STRANGE BUT TRUE

• It was 20th-century American critic John Leonard who made the following sage observation: “To be capable of embarrassment is the beginning of moral consciousness. Honor grows from qualms.”

• You’ve probably never heard of the Spanish village of Lijar, located in the south of that country.

This village, though, was involved in a nearly 100-year war that lasted well into the 20th century.

It seems that in 1883, Alfonso XII, the king of Spain, made a state visit to Paris and received a less-than-royal welcome.

Led by mayor Don Miguel Garcia Saez, the citizens of Lijar, after hearing that their...