Kelno's award is stated as a half penny, but the word is usually pronounced hay penny in Britain.
Uris' source novel novel is partially based on a libel action brought against the author in relation to his earlier novel "Exodus" by Dr. Wladislaw Dering, a Polish physician who worked at Auschwitz. Ultimately Dr Dering was awarded a half-penny damages, the smallest possible amount at the time and he had to pay Uris; court costs.
The last movie of Jack Hawkins, who died shortly after the film was completed. He had been suffering from cancer of the larynx It had been removed when he played in the miniseries.
The setting of the novel was the period of the 1967 Six Day War between Israel and its Arab neighbors. Fof the mini-series this was updated to the Yom Kippur War of 1973 also between Israel and its Arab neighbors.