Features

LONDON — A much-anticipated “new” Beatles record, created with the help of artificial intelligence, will be released next week on November 2, former band members Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr revealed on Thursday.

“Now And Then”, first written and sung by ex-Beatle John Lennon and developed by the rest of the band, has now been finally finished by McCartney and Starr — and AI — decades after its original recording.

McCartney, 81, announced its imminent release in June, in what has been dubbed in a promotional trailer “the last Beatles song”.

The track will be unveiled at 1300 GMT on November 2 by Apple Corps, Capitol and Universal Music Enterprises (UMe), with a music video debuting the following day.

A 12-minute documentary written and directed by Oliver Murray — best known for a 2022 biopic mini-series on The Rolling Stones — will premiere on YouTube the evening, before featuring commentary from McCartney and Starr.

“Now And Then” was recorded by Lennon in the late 1970s at his home in New York’s Dakota Building, and also features piano music.

Working with Peter Jackson, the film director behind the 2021 documentary series “The Beatles: Get Back”, AI was used to separate Lennon’s voice from the piano chords.

‘Emotional’ 

“There it was, John’s voice, crystal clear,” McCartney said, in comments published alongside the announcement of the release date.

“It’s quite emotional and we all play on it, it’s a genuine Beatles recording,” he added.

“In 2023, to still be working on Beatles music, and about to release a new song the public haven’t heard, I think it’s an exciting thing.”

McCartney and Starr finished the song last year, including fellow ex-Beatle George Harrison’s electric and acoustic guitar recorded in 1995.

Recording at Capitol Studios in Los Angeles, they also added Starr’s drum part alongside bass, piano, a slide guitar solo by McCartney — inspired by Harrison — and more backing vocals.

Starr added the process “was the closest we’ll ever come to having him [Lennon] back in the room so it was very emotional for all of us”.

“It was like John was there, you know. It’s far out.”

The Beatles — Lennon, McCartney, Starr and Harrison — split in 1970, with each going on to have solo careers, but they never reunited.

Lennon was shot dead in New York in 1980 aged 40 while Harrison died of lung cancer in 2001, aged 58.

‘Meant to be’ 

“Now And Then” was one of several tracks on a cassette that Lennon had recorded for McCartney a year before his death. It was given to him by Lennon’s widow Yoko Ono in 1994.

Two other songs, “Free As A Bird” and “Real Love”, were cleaned up by the producer Jeff Lynne, and released in 1995 and 1996.

An attempt was made to do the same with “Now And Then” but the project was abandoned because of background noise on the demo.

AI has now made that possible, though its use in music is the subject of industry-wide debate, with some denouncing copyright abuses and others praising its prowess.

McCartney said earlier this year that the technology’s use was “kind of scary but exciting because it’s the future”.

Sean Ono Lennon, the son of Lennon and Ono, said it was “incredibly touching” to hear the former Beatles working together again “after all the years that dad had been gone”.

“It’s the last song my dad, Paul, George and Ringo got to make together. It’s like a time capsule and all feels very meant to be,” he added.

“Now And Then” will be released as a double A-side, with the band’s 1962 debut single “Love Me Do”, and cover art by US artist Ed Ruscha.

LOS ANGELES — “Life on Our Planet”, the new natural history series from Netflix and Steven Spielberg, sets out to tell the entire, dramatic story of life on Earth in a serialised, “binge watch” format.

Streaming globally from Wednesday, the show’s eight episodes transport viewers through Earth’s five previous mass extinction events, each recreated with computer-generated visual effects.

As Morgan Freeman’s narration reminds us, life has always found a way to endure every catastrophic event thrown at it over 4 billion years, from brutal ice ages to meteorites.

Each time, species that survive the destruction do battle for the next era’s dominance in a “Game of Thrones”-style fight — only between vertebrates and invertebrates, or reptiles and mammals, instead of Starks and Lannisters.

“What we wanted to do, our intention at the very beginning, was to serialise the story of life. Make it a kind of binge watch. Because the story is so dramatic,” said showrunner Dan Tapster.

“I think, and I hope, that is something that we’ve achieved, which is possibly a world-first in the natural history space.”

Aside from a series of cliffhanger finales, “Life on Our Planet” finds dramatic tension with a series of ordinary, loveable underdogs who “win” evolution against the odds — at least for a few hundred million years.

The influence of executive producer Spielberg’s company, Amblin Television, encouraged a series with “a lot more emotion” and “pathos” than other natural history programmes, said Tapster.

