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The Underground Man: Little-known facts
- Clement only says one thing throughout the whole book.
- The Oakley sisters who claim to be able to see what's going on inside the duke are based (very loosely) on a real pair of sisters - the Okey sisters - who claimed to have similar capacities and were employed in Mesmerist demonstrations.
- Whilst reading the real duke's letters in Nottingham University library Mick found a request from a Reverend Mello to carry out some archaeological work in the caves at Creswell Crags, which are situated on his estate, where there is indeed a 'Pin-hole cave'.
- The author remembers hearing how the tide at Morecombe Bay comes in 'faster than a galloping horse' when he was on holiday there as a child - an image that clearly stayed with him. He also remembers a boy going for a swim in one of the channels when the tide was out, getting stuck in the current and someone having to dive in to pull him out. Jackson's father put the boy in the back of the family car and drove him to hospital.
- The idea of the duke - a great fan of tunnelling - trepanning himself in an attempt to dig his way back to some elusive memory seemed particularly fitting in a book which had more than a hint of the Victorian Gothic about it. Mick paid a visit to the Wellcome Trust in the hope of finding a trepanning kit and the first thing he saw on entering the lobby was a Victorian trepanning kit in a display case.
- Something else that had stayed with Jackson was an article he'd read in one of the Sunday newspapers in the late-'70s by a couple had trepanned themselves with a dentist's drill. He was reminded of this by a reference to them in a book Jackson had picked up which had a chapter about the duke of Portland. By making a single telephone call Jackson managed to track down Joey Mellen, who very kindly agreed to be interviewed and turned out to be one of the most easy-going, down-to-earth people Jackson had the pleasure to meet during his research. The events that led up to Joey and his partner trepanning themselves are described in his booklet, Bore-hole, which Jackson found especially useful when writing the trepanation scene.
- The author had originally planned to publish the book under the pseudonym, Kirkham Jackson, but was persuaded by his editor that this was a silly thing to do.
- When Mick was waiting to hear if the book had been included on the shortlist for the Booker Prize he was driving a van around the M25, to return some bookshelves (this last bit of information is quite possibly superfluous). The announcement was due to be made on the arts programme, Kaleidoscope, at just after 4 o' clock, but when the programme was about to start Mick found himself entering the Dartford Tunnel. He'd just emerged on the north side of the river when the judges made their announcement. This necessitated the author pulling the van over onto the hard shoulder whilst he regained a little composure.
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