Sir ''Sir'' is a formal honorific address in English for men, derived from Sire in the High Middle Ages. Both are derived from the old French "Sieur" (Lord), brought to England by the French-speaking Normans, and which now exist in French only as ...

Michael Harris Caine (17 June 1927 – 20 March 1999) was an English businessman. He headed Booker Bros and Booker plc, the food wholesalers. His philanthropic activities included co-founding the Man Booker Prize, creating the

Caine Prize The Caine Prize for African Writing is an annual literary award for the best original short story by an African writer, whether in Africa or elsewhere, published in the English language. The £10,000 prize was founded in the United Kingdom in 20 ...

and the Russian Booker Prize, and serving as president of the

Royal African Society The Royal African Society (RAS) of the United Kingdom was founded in 1901 to promote relations between the United Kingdom and countries in Africa. The RAS is a not-for-profit membership organisation based in London. In addition to producing its jour ...

Career

Michael Harris Caine was born in British Hong Kong on 17 June 1927, the son of economist Sydney Caine, who was later

Financial Secretary of Hong Kong The Financial Secretary () is the title held by the Hong Kong government minister who is responsible for all economic and financial matters (“Department of Finance” per Article 60 of the Basic Law). The position is among the three most sen ...

and director of the

London School of Economics The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) is a public university, public research university located in London, England and a constituent college of the federal University of London. Founded in 1895 by Fabian Society members Sidn ...

. Michael Caine attended Bedales, an independent school notable for its progressive ethos. He studied at the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

, receiving his bachelor's degree after writing on slavery and secession in the United States. He received his master's degree at

George Washington University The George Washington University (GW or GWU) is a Private university, private University charter#Federal, federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C. Chartered in 1821 by the United States Congress, GWU is the largest Higher educat ...

. He was an executive and board member at Booker plc, chief executive from 1975 to 1979 and finally chairman until 1993, the year he retired. He helped establish the Man Booker Prize for literary fiction, using the

Prix Goncourt The Prix Goncourt (french: Le prix Goncourt, , ''The Goncourt Prize'') is a prize in French literature, given by the académie Goncourt to the author of "the best and most imaginative prose work of the year". The prize carries a symbolic reward o ...

as a model. He chaired the Booker Prize Management Committee. He also launched the Russian Booker Prize, awarded from 1992 to 2017. Caine headed and maintained several Africa-focused organizations and initiatives, including the

, London's

Africa Centre The Africa Centre, in Cape Town, South Africa, is structured as a not-for-profit organisation whose purpose is to provide a platform for Pan-African arts and cultural practice to function as a catalyst for social change. All the projects it con ...

(for which he chaired the council of management from 1995), the African Emerging Markets Fund, Africa '95 (chairing the executive committee) and the United Kingdom Council for Overseas Students. For his philanthropic work he was knighted in

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Bicenten ...

Personal life

With his first wife, Janice Mercer, he had one son and one daughter; the couple divorced in 1987. Later that year he married the politician and philanthropist Emma Nicholson. Together they had a foster son, Amar Kanim, who was rescued from Iraq after surviving a

napalm Napalm is an incendiary mixture of a gelling agent and a volatile petrochemical (usually gasoline (petrol) or diesel fuel). The name is a portmanteau of two of the constituents of the original thickening and gelling agents: coprecipitated alu ...

attack during the 1991 uprisings there. Caine was frequently confused with the actor

Michael Caine Sir Michael Caine (born Maurice Joseph Micklewhite; 14 March 1933) is an English actor. Known for his distinctive Cockney accent, he has appeared in more than 160 films in a career spanning seven decades, and is considered a British film ico ...

, as his second wife recalled: "An enormous number of times. The phone would ring in the middle of the night, and there would be these inebriated women calling from Los Angeles saying, 'I'm coming over, I'm on the next plane, get my room ready. Caine died of cancer on 20 March 1999 in London, aged 71.

References

External links

"Papers of Sir Michael Caine, 1927-2012; n.d."
Bodleian Archives & Manuscripts, Bodleian Library. {{DEFAULTSORT:Caine, Michael Harris 1927 births 1999 deaths 20th-century British philanthropists 20th-century English businesspeople Alumni of Lincoln College, Oxford English philanthropists George Washington University Law School alumni Knights Bachelor People educated at Bedales School Spouses of life peers