The show picks out key species, such as the first fish with a backbone, or the first vertebrate to migrate from ocean to land.

With 99 per cent of all the species that ever lived now extinct, filmmakers had no shortage to choose between.

“There’s about at least a billion species that are no longer with us, and we had to narrow that down to 65,” said Tapster.

But those selected are often unlikely heroes — plucky survivors, such as the odd-looking Arandaspis fish, which take their chance to shine as larger ocean beasts falter, and reshape the future of life.

Arandaspis “is a bit rubbish, it’s weird... But it’s in [the show], because it has a really crucial role” in evolution, said Visual Effects Supervisor Jonathan Privett.

“One of the things I really love about that scene also is that Arandaspis has just got a hint of ‘ET’ about him,” added Tapster.

The series employs visual effects from Industrial Light & Magic, the company established by “Star Wars” creator George Lucas, which pioneered the groundbreaking 3D dinosaurs for Spielberg’s “Jurassic Park” three decades ago.

Monsters of the ancient past, from dinosaurs to the far earlier, sea-dwelling Cameroceras with their giant 8 metre shells, are rendered over the top of real backgrounds shot by the filmmakers.

To do this, producers had to scour the planet for contemporary landscapes that most closely resemble the habitats of creatures up to 450 million years ago.

“The animals really sit in a real world. I think it’s seamless, and I think it’s a very authentic way of taking us back into that time,” said producer Keith Scholey.

Filmmakers also had to use visual effects tools to painstakingly remove pesky modern newcomer species, like fish, mammals — and even grass.

“Grass was the bane of our lives,” recalls Tapster.

Grass “only really took over the world about 30 million years ago... that, for us, meant we had to do a lot of gardening.”

‘Dominant species’ 

The show enters a crowded marketplace, going up against David Attenborough’s latest BBC series “Planet Earth III”, which also launched this week.

It follows Apple TV+’s “Prehistoric Planet”, also narrated by Attenborough, which uses computer-generated effects to recreate the age of dinosaurs.

But “Life on Our Planet” also aims to stand out from the competition due to the timely message embedded within its narrative.

Despite the show’s interest in cliffhangers and plot twists, it is not much of a spoiler to say that it ends with life surviving, and humans on top.

Yet, with a sixth mass extinction event already under way due to humankind’s impact on Earth, there is a deeply sobering warning too.

“The five events we’ve had so far, there has been one common denominator — and that is, the dominant species as you go into that extinction never came out,” says series producer Alastair Fothergill.

“We are creating the sixth one, and I think you probably think we are the dominant species at the moment...”

Tapster added: “In a strange way, there is a message of hope within that.

“Because not only is this the first extinction event that is being caused by a species, but we also have the ability to stop it”.

TOKYO — A YouTuber with 2.4 million subscribers apologised on Tuesday after a video of him and three others free-riding around Japan became the latest example of fame-seeking foreigners riling locals.

The YouTuber known by the username Fidias posted a video over the weekend of the four riding trains and buses around Japan — in some cases without paying.

In the video, Fidias hides in a toilet of a bullet train, pretends to be ill when confronted by a ticket collector, and then escapes to board another train where he pulls the same trick.

Another clip shows him entering a hotel and pretending to be a guest in order to get free breakfast.

“I just [got] access to a five-star Japanese buffet. And we’re leaving the hotel without getting caught and without any problem,” he triumphantly tells the camera.

Other parts of the video show the four, one of whom appears to be the YouTuber Night Scape who has 1.7 million followers, begging money from locals to pay for tickets.

It was unclear when the footage was shot or whether the three men and one woman were still in Japan.

“Another strange, annoying YouTuber from abroad emerged. In addition to this guy Fidias, the three others should be arrested,” one social media user said in Japanese.

Another said: “surprisingly, comments section to his [online post] is full of applause. [Police] should arrest him to prevent copycat crimes from happening”.

‘Not our goal’ 

Regional train operator JR Kyushu said it was studying the footage before deciding whether to inform the police.

“We are aware of the case and investigating facts around it,” a spokesman told AFP.

Fidias on Tuesday posted an apology on his channel, saying: “Hello beautiful people i apologise to the Japanese people if we made them feel bad that was not our goal ! from now on i am going to be make more research to the cultures we go to and try to prevent this from happening again.”

The incident came a month after Japanese police arrested a US livestreamer known as Johnny Somali for allegedly trespassing into a construction site.

