One of the world's best known actors, Sir Michael Caine, has returned to Norfolk, where he discovered his love of acting. The Oscar winner visited North Runcton to unveil a Blue Plaque to mark his first performance on stage during his wartime childhood. The 70-year-old film star was an evacuee to the village, near King's Lynn. He was sent there from South London when he was seven and then known as Maurice Micklewhite. Sir Michael returned to his old haunts around North Runcton including his former school, which is now the village hall, and his old home next door. The screen legend's voice was brimming with excitement as he told the audience of villagers and local dignitaries of the "genuine affection" he had for North Runcton. He also recounted his memories of the first time he trod on the boards during the school's production of Cinderella. "We did a little pantomime at Christmas," said Sir Michael. "I was seven or eight and played Baron Fitznoodle, who was the father of the Ugly Sisters. "I didn't take the criticism then but I look back on it and how come I was the father of the Ugly Sisters, why couldn't I be Cinderella's dad," he joked. He said the laughs he got in response were what spurred him on to pursue a career in acting. But he admits his role was a long way off from his crafted performances in the classics Zulu, Alfie and The Italian Job. "I was in the play but I was a terrible actor," he chuckled. "I was a laugh. I got it very wrong, but because I got it wrong it was a laugh. "I remember the laughter and that's what started me. It's a concrete expression that you're doing all right. "I didn't know I was being laughed at and instead of with at seven or eight," he added. During Sir Michael's day of nostalgia, he also acknowledged how his headmistress Miss Linton encouraged him to do well and sparked his love of books. "The headmistress here... formed me into a person," he said, "because I was this little guy from South London, a little kid, and she made me appreciate education and she made me read books which was so important. "I was in the senior library... when I was eight. "You couldn't join the senior library until you were 14. When I was eight I was reading the senior library books. "Miss Linton was a tremendous influence," he said. Sir Michael moved to the village with his family at the start of the war and stayed in Norfolk for five years. He said his rural childhood home was a big change to city life and gave him plenty of freedom. "I came here a skinny little runt from the slums of South London and, of course, out here I sprouted right up. "These fields - all these buildings - none of these buildings were here, they were just fields. Of course, coming from London we'd just run straight through - we'd be gone all day. "We had our own trails, we had armies and enemies and everything because, of course, the war was on," he added. Sir Michael was invited by the Eastern Daily Press to take part in the Blue Plaque ceremony. It's part of a scheme to mark places across the county with famous connections. North Runcton's famous ex-resident was welcomed back by parish council chairman June Leaman. She said it was a great occasion for the villagers. "We were all very excited and it's been a really marvellous day because Sir Michael seems a very warm person," she said. "We like to think that his time he spent in North Runcton when he was an evacuee from London actually formed part of the rest of his life," she added. | 
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