Not a lot of people know that

Sir — In her piece on Michael Caine (Living, Sunday Independent, October 14), Julia Molony is guilty of a couple of terminological inexactitudes.

Firstly, Michael is not an East Ender. Like that equally famous Londoner Charlie Chaplin, Michael hails from that part of south London which takes its name from a famous area pub, The Elephant & Castle.

Therefore, neither Sir Michael nor Sir Charlie are/were Cockneys.

To qualify as such, one has to be born within the sound of Bow Bells, which is in the City of London and thus a considerable distance from the Elephant (not many people know that...)

Both my late mother and my maternal grandmother were born within the sound of Bow Bells and thus were genuine ‘Cor Blimey Cockneys’.

When a first assistant director, I had the good fortune to work with Michael Caine on the much under-rated movie Pulp.

At the time, there was a TV commercial, the jingle of which was based on Smoke Gets In Your Eyes, which Michael sang incessantly — They asked me how I knew, it was Esso Blue, I, of course, replied, With other brands you’ll find, smoke gets in your eyes. My other favourite of Michael Caine’s was the five lives of the actor: Who’s Michael Caine? Try that Michael Caine, Get Michael Caine! Find a Younger Michael Caine. Who’s Michael Caine? Michael Dryhurst,

Roscommon