As a young boy of 5 the civil war in Spain lead him to Barcelona where, soon, his mother died and his father disappeared. He recalls ending up living with his grandmother and when the sirens sounded the warning for the bombings going to look for food in the stores. Survival was tough for them as there was very little food around. Given this scenario he thought of leaving to firstly become a bullfighter. This did not work as he felt sorry for the bulls.