The author tells the story of his involvement with the playwright. It began with four productions of plays by Buero, between 1966 and 1973, at the University of Manchester, correspondence about them, and a first encounter in Chester in 1968. But as the dramatist's works became a major topic of the academic's teaching and research, their relationship developed, via further meetings in Madrid and frequent exchanges of letters and cards (several extracts from which are reproduced), into a close and productive friendship, that was to last until—and after—Buero's death in April 2000.