The Anglification of Spain’s Costa del Sol advances another step this Sunday when Mr Henry Higgins becomes the first Englishman ever to become a full matador. Higgins, who has been fighting bulls since 1963, takes his alternativa at five in the afternoon at Fuengirola, one of a string of towns on the coast more famous for their “Truly British Fish & Chips” and Carnaby Street boutiques than their paella or flamenco.

But Higgins, who calls himself El Canadas, is no joke. He is being taken more and more seriously by the Spanish press and bullfight aficionados. He is a classicist; his style has been modelled on the strict canons of bullfighting and he has been severely gored on three occasions. During his career he has had to overcome many obstacles and frustrations and he says that perseverance, above courage or skill, is the prime quality of the prospective matador.

Although Higgins is truly English he has a Mexican mother and was born in Colombia. “Basically I believe I have the Spanish-Latin temperament. As far as my bullfighting is concerned I am one hundred per cent Spanish. But I return to England every winter and I’m proud of being English. The very fact that I’m pushing myself as an English bullfighter and not a Colombian or a Mexican is the proof of it. I’ve pushed this thing of being English all the time and it’s been a handicap.”

From England the response is extreme. As he travelled up and down the Costa del Sol this week promoting the fight one inoffensive Englishman confronted him in a bar: “I’m sorry to be rude and I’m not looking for an argument– but I sincerely hope you’re gored.” Quite a lot of his mail from the home country contains the same message.

English bullfighter Henry Higgins in the bullring at Guadalajara, Mexico, 1969. Photograph: Victor Blackman/Getty Images

Death or glory



His mail either wishes him death or great success. “The English press have made me out a star and a hero. So although many people hate my guts there are quite a lot who support me and would like to see me fight.” It is not just English who oppose him but other bullfighters and managers who feel that he is taking opportunities and fights that are their heritage.

His appeal as a matador will be mainly to tourists. It was as a tourist that he saw his first bullfight at the age of fourteen. Four years later, after further trips to Spain, he decided to try his luck. He made ends meet by teaching English and after a slow year gained a small foothold in the profession.

His father bought him his first bull but it was Brian Epstein who was to back him. The man who gave the world the Beatles gave Spain El Canadas. With Epstein’s support Higgins began to make headway, and after eighteen months was making an impression as a novillero. Epstein’s death meant the temporary collapse of Higgins’s career. Funds ran out, there were no more fights, and publicity dwindled to an ineffective trickle. El Canadas nearly disappeared.

“It costs about £20,000 to get a matador going, so you can imagine that you have to wait and wait for your opportunity, and when it comes make the most of it. It’s a precarious existence.”

In 1968 a young American, Tito del Amo, started to help him. They had met at Higgins’s first goring. For a year things went well and he reached number two position in the list of novilleros over the whole of Spain by 1969. He was ready to take his alternativa and become a full matador when he was the victim of another bad goring.

“The first time I was gored was in a small town where there was no medical aid. It meant that I had to be put in the back of a car and driven to Madrid, which was three and a half hours away. It frightened me quite a lot, but when I came out, I had one of the best fights I have ever had. The second time I was out in three days and fighting again and cut two ears.

“But this last one did put me off. Now it depends on the mood I’m in as to how it affects me. There are days when I feel completely confident, but on others I’m really rather frightened.”

Bribery



The alternativa itself is like any other bullfight, except that it is the first time the novillero has fought with full matadors and fully grown bulls. As the bullfight is not a sport or a competition, so the alternativa is not en exam. It is the final step in a process that has three stages – aspirante, who must take part in a minimum of ten fights with young bulls and without picadors to become a novillero, who is a professional bullfighter who fights in novillios (El Cordobes was the highest paid bullfighter in Spain as a novillero). Alternativa means that Higgins alternates with the most senior matador, who hands him the sword and muleta. From that moment on he is a full matador.

Ironically it comes at a low ebb in his career. He has fought little this year due to wounds, and his enthusiasm has been dampened. “The adventure of it has gone down a lot for me. It’s still very exciting when I’m fighting, but I know the scene and I’m very sick of it in many ways. The corruption is dreadful.” Everybody has to be bribed, from newspaper critics to promoters. A man with all the talent in the world, but without the necessary contacts and cash has no chance.

Bullfighting has been financially unrewarding to Higgins, but as a matador there are chances of a reasonable future. “It’s difficult to predict, but I’m optimistic and hope I can fight for another five years. I know I can never occupy number one place in Spain because, after all, that place should be for a Spaniard. But there is saying that the matador should be 25 and the bull 5 – well, I’m 25, and now I’m a matador the bulls will be 5.”

So after seven difficult years Henry Higgins becomes a matador in one of the strangest professions in the world. At the moment he is the only non-Spaniard in the Fiesta Brava. There have been American and French matadors before, but never an Englishman. Several have fought as novilleros but none has persevered to become a matador.