Michael Harris Caine

Sir Michael Harris Caine (17 June 1927 – 20 March 1999)

Caine attended Bedales, an independent school notable for its progressive ethos.

Career Caine joined Booker plc in 1952 as a management trainee. He also launched the Russian Booker Prize, awarded from 1992 to 2017.

Caine headed and maintained several Africa-focused organizations and initiatives, including the Royal African Society, London's Africa Centre (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.

Caine was frequently confused with the actor Michael Caine; Baroness Nicholson said that this happened "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. On 7 February, during his recovery, his breathing tube became blocked. Nurses were at first unable to repair it, and he fell into a coma due to the loss of oxygen to his brain. On 18 March, he was transferred to St Thomas' Hospital, where he died two days later, at the age of 71. It was ruled a death by misadventure. His widow, Baroness Nicholson, believed his death was the result of poor hospital standards, and subsequently called for increased oversight in private hospitals. An intensive care doctor interviewed for a Panorama special about the incident said that the staff of an NHS hospital may have been better prepared to care for Caine.