17 Facts About Juan Belmonte

Juan Belmonte fought in a record number of bull fights and was responsible for changing the art of bullfighting.

Juan Belmonte had minor deformities in his legs which forced him to design new techniques and styles of bullfighting.

Juan Belmonte killed his first bull on 24 July 1910.

Juan Belmonte was gored through his chest and pinned against a wall.

Juan Belmonte then had to carry alone the weight of the whole bullfighting establishment, which proved to be unbearable, and which in 1922 led to the first of his three temporary retirements.

In 1919, Juan Belmonte fought 109 bullfights, a number unmatched by any matador before, until the 1965 bullfight season when Manuel Benitez Perez performed in 111 corridas, surpassing Juan Belmonte's record.

Juan Belmonte was a close friend of authors Henry de Montherlant and Ernest Hemingway, and he appears in two of Hemingway's books: Death in the Afternoon and The Sun Also Rises.

Juan Belmonte was the single matador that changed the style of bullfighting.

Juan Belmonte forced the bull to go around him, whereas others until then had jumped almost constantly like circus performers.

Juan Belmonte later developed a grave heart condition, identified by a Madrid specialist who advised him to 'go easy' and to stop riding, an instruction that he initially took to heart but, in the last spring of his life, disobeyed in order to ride his favourite horse, Maravilla, on the ranch with his son.

Juan Belmonte died within a week of his 70th birthday.

Berman and Wallace suggest that this may have been a 'copycat suicide'; on hearing of his friend Hemingway's suicide in 1961, Juan Belmonte is said to have answered 'Well done.

Juan Belmonte ordered that his favourite horse be brought to him, took a handful of cigars, two bottles of his favourite wine and rode out to his finca.

Juan Belmonte is interred at the cemetery of Seville, 20 yards from the grave of his rival of seven seasons, Joselito.

Juan Belmonte's wish was to be buried in the robe of his Holy Week fraternity.

Nevertheless, Juan Belmonte's death provoked a strong sadness in the city of Seville.

Juan Belmonte appears as a character in Woody Allen's 2011 film Midnight in Paris as a friend of Ernest Hemingway, who considers him to be "truly brave".