Set in 1920s Birmingham, Peaky Blinders<\/em> follows the exploits of a back-street razor gang in the aftermath of the First World War. At its head is war veteran, bookmaker, and criminal entrepreneur Thomas Shelby (Cillian Murphy). But Tommy\u2019s ambitions stretch far beyond running the streets of Small Heath and making money for his Irish-Romani family: he is determined to move the Shelbys up in the world and make the family bookmaking business a legitimate enterprise.<\/p>\n In an astronomic rise through British society, by the end of season four Tommy buys himself a sprawling countryside mansion and even manages to get elected as a Member of Parliament (MP).\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Follow the links below to jump to each section:<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Steven Knight\u2019s BAFTA-award-winning drama was inspired by the real gangs who operated in Birmingham in the late 19th century. But in reality there was no single gang named \u2018the Peaky Blinders\u2019. Writing for HistoryExtra<\/em>, historian Andrew Davies explains it was \u201cquite the reverse<\/a>: opposing gangs, all sharing [an] outlandish style, sought each other out on the streets of Birmingham and in late-night confrontations outside the city\u2019s music halls\u201d.<\/p>\n The term \u2018peaky blinders\u2019 was first coined in Birmingham in the 1890s, Davies explains. It was used to refer to a young man who was assumed to be a gang member and who dressed in a particular style \u2013 more on that later. The term was distinctive to Birmingham. \u201cIn Manchester and neighbouring Salford, gang members were known as \u2018scuttlers\u2019,\u201d says Davies. \u201cIn London they became known by the more enduring label \u2018hooligan\u2019\u201d.<\/p>\n But the show undoubtedly takes its inspiration from history. In an interview with HistoryExtra<\/em><\/a> in 2016, its creator, Steven Knight, who himself grew up in Birmingham, said he had been influenced by stories told to him by his family about a local group of gangsters, the Sheldons \u2013 who eventually became the Shelbys in Peaky Blinders<\/em>. \u201cPeople in Small Heath knew these people [the Sheldons] as peaky blinders,\u201d said Knight. The Sheldons were his dad\u2019s mum\u2019s brothers.<\/p>\n \u201cOne of the stories that really made me want to write Peaky Blinders<\/em> is one my dad told me,\u201d Knight explained. \u201cHe said that, when he was eight or nine, his dad gave him a message on a piece of paper and said \u2018go and deliver this to your uncles\u2019.<\/p>\n \u201cMy dad was told to go and deliver this message, so he ran through the streets barefoot, knocked on the door, the door opened and there was a table with about eight men sitting around it, immaculately dressed, wearing caps and with guns in their pockets. The table was covered with money \u2013 at a time when no-one had a penny \u2013 and they were all drinking beer out of jam jars because these men wouldn\u2019t spend money on glasses or cups. Just that image \u2013 smoke, booze and these immaculately dressed men in this slum in Birmingham<\/a> \u2013 I thought, that\u2019s<\/em> the mythology, that\u2019s<\/em> the story, and that\u2019s the first image I started to work with.\u201d<\/p>\n Inspired by such stories, when Knight decided to create the television show Peaky Blinders<\/em>, he said \u201cI thought I\u2019d better look it up and see what really happened. And of course, it was much more violent than I\u2019d been told.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s when I started to fit this together, but I always gave priority to the stories I\u2019d been told rather than what the books said, because I think people who write history look for patterns and they look for order, and they look for things that would make sense. In reality, a lot of the stuff that happens makes no sense; there is no pattern.\u201d<\/p>\n In the BBC show Peaky Blinders<\/em>, the Shelby brothers are instantly recognisable thanks to their trademark attire \u2013 a sharp three-piece suit, Oxford-laced boots, a peaked flat cap, and a heavy overcoat. True to history, peaky blinders really did wear \u201ca distinctive uniform\u201d which marked them out as belonging to a gang, says Davies.<\/p>\n The Shelby brothers\u2019 flair for fashion also has some basis in truth. Davies refers to the memoirs<\/a> of Birmingham paint and varnish manufacturer Arthur Matthison, who saw the city\u2019s warring youths at close quarters and described the typical peaky blinder as \u201cintensely style-conscious\u201d.<\/p>\n Matthison\u2019s memoirs describe how a peaky blinder \u201ctook pride in his personal appearance and dressed the part with skill. Bell-bottomed trousers secured by a buckle belt, hob-nailed boots, a jacket of sorts, a gaudy scarf and a billy-cock hat with a long, elongated brim.\u201d This hat \u201cwas worn well over one eye\u201d and \u201chis hair was prison cropped all over his head, except for a quiff in front which was grown long and plastered down obliquely on his forehead.\u201d<\/p>\n Thanks to their hob-nailed boots, peaky blinders would have made \u201cquite a racket\u201d while moving in large groups through the city. \u201cYou would hear them coming,\u201d says Davies.<\/p>\n But did these Birmingham gang members really wear razor blades in the peaks of their caps to be used as weapons, as is shown in the BBC television drama? Speaking on the HistoryExtra<\/em> podcast<\/a>, Davies explains: \u201cThe idea that a peaky blinder is named after the razors in the cap is pretty much a Birmingham urban myth. There [were] stories to that effect circulating in local newspapers in Birmingham in the 1930s, but this [was] something like 30 to 40 years after the fact\u2026 it\u2019s very much a myth that grows up in Birmingham in the decades after the peaky blinders have effectively died out.\u201d<\/p>\n Listen: Historian Andrew Davies discusses the real Birmingham gangsters who inspired Peaky Blinders<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\nDid peaky blinders really wear caps lined with razors?<\/h2>\n
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