He is best known for "Don Quixote", but the eventful life of Spain's revered author Miguel de Cervantes was just as intriguing as any adventures of the delusional wanna-be knight of his famous novel. Cervantes -- whose death on April 22, 1616 will be commemorated in Spain this week just as Britain marks the passing of Shakespeare 400 years ago -- survived a sea battle, capture by pirates, five years of captivity in Algiers and stints in prison.
Born in 1547 in Alcala de Henares near Madrid, his family struggled financially. In Italy, he enlisted as a soldier and fought in the 1571 Battle of Lepanto that saw more than 200 galleys of an alliance of Christian powers confront and defeat an Ottoman Empire fleet in the seas off Greece. Then in 1584, Cervantes had a daughter -- his only offspring -- with one woman before marrying another who was nearly 20 years his junior.
When "Don Quixote" was finally published in 1605, it was an overnight success. The years after saw Cervantes move to Madrid and devote his time to writing -- including the second part of "Don Quixote" -- before dying of illness in 1616, a relatively poor man who probably never expected to leave such a lasting literary legacy.
"Don Quixote" has become one of the world's most translated works, perhaps only surpassed by the Bible. Its tale of a man who fancies himself as a knight and set outs to rid the world of its ills has been universally praised. More than 300 events -- exhibitions, plays, readings, conferences -- are taking place in Spain over the year to mark his death. For Javier Rodriguez Palacios, mayor of Alcala de Henares, the author is still hugely relevant today. "You describe his life to a 16-year-old guy... and he will start to realise that what is happening now in some places -- unemployment, youth having to go abroad, occasional conflict between those of Spanish origin and those who aren't -- Cervantes experienced this too," he says.
