United Kingdom, March 28 -- Sir Michael Caine thought it was "great" when he was hospitalised after a fall - because it meant he didn't have to promote a movie.

The 92-year-old actor took a tumble down a pothole when out walking in New York and needed hospital treatment, but he admitted he wasn't as upset as people expected him to be because the injury meant he didn't have to embark on a number of gruelling trips to plug his work.

In an extract from his new memoir 'Don't Look Back, You'll Trip Over' obtained by Entertainment Weekly, Michael wrote: "A few years ago, we were in New York, and I was walking down Lexington Avenue, and I literally fell into a pothole.

"It was a proper tumble, I needed stitches and everything. So poor Shakira...