Oh, What A Knight Trivia Quiz

Answer: 1933

Sir Michael Caine was born on the 14th March 1933 in Rotherhithe, an area of London. His mother, Ellen, was a cook and cleaner while his father, Maurice, was a fish porter. Michael's full name at birth was Maurice Joseph Micklewhite and he first adopted the stage name of Michael Scott but was later informed that another actor was already using this name. Michael then started using the name Michael Caine instead, with Caine apparently being chosen from the 1954 movie title 'The Caine Mutiny'.

Michael also kept his birth name for many years and when he received a knighthood in 2000 he chose to be knighted in the name of Maurice Micklewhite. However, in July 2016 he decided to officially change his name by deed poll to Michael Caine as having two names apparently caused confusion for other people, for instance when he showed his passport.

Answer: Norfolk

The correct answer is the only one in East Anglia. Like many other children living in London at the time, Sir Michael Caine was sent to live in the countryside to be safe from German bombs. He was first evacuated to a place in Berkshire but was ill-treated there and his mother brought him back to London when she found out. In 1940 both Michael and his younger brother Stanley were evacuated to the village of North Runcton near King's Lynn in Norfolk and their mother went with them.

Their mother found work there and the boys went to the local school, which closed in 1985 and became a village meeting place. Some years later in 2003 a blue plaque was attached to one of the building's walls to show that Sir Michael Caine had attended the school between 1940 and 1944. He played the father of the ugly sisters in the pantomime 'Cinderella' at the school, which was his first stage appearance.

Answer: He did not attend one.

After leaving school Sir Michael Caine was an office worker for a couple of years then was called up to do his two years of National Service. He was in the army in the Queens Royal Regiment and the Royal Fusiliers between 1951 and 1953, first serving in Germany and then seeing active service when he fought in the Korean War.

The three acting schools in the answers are all real ones but Michael did not have any formal training as an actor. He started working in theatres in 1953 when he became an assistant stage manager who also had walk-on parts with the Westminster Repertory Company in Horsham, Sussex. He then worked as an actor for the Lowestoft Repertory Company before he moved back to London and began getting small and not always credited roles in the theatre, in movies that were not well known and in television productions.

Answer: The Lark

The 1952 play 'L'Alouette' was written in French and first performed in English in Boston in October 1955. The play is set in the last part of Joan of Arc's life and shows her recalling past events in her life. The actress Julie Harris played Joan in the Broadway production, which ran from November 1955 to June 1956, and won the 1956 Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play.

Although he had had several uncredited parts in television productions, Sir Michael Caine's first credited role was as the character Boudousse, a guard, in 'The Lark', which was shown on the BBC on 11th November 1956. Then later in 1961 he co-starred with Frank Finlay in 'The Compartment', a play written for television by Johnny Speight. The production was critically acclaimed and led to Michael being offered larger parts in television and stage productions.

Answer: Patricia Haines

When Sir Michael Caine was acting in a repertory company in Lowestoft in Suffolk he met an actress named Patricia Haines. The couple married in 1955 and moved to London, where they had a daughter, Dominique. They had a hard time financially then separated after two and a half years of marriage and eventually divorced in 1962. Patricia later married actor Bernard Kay in 1963 and died in 1977 from lung cancer.

Michael dated other women, including Natalie Wood and Jill St John, until he saw actress and model Shakira Baksh in a television commercial for coffee. He obtained her telephone number and continued to ring her until she agreed to go out with him. They married in 1973 and had a daughter, Natasha, who later married and had a daughter and two sons and both boys have the middle names Michael Caine.

The other two incorrect answers are invented names.

Answer: Zulu

Sir Michael Caine's first credited movie role was as a soldier in the 1956 'A Hill in Korea'. One of the movie's stars was Stanley Baker and he later offered Michael a small part in another movie he was involved with. As the director, Cy Endfield, had already given the part to someone else he offered Michael the prominent role of an aristocratic officer. Michael thus co-starred with Stanley Baker and others in the very successful 1964 movie 'Zulu', based on a real 1879 incident when some 150 British soldiers successfully defended a mission at Rorke's Drift in South Africa.

