In Spain they say you are born as half an orange, a “media naranja”. Then you search the world, your town or your barrio for the other half of your orange. Only when you find your “media naranja” – the other person who will complete you, will you ever be really happy. I’m incredibly lucky. I found my media naranja.

He came from a lovely but impoverished rural community where people were not politically minded, if indeed they ever voted. Nor did they look outside the community for support in the hard times. He went to school with brothers and sisters whose parents were brother and sister and no one spoke about this to outsiders. People’s expectations were that they would be born, would work, get married, have children and die within mostly within their community.

He left school at 14. No children in his class were even entered for…