According to video footage, Ismael Ramsey Khalid, 23, wore a facemask and repeatedly shouted “Fukushima” to construction workers who urged him to leave the site, police officer Genta Hayashi told AFP, referring to the stricken nuclear power plant.

Another clip shows Khalid, who describes himself as a former child soldier, harassing train passengers with references to the US atomic bombings of Japan in 1945.

Khalid has only 12,500 followers on YouTube and 10,800 on another platform known as Kick, where his account is marked “offline”. His Twitch account was reportedly taken down.

‘Bad manners’ 

In 2017, US YouTuber Logan Paul attracted controversy with a video he posted of a dead body in a Japanese “suicide forest” that drew 6 million views before being taken down.

Incidents of foreigners behaving badly, including by drinking in public and littering, are a regular cause of annoyance in largely law-abiding Japan, not least on Mount Fuji.

The government is working on a package of measures aimed at reducing “overtourism”, reportedly including more expensive train tickets and musical rubbish bins.

“In some areas and during certain periods, there has been an impact on the lives of local residents due to inbound tourists, such as bad manners,” Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said this month.

A rugged but refined SUV with plenty of practicality and authentic off-road ability, the Ford Everest may be a well known quantity in Australia, South Africa and other automotive markets, but has finally made its anticipated Middle East debut in its third generation. Bridging the gap between Ford’s luxuriously family-friendly Explorer and dedicated and iconic Bronco off-road SUVs, the Everest’s abilities are many cuts above now popular car-based crossovers, and made its point in a most impressive fashion during a recent and grueling regional launch event test drive in Oman.

Like the Bronco, the Everest is based on a modified version of the same basic platform as the Ford Ranger mid-size pick-up truck, but with its performance, design, equipment, comfort and capability, it punches above many pick-up truck-based would-be rivals. Heavily related to the Ranger at the front, the Everest utilises tough body-on-chassis construction, but adopts a coil-sprung Watt’s link live axle rear suspension set-up in place of leaf springs, for enhanced comfort and handling dynamics. Its integrated wagon-style body is meanwhile expected to provide for improved refinement and rigidity.

Statuesque style

Bearing familial resemblance to the Ranger and other Ford trucks and SUVs with its assertively upright design, including a distinctive and dramatically shark-like fascia with deep mesh pattern grille, heavily browed C-shaped headlights and twin-spoke metallic slats, the Everest oozes a more distinctive style than either “softer” swept back or more bulkily aggressive rivals. Sitting high off the ground and featuring a level waistline, sculpted surfacing, jutting rear spoiler and a visually minimized distance between its wheel-arch apex and bonnet top, the Everest’s statuesque styling sensibility is uniquely sophisticated.

Sitting longitudinally under its muscular and upright dual ridge bonnet, the Everest is driven by familiarly powerful but efficient turbocharged 2.3-litre four-cylinder engine, which also powers the Mustang. Developing 296BHP and 310lb/ft torque at an estimated 5,500rpm and 3,000rpm, respectively, for service here, the Everest’s engine spools up swiftly with near imperceptible turbo lag, and allow for responsively brisk — but unspecified — 0-100km/h acceleration. Confidently versatile through engine speeds and eager to rev to redline, the Everest however draws on a muscularly deep mid-range torque reservoir for effortless overtaking and steep inclines.

Authentic ability

Powering the rear wheels for efficient on-road driving through a slick and quick shifting 10-speed automatic gearbox, the Everest can meanwhile engage its four-wheel-drive system on the move, either through a rotary dial or off-road driving modes, which tailor various parameters for different conditions. With multiple ratios enhancing performance, versatility, refinement and efficiency, its gearbox works like a charm on — and off-road. Intuitively choosing gears, whether blasting up difficult sand dunes or gently cruising through town, it negates the instinct to manually select gears through a less intuitively positioned lever-mounted button.

Fitted with tougher all-terrain 255/65R18 tyres in mid-range XLT specification, the Everest makes short work of various off-road conditions, including river beds strewn with small jagged rocks, and can wade through 800mm of water. Blasting through steeply sloped and side-angled dunes with ease, the Everest’s suspension took the multiple punishing lumps, bumps and dips in its stride, aided by generous off-road angles and 220mm ground clearance. Low ratio four-wheel-drive can meanwhile be engaged for the most demanding low-speed high power situations, and a locking rear differential enhances traction when needed.

