Nicholas Inman, based in France, asserts: “I am deeply impressed. It would be good if more people read this book to remind them how lucky they are to be alive now and not then.”

The new edition of Between Two Fires – Guerrilla war in the Spanish sierras is published by Maroma Press and printed by Lightning Press in Britain, the USA and Australia. It can be ordered online from leading websites such as Amazon. In Spain it is also on sale at a number of English-language bookshops.

The Spanish edition in hardback, Historia de los maquis – Entre dos fuegos (published by Editorial Almuzara, Córdoba), can be ordered from Spanish bookshops.

AN ESCAPIST CONFRONTS A VILLAGE OF HATE

CITY FOLK ARE A FUNNY LOT. When they take a trip to the countryside, they tend to adopt a superior attitude towards the rustic bumpkins while betraying their general ignorance regarding all about them.

They smile with pleasure at the sight of the lambs gambolling about the fields, conveniently forgetting that soon those cute animals will be slaughtered to satisfy their appetites. Their delicate urban nostrils sniff with disgust at such basic farming odours as manure spread over the fields.

That does not fit their idea of the simple life, i.e. a deodorized dream of bucolic paradise. Sadly that paradise never existed. And as for the “simple life”, that can be just a little complicated.

As the “hero” of David Baird’s latest book,  Don’t Miss The Fiesta!, a thriller with macabre touches set in a Spanish village, discovers to his cost.An Englishman collides with old hatreds and vengeful villagers when he takes refuge in a tranquil Andalusian pueblo. Running from his past, this escapist falls for a local girl only to find that, beneath the village’s placid surface, lurk dark secrets and a nightmare of guilt.

One sinister event succeeds another, leading to a dramatic climax.

Award-winning journalist David Baird says that much of his book is based on personal experience — he has lived in Spain for many years.

Born in Shropshire, David is well-known for his travel and guide books, but Don’t Miss The Fiesta! is his first work of fiction.

Though the characters in the book are figments of his imagination, true-life incidents sparked the idea for the plot, especially the experience of some friends who bought a farmhouse not a thousand miles away from the Costa del Sol.

“It’s so easy for strangers to stumble into situations they don’t understand. They thought they had found shangri-la and sat back to enjoy the simple life. Then came midnight knocks on the door and other strange incidents and they found they had become involved in fierce family feuds.”

To browse extracts, go to:

http://books.google.co.uk/books?printsec=frontcover&id=gm-IaqeMY-YC#v=onepage&q=&f=false

David Baird has worked around the world, from Fleet Street to Canada and Hong Kong. His other books include Sunny Side Up – the 21st century hits a Spanish village and Back Roads of Southern Spain (published by Santana Books). His books have also been published in German and Spanish.

Don’t Miss the Fiesta! is on sale at English-language bookshops in Spain. It can also be bought direct from the publishers, Maroma Press, on this site and from Amazon.co.uk. To save postage costs, buyers can also download it at http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/15830

Maroma Press also published Baird’s non-fiction book Between Two Fires. That well-researched account of the impact of a forgotten war waged by the anti-Franco guerrilla movement in the 1940s and 1950s won praise from historians Ian Gibson and Paul Preston.

HOW THE 21st CENTURY HIT A SPANISH PUEBLO

Sunny Side Up is David Baird’s ironic look at rural life, reflecting the dramatic changes in southern Spain since he went to live there more than 30 years ago. And now it’s part of a school curriculum — making it required reading in Spanish schools. 

Sunny Side Up Up — The 21st century hits a Spanish village has for the second year running been selected as a set book for Fifth Grade students at the Escuela Oficial de Idiomas in Motril, Granada province. In addition, high school pupils in Nerja on the Costa del Sol are using the book in their English studies.

“This is a bit daunting,” admits David, a journalist and author long based in the Axarquía (the eastern corner of Málaga province). “I have to give presentations to the students and I’m used to asking questions rather than answering them.

“Fielding questions from a bunch of critical students is a different game — especially for somebody who until recently had never made a public speech in his life!”

Hilarious, nostalgic and moving, his book inspired the Sunday Times to comment: “Recommended reading for anybody who ever wondered what happened to the ‘real Spain’.”

After working around the world as a journalist, David has been based for some years in Spain, reporting  for international publications on everything from earthquakes to wine festivals.

Sunny Side Up is published by Maroma Press (www.maromapress.wordpress.com) and is available from English-language bookshops in Spain or from Amazon.

MYSTERY ��� WHO WAS MASTERMIND OF THE GREAT TRAIN ROBBERY?

