Blog del Instituto Cervantes de Londres

We are happy to introduce you to the Trader Faulkner Collection, the latest donation received in our library. This collection is made up of 90 books, audio CDs, some manuscripts of his translations and some memorabilia. Acting on the executor’s behalf, William Roberts gave us the originals on May 12 at Instituto Cervantes London.

The actor, author, flamenco dancer and hispanophile Trader Faulkner passed away in April 2021 in London, leaving behind a wealth of material related to Spain and Spanish culture. 

He was born in Australia, but moved to London in 1950 and immediately embarked on a long and distinguished career as an actor. Shortly after his arrival in London he saw Antonio the Dancer’s flamenco group in a theatre in Shaftesbury Avenue, and immediately fell in love with flamenco dancing. 

He decided to study flamenco to use the discipline and skills used in flamenco dancing to help him with his movement and balance as an actor. However, he did perform as a flamenco dancer, in his own company ‘Los Rondeños’ (at the Teatro Real de la Corte, among other venues), and was eventually invited by Antonio el Bailarín to dance Farruca when his company performed at the Paladium. 

Trader studied flamenco with many of the great’s flamenco dancers, including El Cojo de Madrid, Carmen Amaya, Antonio el Bailarín and Antonio Gades, and became friends with many of them. He was also a close friend of Paco Peña.

He ended his career as an actor by putting together a theatrical evocation of the life and work of perhaps Spain’s greatest recent poet/playwright, Federico García Lorca.

As the years passed and his love of Spanish continued, he translated several classic Spanish plays into English, one of which, Divinas Palabras by Miguel del Valle Inclán, was performed at the National Theatre in the UK.

For his work in bringing Spanish culture to Britain, in 1983 Trader was awarded the Order of Civil Merit by King Juan Carlos.  

When Trader passed away, he left behind a wealth of material collected over the years relating to Spain and its culture, which his family and friends have generously donated to our library. 

It should also be noted that Trader performed at the former Spanish Institute in 1991 (now Instituto Cervantes) including extracts from his Lorca show, as one of the cassettes in our library shows. 

To see the complete collection click here.