Among a raft of birthdays today, including Albert Einstein, Mrs Beeton, Eleanor Bron, King Victor Emmanuel II of Italy, Les Brown, Casey Jones, lesbian bookseller and patron of James Joyce Sylvia Beach, Diane Arbus, Johann Strauss Sr., Bill Owen, Jona Lewie, Rita Tushingham, Les Baxter, Billy Crystal, Jasper Carrott, Prince Albert of Monaco, and - erm - Rick Dees of Disco Duck fame, we have not one, but two milestones to celebrate today, dear reader...
...and both with a link to Swinging 60s London [so here's a little something I made earlier (slightly tweaked)]:
Maurice Micklewhite - aka Sir Michael Caine - is a stalwart of British cinema, and he blows out 90 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:
[...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)
FOOTNOTE:
A tribute:
