“The Little Town with a Heart of Stone”

Having been born in a small provincial town in Portugal, I soon forgot the slow pace and rhythmic way of life of my birthplace. When, as a small boy, my family moved, first to Lisbon and then to Europe’s busiest and most vibrant city, London.

There it was that I grew up, lived three or four lives in the space of one, living life at a frenetic pace, h...