As Christopher Bray relates in this fascinating biography, Michael Caine's story is the story of Britain during the twentieth century
Born into south London poverty during the depression-hit thirties, Caine suffered the depredations of War as a child and wasted his energies fighting in Korea during the fifties. Subsequently, he began his long, slow climb up the greasy pole of the acting profession with walk ons and bit parts. But as the old order began to crumble during the Sixties, Caine's working-class origins came into their own. Iconic roles followed one after the other: the old Etonian who no longer quite believes in his power to command in Zulu; The Ipcress File; Alfie; The Italian Job. In these and (literally) dozens of other pictures, Caine became to British cinema what the Beatles were to its rock 'n' roll - but unlike the Beatles he would develop his persona through a longer career. He summed up the grit of the Seventies with Get Carter, the get-rich quick glitz of the Eighties with Mona Lisa, and was the living embodiment of John Major's vaunted 'classless society' of the nineties - a truly world-class British movie star.
