For lord's sake, as a boy he was fostered during the war and kept in the cupboard under the stairwell, literally locked inside like a real world Harry Potter, while the family went off for weekends. One of our best-loved actors Michael Caine has starred in a huge range of films - including all-time favourites - from the classic British movies Alfie, Zulu and The Italian Job to the Hollywood blockbusting Dark Knight trilogy, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Hannah and Her Sisters and Cider House Rules.

The greatest trick, as he says, has always been ‘to grasp every bloody opportunity that appears in front of me’. As such, I’d describe the book as a bonus volume of life lessons Caine’s learnt along the way, although a less generous reader might describe it as a canny publicity stunt – an attempt to get some extra mileage from those anecdotes and stories that didn’t make the cut the first or second time around. Hollywood legend and British national treasure Sir Michael Caine shares the wisdom, stories, insight and skills that life has taught him in his remarkable career - and now his 85th year. I'll leave you with a final quote, which sums up his overall philosophy, "Find what you love and do it as well as you can.Over my 60 years in the movie business and my 85 years of life, I have learnt a lot from my many glittering successes and my many disastrous failures. Blowing the Bloody Doors Off is something of a companion piece to his two previous volumes, and is best read as such, rather than on its own since there are enough occasions in its pages where the author explicitly refuses to repeat stories he's already treated readers to – such as how he met his wife of 45 years, Shakira . A very enjoyable memoir regarding the actor's life, but with enough of his personal life included to make this a memoir/autobio hybrid. Even if you aren't a fan of his movies, which doubt there are many, there are some powerful life lessons inside. In the end if I could give you one bit of advice, it would be that: find what you love, and do it as well as you can.

The original Italian Job will always be my favourite film - and I shall never forgive what was done to those ‘pretty cars’! Sir Michael Caine, CBE was born Maurice Joseph Micklewaite near Elephant and Castle in South London. From left to right, Margaret Blye as Lorna, Benny Hill as Professor Peach, Michael Caine as Charlie Croker, Michael Standing as Arthur and Raf Vallone as Altabani in Paramount Pictures' 'The Italian Job', 1969. Married for more than 45 years, with two daughters and three grandchildren, he and his wife Shakira live in London and Surrey.You can change your choices at any time by visiting Cookie preferences, as described in the Cookie notice. I must confess that my primary reason for reading this is that I love listening to Michael Caine and wanted to hear him talk for 7 hours.