What say, you, we go out on the town and swing, baby? Yeah!

Connections, connections...

Two milestone birthdays today, and both with a link to Swinging 60s London.

Maurice Micklewhite - aka Sir Michael Caine - is a stalwart of British cinema, and he blows out 85 candles on his cake today! He rose to fame as the super-cool "Harry Palmer" [a working-class equivalent of James Bond] in The Ipcress File, as the eponymous "Jack-the-Lad" Alfie, and (of course) as Cockney wide-boy "Charlie Croker" in that archetypal British 60s classic The Italian Job...



...the latter blockbuster [always on telly here, particularly over the Xmas-New Year break] featured a score written by another towering figure with whom Sir Michael shares not merely a birthday, but a birth-date - Mr Quincy Jones, composer, producer, orchestrator and a man who has worked with just about everybody (from the Dorsey brothers to Michael Jackson; from Frank Sinatra and Ella Fitzgerald to Patti Austin and Chaka Khan)...

...then in the 1990s, a "tribute" to the Swinging 60s became a massive cinematic success, and Quincy's addictive Soul Bossa Nova was resurrected for the occasion:

Austin Powers featuring Quincy Jones' Soul Bossa-Nova

[...and Sir Michael appeared in the second sequel...]

Yeah, Baby, Yeah!

Sir Michael Caine, CBE (born Maurice Joseph Micklewhite Jr., 14th March 1933)

Quincy Delight Jones Jr. (born 14th March 1933)