Rugged refinement

With its cooling system proving faultless under demanding off-road conditions and heat — even with A/C on full blast — the Everest is however more than just a rugged workhorse, but is also a comfortable and well-mannered long distance express for seven. Smooth and stable at speed for long journeys, the Everest meanwhile proved to be a tidier, more agile and better handling vehicle than expected for its class, height and estimated 2.3-tonne mass. With quick and direct steering, it is eager into corners, with great balance throughout and is grippy when powering out. 

 Taut through corners and settled over imperfections, the Everest is slightly firm over jagged low speed bumps, but otherwise smooth, comfortable and forgiving. Its cabin is quiet, refined and well-insulated from harshness, while an innovative side mirror design remedies interior wind reverberation. Spacious for front and middle row occupants, its rearmost seats are meanwhile useable and accessible, while its configurable luggage volume is generous. Its cabin is upmarket in ambiance and uncluttered in design, with mostly good materials and extensive standard convenience, infotainment, tech and safety systems, even in XLT specification.

SPECIFICATIONS

Engine: 2.3-litre, turbocharged in-line 4-cylinders

Bore x stroke: 87.55 x 94mm

Compression ratio: 9.5:1*

Valve-train: 16-valve, DOHC

Gearbox: 10-speed automatic

Driveline: Four-wheel-drive, low gear transfer case, locking rear differential

Power, BHP (PS) [kW]: 296 (300) [220] @5,500rpm*

Specific power: 130.7BHP/litre

Torque, lb/ft (Nm): 310 (420) @3,000rpm*

Specific torque: 185.5Nm/litre

Fuel capacity: 80-litres

Length: 4,914mm

Width: 1,923mm

Height: 1,841mm

Wheelbase: 2,900mm

Track: 1,620mm

Overhang, F/R: 871/1,143mm

Ground clearance: 229mm

Water fording: 800mm

Headroom, F/M/R: 1,024/992/925mm

Legroom, F/M/R: 1,057/912/806mm

Shoulder room, F/M/R: 1,450/1,443/1,328mm

Cargo volume, behind 1st/2nd/3rd row: 1,823-/898-/259-litres

Approach angle: 30.4°

Break-over angle: 22.2°

Departure angle: 25.3°

Kerb weight: approximately 2,300kg*

Towing capacity, braked: 3,100kg

Suspension, F/R: Double wishbones / Watt’s link, live axle, coil springs

Steering: Electric-assisted rack & pinion

Turning circle: 11.8-meters

Brakes: Ventilated discs / discs

Tires: 255/65R18

*Estimate

By Rania Sa’adi, 
Rapid Transformational Therapist & Clinical Hypnotherapist

So, what is fear? 

Fear is one of the core emotions that we, as human beings, are born with. 

The purpose of feeling fear is to protect us from danger, the first function of the mind is to keep us away from danger. And the moment our subconscious mind feels a threat, it starts sending signals to the body.

The body begins to secrete stress hormones: Cortisol and adrenaline. Blood rushes to the muscles to help us face danger, whether by fighting the danger or fleeing. We startfeeling the blood withdraw from our face and muscles spasm or tighten.

Obviously, once the threat is gone, hormone levels usually go back to normal. The problem lies in the presence of constant fear and tension that leads to a prolonged rise in these hormones, thus affecting human health in the long run.

Anxiety

Anxiety is part of feeling afraid. It is the fear of something that may or may not happen in the future. It is also associated with a lack of control over a particular situation in the future. For example, people who have a fear of flying actually have a fear of losing control, because, statistically, the most dangerous part of flying is the trip by car from home to the airport. 

The thing that many people do not know is that studies have shown that it only takes 90 seconds for any feeling to go through our body as a chemical reaction, from beginning to end. What makes it stay much longer are the stories we attach to the event.

Acknowledging anxiety

The healthy way to deal with the feeling of anxiety is to first and foremost, acknowledge its existence. This is done by saying it out loud, making it real, and allowing it to pass through for the full 90 seconds.

Feeling anxious is very uncomfortable. Most people don’t know what to do with it and so they resort to three things: Avoidance, distraction, or numbing. Suppressing these feelings means that they are all kept in the body, eventually resulting in physical symptoms and ailments like migraines, back pain, ulcers and cancer.

Dealing with the anxiety of breast cancer testing 

First, you need to acknowledge the feeling of anxiety and let it pass through. And then you need to ask yourself these questions:

1. What could be the reason behind it? Because you cannot fix what you don’t understand. One effective technique is to write down on a piece of paper whatever comes to your mind, a technique called “Brain Dump”. It serves as a tool to remove all the noise in your mind and have that sense of clarity to find out why you feel nervous.

