The origin of Caine impressionists saying "not many people know that" in his voice dates back to October 1972, when comedy legend Peter Sellers started using it in his impressions of Caine. In an interview with Michael Parkinson, Sellers claimed that in real life Caine tended to show off his knowledge of trivia with that line. It is also a riff on a line Caine said in one of his most popular films, Alfie ("Not many people know this.") Whether Caine actually has a habit of rambling on about trivia or not, the line became so synonymous with him that it was worked into the script of Caine's 1983 film Educating Rita as an in-joke. Caine, playing an alcoholic university professor, asks his young pupil, "Did you know that Macbeth was a maggoty apple?" and follows it with the phrase that had already been associated with him for more than a decade. In the context of the film, it presents Caine's character as a drunken know-it-all whose alcohol-fueled arrogance impairs his ability to teach. Just one year later, Caine released a book of trivia titled Not Many People Know That: Michael Caine's Almanac of Amazing Information with proceeds going to charity. Not many people know that!
Chris McKittrick is a published author of fiction and non-fiction and has spoken about film and comic books at conferences across the United States. In addition to his work at WhatCulture!, he is a regular contributor to CreativeScreenwriting.com, MovieBuzzers.com, and DailyActor.com, a website focused on acting in all media. For more information, visit his website at http://www.chrismckit.com.
