The opening day of the 2015 Gibunco Gibraltar International Literary Festival comes to a close this afternoon at 6pm...

Kicking off the day was William Chislett, the veteran Madrid based British journalist who has written several books about Spain, and is an expert on Spanish politics. His talk though, had a more literary flavour, as his ‘Curiosos Impertinentes’ a reverential reference to Cervantes’ Don Quijote, looked at the strong tradition of British writers who travelled to Spain in the 19th and 20th centuries and later published their experiences.

There was also historian Anthony Sattin’s examination of the British military hero and adventurer TE Lawrence, known as the legendary Lawrence of Arabia, whose life has been featured in countless books and films, and whose figure remains an inexhaustible source of comment and analysis.

Renowned Spanish football pundit Guillem Balague, a Sky television stalwart with his ‘Revista de la Liga’ hit show, unveiled his new biography about Portuguese and Real Madrid superstar Cristiano Ronaldo. His much awaited talk was a sold out success that was keenly anticipated by Gibraltar’s ‘football-mad’ public.

The day concluded with literary agent Andrew Lownie’s fascinating look at the life of Guy Burgess, one of the Cambridge ring of Soviet spies that passed secrets to Moscow before and during the Cold War. His book ‘Stalin’s Englishman, The Lives of Guy Burgess’ is the first full biography of the enigmatic Foreign Office official and intelligence officer, who defected to Moscow in the 1950’s.

Is Print Dead? A talk by Jens Torpe the founder of London’s first free daily business newspaper City AM, reflected on the future of printed newspapers and the challenges posed by Internet and new technologies.