Salvador de Madariaga y Rojo was born on 23 July 1886 in A Coruña, Galicia, Kingdom of Spain.

In 1928, he was appointed Professor of Spanish at Oxford University for three years during which he wrote a book on nation psychology, Englishmen, Frenchmen, Spaniards.

[3] In his writing career, he wrote books and essays about 'Don Quixote, Christopher Columbus, William Shakespeare's Hamlet, and the history of Latin America.

In 1976, after Franco's death, Madariaga returned to Spain[1] and became a member of the Spanish Royal Academy.

The couple had two daughters: Nieves Mathews (1917–2003) and the professor and historian Isabel de Madariaga (1919–2014).

[citation needed] An Oxfordshire blue plaque in honour of him was unveiled at 3 St Andrew's Road, Headington, Oxford, by his daughter Isabel on 15 October 2011.