2. What is the worst case scenario? Are there others who have gone through worst case scenarios and succeeded?

3. What are the steps that I can follow to reach the same outcome? Steps give us a sense of control

Here are some methods and techniques that anyone can use to overcome the fear of testing: 

1. Visualisation: Einstein says, “Imagination is more powerful than knowledge.” The mind does not differentiate between fact and fiction. And one of the effective techniques to get over your fear of testing is to visualise the entire process before the event. See it as you want it to be, feel the feelings of relief once you are done and the happiness and pride that you are taking care of yourself. By allowing your imagination to show you the bright side of this experience, you will feel an immediate sense of calm and relaxation 

2. Meditation helps us focus on the present, not the future, bringing our stress level down 

3. Adopting a correct breathing technique, before and during the experience: Sending calming signals to the brain and reversing the rapid short breathing that we feel when we are anxious

Reprinted with permission from Family Flavours magazine

PARIS — The Rolling Stones burst back to life on Friday with “Hackney Diamonds”, their first album in 18 years, featuring megastar cameos from Elton John, Lady Gaga and even their old rival, Paul McCartney.

Now in their seventh decade of making music together, the legendary British band is back with their 24th studio album.

McCartney joins in for the first time, playing bass on the punky “Bite My Head Off”.

Back in their 1960s heyday, much was made of the rivalry between the Stones and the Beatles, but it was always more marketing than reality, with John Lennon singing on the Stones’ “We Love You” in 1967.

“Paul and I have always been friends,” Stones frontman Mick Jagger, 80, told France 2 this week.

McCartney’s appearance was something of an accident, Keith Richards told Guitar Player magazine.

“He happened to be around and dropped by,” Richards said. “I don’t even think he intended to play bass on a track, but once he was in there, I just said, ‘Come on, you’re in. You ain’t leaving till you play.’”

While McCartney and Elton John’s contributions are somewhat hard to pick out, Lady Gaga and Stevie Wonder make more of an impact on “Sweet Sounds of Heaven”, a blues-y ballad in the vein of classics such as “You Can’t Always Get What You Want”.

‘Hackneyed duds’ 

Reviews have been mostly polite rather than gushing.

The Guardian gave it four stars, saying: “If this is the end, they’re going out with a bang,” while the LA Times called it “surprisingly spry, sparked by the deathless riffs”.

There has indeed been plenty of hype ahead of the release, with some saying it is their best piece of work since “Some Girls” in 1978.

But others were deeply unimpressed by the sleek production from Andrew Watt, used to working with popstars like Justin Bieber and Dua Lipa.

“Hackney Diamonds” is old London slang for “broken glass”, but was used as a pun by Pitchfork, who called the album “a bunch of hackneyed duds, polished until the character has disappeared”.

No one is pretending it comes close to the legendary run between 1968 and 1972 that saw the release of “Beggars Banquet”, “Let It Bleed”, “Sticky Fingers” and “Exile on Main St.” in quick succession.

Nor does it head in any new directions.

“The group seemed to concede years ago that, with such a legendary discography, new albums and attempts at new styles are almost superfluous,” wrote Variety.

“[But] if there’s a better way to end the Rolling Stones 60-plus-year recording career, it’s hard to imagine what it could be,” it added.

DURBAN, South Africa — Every little detail counts in an isicathamiya competition: the harmony, the choreography, the costumes, the entrance on stage, the exit and, of course, the singing.

On Saturday night at a Durban theatre in eastern South Africa, Philani Ntuli and his group of 15 singers have just aced their performance, drawing loud cheers from the public.

The precise five-minute routine brought out their powerful bass voices enhanced by two pairs of altos and sopranos.

Group members hopped rhythmically from one foot to the other, before leaving the stage in single file, the jackets of their salmon-coloured suits folded on their forearms.

While many South Africans were glued to their TVs as the Springboks took on Ireland in the Rugby World Cup, the theatre was buzzing with several hundred music lovers.

Developed in South Africa after the First World War, this a cappella singing style is anchored in Zulu culture. Competitions — often lasting all night — are a mainstay of the genre.

In Durban, performers from at least 130 all-male groups battled to the tune of catchy rhymes, singing about everyday contemporary themes, from road safety to Covid-19 measures.

Mostly dressed in matching suits inspired by 1940s and 50s fashion, the ensembles, comprising an average of more than 10 members, quickly followed one another on stage to the delight of concertgoers.

