Michael Caine: My love for West Midlanders

Michael Caine has declared his love for people from the West Midlands - but admits he can't get on with their accent.

He claimed that his visit to Birmingham for a book signing was his first, but he spoke with affection for Black Country actress Julie Walters who starred alongside him in Educating Rita.

Caine, unshaven and casually dressed in a blue shirt and grey body warmer, said: "I've not seen much of Birmingham but it is the first time I've been here, and I'll tell you what is great about it, is the weather.

"When I left London it was pouring with rain and I arrived in Birmingham and it's blazing sunshine. I'm living in the wrong place, I should live up here.

"The Birmingham accent is the most difficult one for an actor. I have never been able to do it - I tried to do it once when I worked in the theatre and I was fired because it was so bad."

Caine was met by 350 loyal fans who had queued for hours to see him at a book signing at Waterstones in Birmingham's High Street for his latest autobiography The Elephant To Hollywood.

All the 600 books in the shop were sold out after two hours of autograph signing and before he had a late lunch of cheese and ham sandwiches, the Hollywood star set aside a few minutes to chat to the Express & Star.

He added: "I have known some great people from the West Midlands and among those is Julie Walters who I starred with in Educating Rita.

"Julie is a fabulous girl, I saw her the other day when we were both doing a voice-over for a commercial for a car company.

"It was fantastic to see her, she looked great and I hadn't seen her in years. She has been such a success and we had such a laugh working together on Educating Rita — I'm so pleased to have seen her do well."

In the title of his autobiography the elephant is The Elephant and Castle in south London, which was pretty much a slum when Maurice Micklewhite, as he was known then, grew up there.

He was the son of a charlady and a Billingsgate porter, who died from liver cancer when Caine was 24. Little Maurice was born with rickets and even though eventually cured of it, he still has weak ankles.

Luckily for him he was evacuated during the war, which meant he ate healthily for the first time and built up his strength, ending up a strapping 6ft 2in. Caine left grammar school at 16, did his national service — seeing action in Korea — then became an actor, working in rep for nine years. He was 30 when his big break came with Zulu in 1964.

In 1973, Caine met and married the love of his life, Shakira, after seeing her in a Maxwell House commercial on television.

She made him clean up his act — he was drinking up to three bottles of vodka a day — and now, at 77, he describes himself as a devoted husband, father and grandfather who only drinks wine in moderation with meals. No longer a tax exile, he divides his time between London and his country house in Surrey.

"I take care of myself because I have three grandchildren," he says. "I think to myself 'I've got to live, I've got to live' because I want to see how their story goes as I'm besotted with them.

"I had two daughters but no son and now my eldest grandson is my son. He's blond with blue eyes and we have this incredible bond."

There is an endearing account in his book of how he and John Lennon in their first flush of fame became soul mates at Cannes, hiding from the press and getting drunk together.

Also he talks about when he was filming on location in Spain and was desperate to meet Bridget Bardot, who was working nearby. When she suddenly appeared in front of him he was so surprised he knocked over a table and spilled drinks everywhere.

"I wrote an autobiography around 20 years ago when I was 60 and thought my career was over," he says. "I thought I would be dull and retire but then everything shot off again, I won a Bafta, a Golden Globe and an Academy Award.

"I've had this incredible other life for the last 20 years and I thought I would write about that.

"Then we figured out that 90 per cent of the people that read this book hadn't read the first one, and so I just re-wrote the lot.

"The response from the people of Birmingham has been quite remarkable and I kept signing until we sold out — it was incredible and I just wish I had more time to meet everyone properly."