British

Sir Michael Caine’s Legacy: Childhood Dreams Come True

Bill Thompson

On this day, March 14, 1933 a baby boy named Maurice Joseph Micklewhite was born in London. His parents were working class, and his family lived a meager existence.

But at age 10, young Maurice was bitten by the acting bug thanks to a small part in a school play.

That launched an 8th decade career for the man we now know as Michael Caine. He adopted his stage name off the success of The Caine Mutiny.

By the time he retired a couple of years ago Michael Caine had appeared in 160 movies, picking up two Oscars and three Golden Globe awards along the way.

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His best known films include Alfie, The Ipcress File, The Man Who Would Be King, A Bridge Too Far, Hannah and Her Sisters, Sleuth, Miss Congeniality, and Austin Powers.

In 2000 he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth to become Sir Michael Caine.

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In 1992, Cain wrote what would become the first of three memoirs, a book called What’s It All About? That’s what I have the chance to spend a few minutes with this incredible actor.

So here now, from 1992, Sir Michael Caine.

Today, as Sir Michael Caine celebrates his 90 second birthday, he lives in retirement in London.

Andrew Morton

Bill Thompson
Photo by Open Media Ltd.

Tomorrow, May 6, is a big day for Britain’s King Charles III. It’s his coronation day.

Charles, of course, succeeded to the throne when his mother, Queen Elizabeth, passed away last year.

Now, at age 74, Charles is ready to officially become king.

Since 1981, British journalist and author Andrew Morton has been following the royal family. In 1991, he wrote a book called iIside Buckingham Palace, billed as an inside glimpse into the private lives of the royals.

Now keeping in mind that this interview took place 32 years ago, things may have changed, but this is a look at what Buckingham Palace was like in the early 1990s.

So here now, from 1991, journalist. Andrew Morton.

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PD James

Bill Thompson

For decades, going back to the 1970s, one of the most popular contemporary British mystery writers was PD James.

In a style sometimes reminiscent of Agatha Christie, James wrote about cases solved by her fictional detective she named Adam Dalgliesh.

He was a character she named after a teacher at Cambridge High School.

Book after book, a reputation and popularity grew, until in 1991 James was named a Life Peer in Britain’s House of Lords. She was Baroness James of Holland Park.

I interviewed her several times over the years, about her various Dalgleish nysteries. And then, in 2000, we talked about her autobiographical book “A Time To Be In Earnest.”

So here now, from 2000, P.D. James.

P.D. James wrote four more books in the years after this intervoew, the last of them in 2008.

The Baroness James of Holland Park died in 2014 at the age of 94.

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