After this, Michael was offered more important roles in movies. The first one after 'Zulu' was in the 1965 'The Ipcress File' in which he played the spy Harry Palmer, as he did in four sequels. The first sequel was the 1966 'Funeral in Berlin' and the second was the 1967 'Billion Dollar Brain' and all three movies were based on books by author Len Deighton. Decades later Michael appeared in two further sequels made for television, the 1995 'Bullet to Beijing' and the 1996 'Midnight in Saint Petersburg', both based on the original character of Harry Palmer but with screenplay by Peter Welbeck.

Answer: Alfie

In total Sir Michael Caine has been nominated for at least six Oscars or Academy Awards over the years. His first nomination was for his role in the 1966 movie 'Alfie', in which he played a man who had a number of affairs but ended up alone. Michael was nominated for the Best Actor award but this was won by Paul Scofield for his part in the 1966 'A Man for all Seasons'.

Michael's other nominations for Best Actor have been for his appearances in the 1972 'Sleuth', the 1983 'Educating Rita' and the 2002 'The Quiet American' but each time the Award was won by another actor. However, Michael won two Academy Awards for Best Supporting Actor for his roles in the 1986 movie 'Hannah and Her Sisters' and in the 1999 'The Cider House Rules'.

Michael was in the other three movies named in the answers and 'Deadfall', 'Get Carter' and 'The Eagle Has Landed' appeared in 1968, 1971 and 1976 respectively.

Answer: The Swarm

Sir Michael Caine has appeared in many successful movies but, as is true for many actors, some movies have been less well received. Michael was one of several well-known and respected actors to appear in the 1978 movie 'The Swarm', which was about attempts to get rid of a very large swarm of African killer bees which was terrorising part of America. The movie was badly received by critics and was also a financial failure. However, the costume designer Paul Zastupnevich was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Costume Design, although he did not win.

Michael appeared in all three movies given as the incorrect answers and their receptions varied. The 1980 movie 'The Island' was not a financial success nor was it very well received critically but it was given better ratings than was 'The Swarm'. In contrast, the 1978 'California Suite' was both critically well-received and a financial success, as was the 1982 'Death Trap'.

Answer: Miss Congeniality

Sir Michael Caine often plays serious roles but one movie in which he had a comedic role was the 2000 'Miss Congeniality'. In this a FBI agent, played by Sandra Bullock, pretended to be a contestant in a Miss United States pageant in order to prevent a threatened terrorist bomb attack on the pageant. Michael played the part of the pageant coach who successfully taught her how to look and behave like a real contestant - so successfully that she was first runner-up.

During the 1990s Michael appeared in the other three movies named in the answers and had a different type of role in each one. He played Charles Dickens' miser Ebenezer Scrooge in the 1992 'The Muppet Christmas Carol' and a theatrical agent for third-rate performers in the 1998 'Little Voice'. In the 1999 'The Cider House Rules' he played a doctor and director of an orphanage who was addicted to ether.

Answer: King of Thieves

In the movie 'King of Thieves' Sir Michael Caine had the lead role as a criminal who had retired but decided to carry out one last job with his former associates. This job was to rob a safety deposit box vault in Hatton Garden, London's jewellery quarter, and the movie's plot was based on an actual attempt to do this in 2015. At the time of making the movie Michael was in his mid eighties and he has continued to act in later movies, such as the 2021 'Best Sellers'.

Michael appeared in the other three movies given as incorrect answers, playing an army captain in the 1969 'Play Dirty', a game-player with criminal tendencies in the 1972 'Sleuth' and an actor in the 1986 'Sweet Liberty'.

During his long career Michael has received many awards for his work, such as Academy Awards, a BAFTA and Golden Globes as well as quite a few less well-known awards. He was also awarded the CBE medal in 1992 for services to drama and was made a Commandeur dans l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French government in 2012.