“It’s more based into the reality than other music,” Nomtobeko Mtobela, 35, who came to the theatre with two friends, said of the genre.

“It has that — I don’t know how to call it — that African thing into it”.

Isicathamiya has its roots in a mix of local music, religious choirs and the so-called “minstrel” shows popular in the United States in the 19th century.

It became popular thanks to contests organised by Zulu miners working in big South African cities, who used to meet on Saturday evenings and sing until dawn.

To this day, competitions are organised throughout the year, particularly in Johannesburg and the Zulu heartland of KwaZulu-Natal, of which Durban is the largest city.

The Saturday night contest, however, was advertised as one of the most important of the year and carried special significance.

Ending well past midnight, it fell on Heritage Day, a public holiday aiming to promote the diversity in what is known as the “Rainbow Nation”.

Isicathamiya takes its name from the Zulu word “cathama” which evokes the action of walking softly and furtively like a cat.

It gained international recognition with American singer Paul Simon’s 1986 album “Graceland”, which featured leading isicathamiya group Ladysmith Black Mambazo.

Almost four decades later, it is still going strong, as testified by the large number of young singers taking part in the Durban contest.

20-year-old Ntuli, who is the frontman of his group, thinks it is a good thing for young people.

“It keeps us away from criminality because we spend most of our time rehearsing,” he said.

Winners took home prestige as well as a monetary prize. The festival included awards for elegance and a separate beauty contest for women called “onobuhle”.

LONDON — Veteran British actor Michael Caine, a Hollywood icon with a decades-spanning career littered with awards and acclaim, revealed on Saturday that he has retired from acting at the age of 90.

The Oscar-winner bows out following another widely-praised performance in his final film, “The Great Escaper”, which was released on October 6.

In it he plays real-life World War II British veteran Bernie Jordan, who escaped from an elderly residential care home to attend 2014 D-Day celebrations in France.

“I keep saying I’m going to retire. Well I am now,” Caine told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

“The only parts I’m liable to get now are 90-year-old men. Or maybe 85.

“They’re not going to be the lead. You don’t have leading men at 90, you’re going to have young handsome boys and girls. So I thought, I might as well leave with all this.”

A prolific actor known for his amiable Cockney persona and deadpan acting style, Caine has appeared in more than 160 films during his seven-decade career.

Possessing one of Hollywood’s most recognisable — and imitated — voices, he has long enjoyed iconic status in Britain, where he became a defining face of the so-called Swinging Sixties.

His filmography includes classic films ranging from “Zulu” and “The Italian Job” to more recently appearing in “Interstellar” and “The Dark Knight” franchise, alongside Christian Bale.

A six-time Oscar nominee — who has won two Academy Awards, in 1986 (“Hannah and Her Sisters”) and 2000 (“The Cider House Rules”) — he has also earned Golden Globes, BAFTAs and numerous other gongs.

He was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 2000.

Working class roots 

Caine’s acting retirement announcement comes a month before his first novel, “Deadly Game”, is scheduled for release.

He revealed in June that it had been a long-held ambition to write a thriller, noting it is the genre he most enjoys reading.

Born Maurice Joseph Micklewhite in 1933 — to a fish-porter father and cleaner mother — the eventual star chose his stage name in tribute to his favourite movie “The Caine Mutiny”.

He left school at 16 and held a string of odd jobs before serving in the Korean War, only turning to acting after being discharged from the army.

Early starring roles included as working-class spy Harry Palmer in the 1965 Cold War drama “The Ipcress File” and a year later as womanising Alfie Elkins in “Alfie”.

In 1971, he played gangster Jack Carter in the gritty mobland flick “Get Carter” alongside another pin-up of the time, Britt Ekland, cementing him as a household name in Britain.

Prior to that, 1969’s “The Italian Job” allowed Caine to deliver one of his most memorable — and often quoted — lines.

“You’re only supposed to blow the bloody doors off,” his character Charlie Croker says, as his rag-tag team prepares for an audacious gold bullion robbery in Milan.

The 1983 comedy “Educating Rita” saw him praised for his portrayal of a jaded university professor, while he featured in “The Muppet Christmas Carol” in 1992 as a singing and dancing Ebenezer Scrooge.

Some roles failed to impress, but Caine remained unrepentant.

“I have never seen it but by all accounts it is terrible,” Caine once said of “Jaws: The Revenge” — voted the sixth worst summer movie of all time by rottentomatoes.com.

“However, I have seen the house that it built, and it is terrific,” he added.