SIXTY YEARS on the Great Train Robbery continues to make news. And mystery still surrounds the big question: who was the mastermind?

One of the robbers, Bruce Reynolds, has just died at the age of 81. Police claim that he was the brains behind the daring heist ��� but is that the whole truth?

More than ��2.5 million was stolen from a Royal Mail train en route from Glasgow to London on August 8, 1963.

Most of the gang were swiftly rounded up and jailed. Reynolds escaped to Mexico, but eventually he too ended behind bars. At least two of the robbers have been murdered in gangland vendettas.

One of the most notorious members of the gang was Ronnie Biggs, although he actually played a minor part in the crime.

Biggs made a spectacular escape from London’s Wandsworth jail in 1965 then fled to Australia and later Brazil.

Finally extradited to Britain, he is now a sick old man. But hardly repentant. In an interview in Rio de Janeiro, he told reporter David Baird: “Things went wrong because all the planning went into the details of the actual job and nothing into what we should do afterwards.”

Some of the 15-strong gang were never captured and to this day their identities have not emerged.��So who was the mastermind?

All Biggs would say was: “If I had had anything to do with the planning, it would have been different. We should have had ��5,000 waiting overseas and false passports ready so we could get away.”

And there’s a further mystery. Two attempts were made to kidnap Biggs while he was in Rio. The second time he was forcibly taken to Barbados, but a local court refused to order his�� extradition to England. Instead, he was released and flew back to Rio.

“The kidnappers tried to tell me they were doing it for the money. But I’ve no doubt they were British agents,” claimed Biggs.

The British authorities have never refuted that claim.

MYSTERY — WHO WAS MASTERMIND OF THE GREAT TRAIN ROBBERY?

SIXTY YEARS on the Great Train Robbery continues to make news. And mystery still surrounds the big question: who was the mastermind?

One of the robbers, Bruce Reynolds, has just died at the age of 81. Police claim that he was the brains behind the daring heist — but is that the whole truth?

More than £2.5 million was stolen from a Royal Mail train en route from Glasgow to London on August 8, 1963.

Most of the gang were swiftly rounded up and jailed. Reynolds escaped to Mexico, but eventually he too ended behind bars. At least two of the robbers have been murdered in gangland vendettas.

One of the most notorious members of the gang was Ronnie Biggs, although he actually played a minor part in the crime.

Biggs made a spectacular escape from London’s Wandsworth jail in 1965 then fled to Australia and later Brazil.

Finally extradited to Britain, he is now a sick old man. But hardly repentant. In an interview in Rio de Janeiro, he told reporter David Baird: “Things went wrong because all the planning went into the details of the actual job and nothing into what we should do afterwards.”

Some of the 15-strong gang were never captured and to this day their identities have not emerged. So who was the mastermind?

All Biggs would say was: “If I had had anything to do with the planning, it would have been different. We should have had £5,000 waiting overseas and false passports ready so we could get away.”

And there’s a further mystery. Two attempts were made to kidnap Biggs while he was in Rio. The second time he was forcibly taken to Barbados, but a local court refused to order his  extradition to England. Instead, he was released and flew back to Rio.

“The kidnappers tried to tell me they were doing it for the money. But I’ve no doubt they were British agents,” claimed Biggs.

The British authorities have never refuted that claim.

Did Indiana Jones exist in real life?

HIS EXPLOITS have entertained millions. And they willingly suspend belief as they enjoy the crazy escapades of Indiana Jones in the various films in which he is portrayed by Harrison Ford.

But hold on! Could Indiana Jones have ever existed in real life? Not with that name maybe. But somebody remarkably like Indiana Jones did play a dramatic role in the war against the Nazis.

His name: Carleton S. Coon and when you read of his exploits it seems quite likely that the film character was based on him. Colourful background information, lending substance to this, is detailed in David Baird’s book Between Two Fires – Guerrilla war in the Spanish sierras.

In World War Two the Allies debated the possibility of invading fascist Spain which, though officially neutral, was aiding Nazi Germany in many ways. Coon, working as an agent for the OSS  (forerunner of the CIA) in North Africa, was an expert saboteur and made contact with Spanish exiles there.

Anxious to obtain information about Spanish coastal defences,  the British and Americans infiltrated into Spain hand-picked exiles they had trained in the use of radio and arms. They landed on some of the southern beaches where tourists sun themselves today.

The deal was that the Communist-led guerrillas would supply information on General Franco’s defences in return for continued support from the Allies. But when the Cold War started neither the Americans nor the British were willing to help a movement largely organised by Reds and they abruptly abandoned the guerrillas.

