About the Club Taurino of London Contact
The Club was founded in 1959 by George Erik and a small group of fellow aficionados. We have grown into a loosely structured club of members who share a common interest in taurine matters.
From small beginnings, the CTL has opened up membership far beyond the limits of London, and even further afield than the rest of the United Kingdom. We currently have over 300 members mostly in the Uk, but also in
other European countries, North America, Central and South America, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Australia and New Zealand.
Members’ command of Spanish varies from nil to native. Communication is in English with a smattering of technical words in Spanish.
We have meetings at 8 pm on the second Thursday of every month. These meetings are organised around special events arranged by the members. There may be visits by special guests from the taurine world, discussions of specific themes, book sales, quizzes, or simply the showing of videos, and the opportunity to meet up with other members for a chat in a convivial atmosphere. We are presently accommodated in a Spanish restaurant and tapas bar located in central London.
Members also meet up at ferias, but this is all very casual, although CTL lunches during major ferias in Spain are becoming increasingly popular. We do not make package travel arrangements, because experience has shown that members prefer to go their own way. Members are usually happy to exchange and give advice about travel and accommodation at most ferias.
The annual Anniversary Lunch is usually during the last weekend of November. This is held in central London, and the Club invites celebrities from the taurine world to attend.
In November 2019, Paco Ureña was the guest of honour. In 2018 the CTL welcomed Victorino Martin Garcia as CTL guest of hobour and Alvaro Lorenzo as the special guest. 2017 Guest of honour was Curro Diaz. In 2016, we were honoured with the presence of Juan Jose Padilla, the year before we counted with Antonio Ferrera, in 2014 Miguel Angel Perera and in 2013 our guest was Javier Castaño; in years before, our guests have included – in roughly descending chronological order: Iván Fandiño, Vicente Barrera, Juan Mora, José Pedro Prados Martín "El Fundi", Miguel Abellán and Victorino Martín García, Jesús Janeiro "Jesulín de Ubrique", Salvador Cortés, Matías Tejela, David Fandila "El Fandi", Antonio Barrera, Julián López "El Juli", Cesar Rincón, Luis Miguel Encabo, Francisco Rivera Ordoñez, Paco Camino, José Pacheco "El Califa", José Tomás, Victorino Martín and Victor Mendes, Julio Robles, Manuel Caballero, José Miguel Arroyo "Joselito", José Luis Bote, and Luis Francisco Esplá. Another frequent visitor is British matador and CTL member, Frank Evans.
The most important feature for the majority of our widespread membership is the bi-monthly magazine,
La Divisa, which is composed entirely from contributions by members. There are news items, personal reports of corridas, translations of foreign articles, illustrations, and original articles debating taurine themes. The very high quality of this publication is admired worldwide, and it is seen as the leading English language publication on the subject.
The Club has an extensive video and DVD library which makes available reference copies of VHS cassettes and DVDs of taurine subjects for members.
The CTL also publishes books from time to time, latest publications can be found following this link
CTL trophies are awarded each year to those who the members vote as best matador, best novillero, best rejoneador and best ganadero.
In February 1999, we held a special lunch to celebrate our 40th year and were joined by Enrique Ponce, who received a special commemorative award, the George Erik Trophy.
In February 2000, we invited the ganadero Antonio Miura and the matador Ruiz Miguel to receive another George Erik trophy on behalf of the house of Miura. A similar trophy has also been awarded to the ganadería of Victorino Martín.
We organise a lunch during Madrid’s feria of San Isidro and have organised homenajes to Antonio Chenel "Antoñete", the Bienvenida dynasty, Julián López "El Juli", César Jiménez, Sebastián Castella and Fernando Domecq of the Zalduendo ganadería. In 2009, being our 50th anniversary year, we held a special celebration lunch at the Hotel Wellington, attended by the British Ambassador in Madrid, and by our honorary vice-presidents, among other worthies of the taurine world. Since then guests have included Jaime Ostos, El Viti, Ricardo Gallardo, Joselito, Antonio Ferrera and Victorino Martín. 2017 guest included Luis David Adame and Victorino Martin Garcia, 2018 was Enrique Ponce and last year, 2019 we were honoured by the presence of Diego Urdiales.
Temporada 2019 CTL Trophies
Best matador: Paco Ureña
Ganaderia of the year: to be announced
Best Novillero: to be announced
Best rejoneador(a): to be announced
Temporada 2018 CTL Trophies
- Best Matador: Curro Diaz
- Best Novillero: Luis David Adame
- Best Rejoneador: Pablo Hermoso de Mendoza
- Best Ganadería: Victorino Martín
- Best Matador: Alberto López Simón
- Best Novillero: Andrés Roca Rey
- Best Rejoneador: Pablo Hermoso de Mendoza
- Best Ganadería: Adolfo Martín
Membership is open to all who apreciate and respect taurine matters. P
lease visit Membership benefits & fees for details and information on how to pay subscriptions
Contact
General queries, please follow this
link ,alternatively email
clubtaurinolondon@gmail.com
Membership payments please use ctolpayments@googlemail.com