"My name is Maurice Micklewhite, -not a lot of people know that."

Well actually his full name is Maurice Joseph Micklewhite, -he started acting under the stage name of Michael Scott but when he landed a television role with a good speaking part he had to join Equity and there was already a Michael Scott on their books. His agent gave him 30 minutes to come up with a new surname. Michael rang back from Leicester Square, where all around him were cinemas and one was showing the film, 'The Caine Mutiny' starring Humphrey Bogart, one of his all-time favourite actors. Michael decided his new stage name should be 'Michael Caine' but claims now that he had been looking the other way, he would be called Michael 101 Dalmatians (his joke not mine, -although it does remind me of how cats eyes were discovered when their inventor Percy Shaw noticed his headlights catch the eyes of a cat that just happened to be walking towards him. But they reckon that had the cat been walking the other way, -he'd have invented the pencil sharpener?). Anyroad, Michael Caine has never actually changed his name by deed poll, so was even knighted as Sir Maurice Micklewhite (he said he wanted to do it for his father, although officially he can still be known as Sir Michael Caine).

A short time before this picture was taken Michael's Mum died and he then found out that he had a half-brother who had been born, illegitimately, in 1924, called David. David had been born with epilepsy, which was very hard to treat in 1924 and had spent his entire life in an institution. His mother had secretly visited him every Monday without any of the family ever knowing about him. David died in 1992.

One of the many models I remember as a young assistant was Shakira Baksh (another was Sandra Paul who got married to Michael Howard, ex- Home Secretary and later leader of the Conservative Party). The story goes that in 1972 Michael saw her in an advertisement for Maxwell House coffee and decided then and there that he was in love with her. He immediately made enquiries to find out who she was, expecting to have to travel to Brazil to meet her, but actually, she lived only a short distance away from him in London. He got her telephone number and asked her out and by 8th January 1973 they married in Las Vegas.

Michael had his big film break in 'Zulu' after he accidentally shot a fellow actor named Will. This tragedy occurred after the Captain said 'Take aim and fire at will.' Apart from that he's best known for saying 'You're only supposed to blow the bloody doors off!'