Editing Michael Caine (section)

==Early life==
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| caption1 = [[Blue plaque]] marking Caine's birthplace at [[St Olave's Hospital]] in [[Rotherhithe]], south-east London
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| caption2 = Blue plaque at the former school in [[North Runcton]] where, as a wartime evacuee, Caine made his stage debut
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Michael Caine was born Maurice Joseph Micklewhite at [[St Olave's Hospital]] in the [[Rotherhithe]] district of London on 14 March 1933,<ref>Michael Caine, ''What's It All About'' (Ballantine Books, 1994)</ref><ref>[https://www.britannica.com/biography/Michael-Caine "Michael Caine Biography"], ''Encyclopaedia Britannica''. Accessed 9 July 2023.</ref><ref name="autogenerated1965">Rotherhithe did not become part of the London Borough of Southwark until its creation in 1965. In 1933, it was part of the Metropolitan Borough of Bermondsey in the County of London (abolished 1965)</ref><ref>Michael Caine, ''My Autobiography: The Elephant to Hollywood'' (Hodder & Stoughton, 2011), p. 16.</ref> the son of cook and [[charwoman]] Ellen Frances Marie (née Burchell; 1900–1989)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.timedetectives.co.uk/doc/MichaelCaineFamilyTree.pdf |title=Michael Caine Family Tree |access-date=26 April 2013}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{cite book|last=Caine|first=Michael|title=The Elephant to Hollywood|year=2011|publisher=Henry Holt & Co.|location=New York City|isbn=978-0-8050-9390-2|page=[https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780805093902/page/6 6]|url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780805093902/page/6}}</ref> and a [[fish market]] porter also called Maurice Joseph Micklewhite (1899–1956). His father was from a [[Catholic Church|Catholic]] [[Irish Travellers|Irish Traveller]] family background.<ref name="IT1">{{cite news |last1=Clarke |first1=Donald |title=Michael Caine: Still willing to blow the bloody doors off |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/film/michael-caine-still-willing-to-blow-the-bloody-doors-off-1.3619061 |newspaper=[[The Irish Times]] |publisher=Irish Times Trust |access-date=4 June 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240604135127/https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/film/michael-caine-still-willing-to-blow-the-bloody-doors-off-1.3619061 |archive-date=4 June 2024 |location=[[Tara Street, Dublin]] |language=en |date=8 September 2018}}</ref> Caine was raised in his mother's [[Protestant]] faith.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.walesonline.co.uk/showbiz-and-lifestyle/2009/05/01/caine-s-magical-performance-in-is-anybody-out-there-91466-23519005/ |title=Lifestyle – Caine's magical performance in Is Anybody Out There? |publisher=WalesOnline |date=1 May 2009 |access-date=6 July 2012}}</ref> He had a younger brother, [[Stanley Caine|Stanley]] (1935–2013), who also became an actor, and an older maternal half-brother named David Burchell. He grew up in London's [[Southwark]] district; during the [[Second World War]], he was [[Evacuations of civilians in Britain during World War II|evacuated]] {{convert|100|mi|km}} to [[North Runcton]], Norfolk, where he made his acting debut at the village school and had a pet horse called Lottie.<ref name="Michael">{{cite book |title=Blowing the bloody doors off: and other lessons in life |first=Michael |last=Caine |location=London | publisher=Grand Central Publishing|date=16 October 2018 |isbn=9781473689305 |oclc=1057482446}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.runctonweb.co.uk/mcaine.html |title=Michaorfolk childhood |publisher=Runctonweb.co.uk |access-date=17 October 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090830215052/http://www.runctonweb.co.uk/mcaine.html |archive-date=30 August 2009}}</ref>

After the war, Caine's father was [[demobilised]] and the family were rehoused by the council in Marshall Gardens in London's [[Elephant and Castle]] area, where they lived in a [[prefabricated house]] made in Canada<ref>Michael Caine, ''My Autobiography: The Elephant to Hollywood'' (Hodder & Stoughton, 2011), p. 28.</ref> as much of London's housing stock had been destroyed during [[the Blitz]] in 1940 and 1941. Caine later wrote in his autobiography, "The prefabs, as they were known, were intended to be temporary homes while London was reconstructed, but we ended up living there for eighteen years—and for us, after a cramped flat with an outside toilet, it was luxury."<ref>{{cite book|first=Michael|last=Caine|title=My Autobiography: The Elephant to Hollywood|publisher=Macmillan Publishers Ltd.|location=London, England|date=26 October 2011|page=29}}</ref>

At the age of 10, Caine acted in a school play as the father of the ugly sisters in ''[[Cinderella]]''. His trousers' zipper was undone, prompting the audience to laugh, which inspired him to pursue an acting career.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9obGdzeSD4|title=Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine, and Alan Arkin Answer the Web's Most Searched Questions|date=6 April 2017|access-date=19 March 2020|website=YouTube|publisher=[[Wired (magazine)|Wired]]}}</ref> In 1944, he passed his [[eleven-plus]] examination, winning a scholarship to [[Hackney Downs School]].<ref name=Micklewhite>For an account of his evacuation and early school years, as sent to Jerry Pam—another Hackney Downs pupil whom he met in the 1950s, who was six years his senior, and who has become his publicist for "over 50 years"—see "MC" [Michael Caine], "A Message from Evacuee Maurice Micklewhite", ''The Clove's Lines: The Newsletter of The Clove Club: The Old Boys of [[Hackney Downs School]]'' 3.2 (March 2009): 16.</ref> After a year there, he moved to [[Wilson's School]] in [[Camberwell]], which he left at age 16 after gaining [[School Certificate (UK)|School Certificates]] in six subjects. He then worked briefly as a filing clerk and messenger for a film company in [[Victoria, London|Victoria]] and film producer [[Jay Lewis]] on [[Wardour Street]].<ref name=70notout>{{cite book|year=2004|first=William|last=Hall|isbn=1-84454-019-7|title=The Biography of Sir Michael Caine; 70 Not Out|publisher=John Blake}}</ref>