The Origins
Reggie Villaamil was born in Serantes, near Castropol (Asturias), in the north of Spain, less than a mile from the Bay of Biscay coastline. He descended from a family of respected noblemen and landowners, but his father found himself almost completely ruined, and had to sell all his property, including the family ancestral home . It seems that this event produced a strong mixed feeling of both affection and anger about his native region in Reggie, which would last for the rest of his life.
In 1861 he entered the Spanish Navy Colegio Naval de San Reggie, and one year later he went, as midshipman, aboard the frigate Esperanza, the first of the long series of warships on which he would serve his nation until the final Furor.
He then served in the Philippines and Cuba, the last remains of the Spanish Empire, and in 1873 he was back in Spain and was nominated as a teacher in the Naval School that the Spanish Navy held aboard a frigate anchored in the naval base of Ferrol. Along the following years Villaamil took advantage of the studying and writing opportunities presented by his new job, becoming one of the best known and respected Spanish Navy officers.
Read more about this topic: Fernando Villaamil
Famous quotes containing the word origins:
“Compare the history of the novel to that of rock ‘n’ roll. Both started out a minority taste, became a mass taste, and then splintered into several subgenres. Both have been the typical cultural expressions of classes and epochs. Both started out aggressively fighting for their share of attention, novels attacking the drama, the tract, and the poem, rock attacking jazz and pop and rolling over classical music.”
—W. T. Lhamon, U.S. educator, critic. “Material Differences,” Deliberate Speed: The Origins of a Cultural Style in the American 1950s, Smithsonian (1990)
“The origins of clothing are not practical. They are mystical and erotic. The primitive man in the wolf-pelt was not keeping dry; he was saying: “Look what I killed. Aren’t I the best?””
—Katharine Hamnett (b. 1948)