But the guerrilla war continued for years in the sierras of Spain as rebels of various political persuasions tried to undermine the Franco regime. Almost all these rebels were imprisoned or killed for it was an unwinnable war without outside  help.

Shropshire-born Baird, who has worked on publications around the world including the Daily Express and The Times, spent five years investigating this forgotten war.

Scouring archives from Madrid to Washington, he unearthed confidential reports on how the OSS trained and armed Communists. He also discloses how the Civil Guard covered up its killing of three innocent villagers.

His book, entitled Between Two Fires (Maroma Press), is particularly timely as fierce passions have recently been stirred in Spain over attempts to correct injustices of the Franco years.

The book has earned high praise from leading historian Paul Preston and Lorca biographer Ian Gibson. It is published in conjunction with the Cañada Blanch Centre for Contemporary Spanish Studies at the London School of Economics.

GUERRILLA WAR CENSORED BUT NOT FORGOTTEN

“This superbly written book could not be  more timely.”

So says Paul Preston, one of the most respected authors concentrating on recent Spanish history.

He is referring to Between Two Fires — Guerrilla war in the Spanish sierras, a poignant account of how a Spanish village was trapped in a brutal conflict — one which went virtually unreported due to strict censorship.

A new edition of this in-depth investigation written by longtime resident of Spain David Baird is just out. Praise has come from across the world.

From Australia social commentator Phillip Grenard notes: “Absolutely rivetting… a wonderfully evocative footnote to history presumably  experienced in many parts of Spain. I  can’t put it down…. a great piece of research.

From London journalist Perrott Phillips comments: “Profoundly researched, deeply sympathetic to the subject  and compellingly written.”

From California historian Mark Williams, declares: “A masterful job! Every kid growing up in southern Spain should be required to read this book to place his/her life in perspective.”

From France writer Nicholas Inman asserts: “I am deeply impressed. It would be good if more people read this book to remind them how lucky they are to be alive now and not then.”

And in the prologue Ian Gibson, author of acclaimed biographies of Lorca and Dalí, says: “There could be nobody better suited to tell this story than David Baird, and he has done so magnificently.”

The new edition of Between Two Fires – Guerrilla war in the Spanish sierras is published by Maroma Press and printed by Lightning Press in Britain, the USA and Australia. It can be ordered online from leading websites such as Amazon. In Spain it is also on sale at a number of English-language bookshops.

The Spanish edition in hardback, Historia de los maquis – Entre dos fuegos (published by Editorial Almuzara, Córdoba), can be ordered from Spanish bookshops.

DRAMA BEHIND THE WHITE WALLS OF SPAIN

TRAVEL the back roads of Spain and you will pass many a whitewashed village. Slumbering in the sun, forgotten by the world, far from the rat race…places where nothing ever happens.

Dream on. Behind those white walls you will find more drama and passion than you could ever imagine. All human life is here, in all its varieties.

British journalist David Baird and his Dutch wife found that out fast enough when — after travelling the world — they settled in an Andalusian village, seeking “the simple life”.

Soon they found that things were not so simple, as Baird recounts in his book “Sunny Side Up — The 21st century hits a Spanish village”. It may read like fiction, but it’s all fact. It’s the Spain that Hemingway never saw and never wrote about.

Ever meet a woman cured of disease by visions of the Virgin, a medic whose injections are to die for, a blind beggar who rides a motor-bike, a phantom who terrorises a whole community? They’re all here in this nostalgic — often humorous, always moving — look at rural Spain.

“Baird’s ironic glance back over the past 30 years is recommended reading for anybody who has ever wondered what happened to ‘the real Spain’,” according to the Sunday Times.

This is the tale of  a rural community as its shifts from a medieval way of life into the computer age. You’ll find passion here, but also pathos. There’s hilarity, but also an insightful dissection of local ways, as well as a wicked glance at expatriate eccentricities.

Baird’s other books include Between Two Fires, a highly acclaimed account of a largely unreported guerrilla war in Spain in the 1940s, as well as travel books and two works of fiction (Don’t Miss The Fiesta! and Typhoon Season).

Sunny Side Up, distributed by Maroma Press, is on sale through English bookshops in Spain and via Amazon and other Internet sellers. It has been selected by several Spanish schools as a set book for its pupils.

The German edition, Leben im Pueblo, translated by Uwe W. Paulsen, is available from the publisher, Verlag Winfried Jenior, Lassallestr. 15, D-34119 Kassel, Germany. Tel.: 0561-7391621, Fax 0561-774148. E-Mail: Jenior@aol.com. Homepage: http://www.jenior.de