I asked my (Spanish-Alicantinian) mother of she knew anyone who cooked with olives. She said that the only person was an aunt from an inland mountain town called Alcoy (this aunt was trained when young in the kitchen of a noble family). My mum's view is that the olives from Alcoy back in the 40s/50s were prepared/cured quite differently to the sharper tasting olives that were served at every meal in the coastal area that my mum (and I) are familiar with. And that the Alcoy style olives were more suited to cooking.

In summary, I haven't ruled out cooking with olives, but I will research what kinds to use before doing so. It so happens that a wider variety are available to me in London than in this part of Spain, so that's where I'll try (my internet connection is also very limited at the moment)